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PAF now has 8 FA-50 Supersonic Jet Fighters

The Philippine Air Force officially received the fourth batch of FA-50PH jets with tail number 007 and 008 on March 29, 2017, at the Haribon Hangar, Air Force City, Clark Air Base in Pampanga with the Vice Commander of PAF, Major General Conrado V Parra Jr AFP, as Guest of Honor.

The FA-50 is a multi role fighter variant of KAI's T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced jet trainer.

It is capable of carrying short range air-to-air missiles, air-to-surface missiles with countermeasures such as chaffs and infrared flares.

With the arrival of the fourth batch of FA-50PH jets, the PAF now has eight jets in its inventory while the delivery of the rest of the jets will be completed within 2017.



The last batch of brand new FA-50 fighter jets is expected to arrive at the Haribon Hangar, Air Force City, Clark Air Base, Mabalacat City, Pampanga, Philippines on May 2017.

The FA-50PHs has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one and a half times the speed of sound and is capable of being fitted air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air and heat-seeking missiles aside from 20mm automatic cannons. The design is largely derived from the F-16 "Fighting Falcon", and they have many similarities: use of a single engine, speed, size, cost, and the range of weapons.

The FA-50PHs uses a single General Electric F404-102 turbofan engine license-produced by Samsung Techwin, upgraded with a full authority digital engine control system jointly developed by General Electric and KAI.

The FA-50 fighter variant has won export orders from Iraq and the Philippines, while Indonesia and Thailand selected the T-50 system.

The Golden Eagle family has a T-50 jet trainer, TA-50 LIFT advanced trainer & attack variant, and FA-50 lightweight fighter. The TA-50 and FA-50 are especially attractive as lightweight export fighters, and the ROKAF’s own F-5E/F Tiger II and F-4 Phantom fighters are more than due for replacement. FA-50 will soon replace these fighters.



Photo credits : EfrainNoelMorata / PAF