Arsenal of Toppled Syrian Regime Shames our PAF

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

The government of President Bashar al-Assad Assad fell Sunday afternoon after capital city Damascus was overtaken by the rebels who earlier took with speed the cities of Allepo, Hama, and Homs according to Al Jazeera English. Although the spoils of the civil war would be divided by the armies of the Syrian Arab Republic and allies, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliates, Islamic State, and the U.S and Israel allied Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (that controls 40 percent of Syria), I still envy the former Syrian Air Force compared to the pathetic inventory of the Philippines Air Force.

LIGHT AND SUPERIOR FIGHTERS. (Top photo and clockwise): FA-50 jets near a hangar in Clark Air Base in the Philippines; 2nd photo: Philippines Air Force's FA-50 light fighter (left) and the United States Air Force's F-16 multiple-role jet during the Cope Thunder 2024. Foreground are the author and the Cope's Marshall F-16 pilot Captain Jonathan Phase. 3rd photo: The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, all-weather tactical bomber developed in the Soviet Union. The Syrian Air Force possesses 18 of them. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, twin engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for its crew of two. It was the first of the USSR's aircraft to carry an integrated digital navigation/attack system.

Syria got these dedicated multi-role fighter Soviet and Russian made jets: 50 Mig 21 fighter/interceptors (15 however were taken by Syrian opposition forces before the downfall this afternoon), 87 Mig 23 fighter-bombers (9 however were captured by the same rebel groups before the downfall this afternoon), 2 Mig 25 interceptors, 29 Mig 29 multi-roles, 39 Sukhoi Su-22 fighter-bombers, and 18 Sukhoi SU 24 fighter-bombers.

The Philippines – sigh, sigh, sigh! -- contended itself with the 12 light fighter and trainer South Korean made FA-50s.

In the last Cope Thunder 2024-held on April 11 this year at Basa Air Base in Pampanga, I asked the Gringos, err, the Americans and the Filipino pilots their take on the comparison of the United States Air Force (USAF) six F-16 C/D Block50 versus the Philippines Air Force (PAF) six FA-50 after their one- hour maneuver at the South China Sea.

My first question in the middle of the scorching sun brought by El Nino on that day was about the limitation of the FA-50PH light attack fighter compared to the capacity of the F16 C/D Block 50 dubbed too as Wild Weasel because of their homing anti -radiation missiles against radar and missile batteries of the enemy.

“In your air-to-ground exercise, are there limits with the FA-50 compared to the superiority fighter’s F-16?” I posed to the two USAF pilots and two PAF pilots.

Despite the interfering noises of the engines of the taxiing supersonic jets of the two countries 200 meters away at the P3.7 billion renovated tarmac and runway funded by the U.S through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a Major from the PAF answered me while other local and international reporters converged at the hilly area wait for their turn to ask their respective questions.

“As of now we are on the first phase of our (inaudible) training and all of the (inaudible) of the air-to-surface of the training will be due in succeeding days. So basically we could not say with regards to the (inaudible) of the aircraft,” he said by failing to answer my comparison to the two jets.

The F-16 Block 50 carries, according to F-16.net, the AIM-120 AMRAAM, the new AGM-65G Maverick missile and the PGU-28/B 20mm cannon round. The Block 50/52 is capable of carrying the new Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), the AGM-154A/B JSOW and is the first F-16 version to integrate the AGM-84 Harpoon antishipping missile. The AGM-137 TSSAM stand-off attack missile was also foreseen in its weaponry, but subsequently cancelled. The aircraft can launch the Harpoon in line-of-sight, bearing-only, and range/bearing modes.

Moreover, it gives the F-16 a significant standoff range anti-shipping capability, especially when combined with optional 600-gallon fuel tanks.

The 12 Wild Weasel’s F-16s Block 50 brought by the Yanks in the Philippines early this year were equipped with homing anti -radiation missiles, I mentioned earlier, that could destroy those radar and surface to air missile (SAM) sites of the Chinese in the Spratly Islands. Its maximum short-endurance speed: Mach 2.05 (1,353 mph) at 40,000 feet. Maximum sustained speed Mach 1.89 (1247 mph) at 40,000 feet. Tactical radius (hi-lo-hi interdiction on internal fuel with six 500-lb bombs) 360 miles. Maximum ferry range at 2,450 miles with maximum external fuel (excluding 600 gallon).

The PAF FA-50, on the other hand, is equipped only with (Guided Bomb Unit) GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided bombs, AGM-65G2 Maverick AGMs, and the AIM-9L/I-1 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles (AAMs). FA-50 is powered by a General Electric turbofan engine for a top speed of 1,852 kilometers (1,150 miles) per hour. It is armed with a three-barreled gun, air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, and guided-precision bombs and munitions. According to Wikipedia: It has enhanced avionics, a longer radome, and a tactical datalink. It is equipped with a modified Israeli EL/M-2032 pulse-Doppler radar with Korean-specific modifications by LIG Nex1. The engine could be either Eurojet EJ200 or General Electric F414 with thrust of 89 to 98 kN (20,000 to 22,000 lbf), roughly 12–25% higher than the F404's thrust.

It has a range of 1,000 nm (1,850km) or short by 1,450 miles’ ferry range of the F-16.

For me: The FA-50 is not intended for hard maneuvering that an F-16 can do. It is not inherently aerodynamically unstable like an F-16 and does not possess the agility or thrust to weight ratio of the U.S made aircraft.

My other poser to the two PAF pilots was when would the Philippines’ government procure full-pledged multiple fighter jets like the F-16 Viper or the Sweden made Jas 39 Gripen.

TV-5 and ABS-CBN, whose reporters braved those blistering sun, used in their national news the answers of these two questions. I don't know if those international news outfits used the same.