Philippine Air Force 5th Fighter Wing Concludes 2-week Air Combat Exercise

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Thursday announced that the 5th Fighter Wing has successfully concluded its air combat exercise dubbed “Sanay Sibat 2022-1” which ran from February 22 to March 5. Another critical component of this exercise is the skills of the air weapons controllers, the “eyes and ears” of air defense from the 580th Aircraft Controller and Warning Wing. Command and control with the air battle managers have been seamless in performance with the fighter pilots. The highly intensive exercise aims to build confidence and integrate leadership and warfighter culture that is able to operate both in the air and on the surface. The air combat exercise was also conducted to prepare the PAF fighter pilots to operate the multirole fighter aircraft to be acquired in the near future.

Philippine Air Force spokesperson, Lt. Col. Maynard Mariano, said “Sanay Sibat gives 5th Fighter Wing units and operators the opportunity to evaluate doctrine, tactics, and desired tactical readiness in terms of capabilities. This was a two-week exercise of intensive air-to-air and air-to-ground activities emphasizing on mission sets for which the 5FW is expected to perform and provide both for the air defense requirement and in other employment considerations. Sanay Sibat 2022-1″ was a step above the previous exercises of its kind since 2018 and derived lessons learned in operating with other security partners and allies. This year’s ‘Sanay Sibat’ concentrated on defensive and offensive counterair techniques, executing best tactics and dynamic coordination between capability packages and integrating these capabilities to obtain desired effects in a simulated battlespace and battlefield.”

The Philippine Air Force 5th Fighter Wing, Basa Air Base – it is responsible for fighter operations of the PAF. It replaced the Air Defense Wing after the two were reactivated to their original status on 2017. 7th Tactical Fighter Bulldogs Squadron –flies the KAI FA-50PH Fighting Eagle multi-role fighter aircraft. 105th Fighter Training Blackjacks Squadron – conducts jet qualification and training for future fighter-bound pilots. Basa Air Base is located at Floridablanca, Pampanga about 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Metro Manila in the Philippines. The Philippine Air Force (PAF) chose 12 KAI TA-50 aircraft to fulfill its requirement for a light attack and lead-in fighter trainer aircraft. The Department of National Defense (DND) announced the selection of the type in August 2012. Funding for 12 aircraft was approved by Congress in September 2012.

The KAI T-50 Golden Eagle is a family of South Korean supersonic advanced jet trainers and light combat aircraft, developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) with Lockheed Martin. The T-50 is South Korea’s first indigenous supersonic trainer aircraft. The T-50 has been further developed into aerobatic and combat variants, namely T-50B, TA-50, and FA-50. The F-50 single-seat multirole fighter variant was considered. The SIAI-Marchetti S.211 (later Aermacchi S-211) is a turbofan-powered military trainer aircraft designed and originally marketed by Italian aviation manufacturer SIAI-Marchetti. Following Aermacchi’s purchase of SIAI-Marchetti in 1997, the former has held the production rights to the type. An extensively redesigned and modernised derivative, the Aermacchi M-345, has been developed by Alenia Aermacchi.