Defence

The Philippine air force plans to finally take delivery later this month of a Lockheed Martin C-130 transport that has been in refurbishment at local maintenance company Asian Aerospace since February 2004. Air force chief Jose Reyes says the redelivery will expand the Philippine’s C-130 fleet to three aircraft, but that a requirement exists to field at least six.

Asian Aerospace says delivery of the first aircraft has been delayed since initial servicing was completed in June 2004 because of a problem in securing funds for additional work. The air force is now requesting funds from the US government – which paid about $4 million for the first refurbishment and has pledged to cover the cost of preparing a second aircraft to enter work soon at Asian Aerospace – to also pay for the restoration of another two C-130s.

The air force has, meanwhile, completed an in-country upgrade to four of its 14 Rockwell OV-10 Bronco counter-insurgency aircraft, equipping them with four-bladed propellers that improve power performance by up to 30%. Another two upgrade kits were delivered early this month by Arizona-based Marsh Aviation, and the air force is now seeking funds to install the new propellers on its remaining OV-10s. Reyes says proposals to perform a structural and avionics upgrade to the Bronco fleet will not be considered until all the aircraft have completed the propulsion system upgrade.