South China/West Philippine Sea

[maxiev]

Di pa... Only time will tell on how they'll stack up against other aircraft... But let's all remember that the FA-50's not a true blue MRF but a Lead in Fighter TRAINER with Light Fighter/Attack Capability... Not the other way around...

So these fighter/attack planes do not have a track record yet....I hope the Philippine Air Force did not make a mistake in acquiring these planes. Considering how much they probably cost the taxpayers.

[heatseeker0714]

http://www.radyonatin.com/story.php?storyid=4301

 

Maintenance crew of soon-to-be delivered AW-109 'Power' helicopters undergo training

Posted: 2013-Jun-18 | 10.55.03 UTC +0800

 

 

The maintenance crew of the soon-to-arrive AgustaWestland AW-109 "Power" naval helicopters are now undergoing training in Italy.

 

"There are a series of training being held at Sesto Calende, Italy (and) these are avionics and maintenance trainings," Philippine Navy (PN) spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Fabic said Tuesday.

 

The first batch of PN personnel who will undergo avionics training have already left last month.

 

"While those involved in aircraft maintenance have already left last week (while) the first batch of pilots will depart for Italy before the end of June," Fabic said.

 

The PN spokesperson added that these specialized trainings vary from two to four months.

 

"It is included in (acquisition) package and at no costs to the government," he stressed.

 

Fabic said that morale is pretty good at the PN and personnel selected for these training programs are very proud that they are called to serve their country anew.

 

"The PN is also very thankful to the present administration for the continued support that the Navy is receiving," the PN spokesperson emphasized.

 

The contract for the three AW-109 naval helicopters were signed last April and will be delivered this coming December.

 

These choppers are worth around P1.33 billion.

 

The AW-109 "Power" is a three-ton class eight seat helicopter powered by two Pratt and Whitney PW206C engines.

 

The spacious cabin is designed to be fitted with a number of modular equipment packages for quick and easy conversion between roles.

 

The aircraft's safety features include a fully separated fuel system, dual hydraulic boost system, dual electrical systems and redundant lubrication and cooling systems for the main transmission and engines.

 

The AW-109 has established itself as the world's best selling light-twin helicopter for maritime missions.

 

Its superior speed, capacity and productivity combined with reliability and ease of maintenance make it the most cost effective maritime helicopter in its class.

 

For shipboard operations, the aircraft has a reinforced-wheeled landing gear and deck mooring points as well as extensive corrosion protection measures.

 

The ability to operate from small ships in high seas state enables the AW-109 to perform its mission when many other helicopters would be confined to the ship's hangar.

 

Over 550 AW-109 "Power" and AW-109 light utility helicopters have been ordered for commercial, parapublic and military applications by customers in almost 50 countries. The maintenance crew of the soon-to-arrive AgustaWestland AW-109 "Power" naval helicopters are now undergoing training in Italy.

 

 

 

 

Probable Philippine Navy Naval Air Group paint scheme...

Edited July 20, 2013 by heatseeker0714

[heatseeker0714]

 

US Coast Guard version and an inside look of its cockpit.... B)

[maxiev]

 

US Coast Guard version and an inside look of its cockpit.... B)

Looks really impressive.

[dungeonbaby]

From GMA News on the PCG/Taiwan fisherman's death. Emphasis mine.

 

The NBI, which released its findings nearly three months after the incident, recommended the filing of homicide charges against eight Coast Guard personnel who fired their weapons during the encounter:

 

***

 

The NBI said that in the absence of conclusive evidence to justify self-defense, the PCG personnel "presumptively violated" the rules of engagement when they fired on the Taiwanese vessel.

"The PCG personnel were no longer performing their lawful mandate when they continuously fired at the Taiwanese fishing vessel, resulting in the death of a Taiwanese fisherman which, according to jurisprudence, automatically raises the presumption of an intent to k*ll," it added.

 

In its report, the NBI said the PCG personnel fired more than 100 rounds of ammunition at the fleeing Taiwanese vessel, "inexplicably a high volume of firepower used on an unarmed fishing vessel even when expended intermittently."

 

"One PCG member fired at the Taiwanese fishing vessel despite visibility of one of its occupants outside the cabin signaling the crew of the PCG to proceed to the starboard side of the Taiwanese fishing vessel, and no one among the PCG crew prevented the shooter from doing so or showed disapproval of such action," it added.

 

"COMMANDING OFFICER DELA CRUZ and his personnel were initially motivated by a legitimate law enforcement objective to prevent the escape of a hostile watercraft. However, in the course of pursuing such a legitimate objective, their collective act of firing at the fishing boat regressed into indiscriminate firing which disregarded a primary directive in the ROE, that the use of deadly force should not be for the purpose of causing bodily harm or death, but merely to disable the hostile watercraft," the NBI noted.

 

 

Though I suspected as much (and said so) with regard to the absence of evidence (i.e. intent to ram) to justify the self-defense claim, q.v....

1. what was the provocative act made by a 15-tonne, wooden fishing boat - that probably only went at a maximum speed of 6 knots - that justified shooting?

2. is the mere "attempt to ram" (vs. actual ramming) a steel boat by a wooden boat a provocative act warranting shooting into a boat?

3. if only warning shots were fired as the coast guard first claimed was all it intended in some reports, why was the fisherman killed?

4. why did our coast guard say they were aiming for the engine when the engine is deep in the boat under water? shouldn't they have shot at the rudder instead?

5. did our coast guard chase the fishing boat for one hour? and if they did, to what end?

 

if we were smart, we would pay compensation to the fisherman's family and end the story there.

 

besides, anyone that's been out to sea knows that when you approach a fisherman's nets, he will chase you off and even appear, at times, to attempt to ram you. what most yachties don't realize is that fishing boats have the right of way in a lot of cases. they have the right of way vs vessels like a sailboat or a container ship. at the very least, extreme tolerance should have been afforded to the fishing vessel

 

"The intent to ram is not clear, given the perspective offered by the video, and the fact that such maneuver could have been intended merely to escape, but not to ram, the Philippine craft," the NBI said in its 84-page report.

 

...still...it's disappointing that homicide charges are being brought against so many men. Not sure how one is charged when there is command hierarchy, and one is merely following his commanding officer's orders.

 

As for tampering with evidence, that's just indefensible.

 

The NBI said video footage submitted for investigation by Ramirez turned out to be spliced. Ramirez said he did so on Bernabe's instructions.

 

In turn, Bernabe said dela Cruz had "ordered him to remove certain portions of the video."

 

On the other hand, Bendo was involved in another attempt to tamper with the evidence when he prepared a falsified monthly gunnery report of the PCG BFAR MCS-3001 crew.

 

"Both acts of splicing the video footage and submitting a falsified monthly gunnery report constitute the crime of obstruction of justice, for which the concerned officers and men should be held liable," the NBI said.

[Bugatti Veyron]

Assuming that the NBI report faithfully chronicles the events leading to the shooting incident, one can see what one mistake by an over zealous/ignorant member of a PSG man vis-à-vis the rules on engagement can cause insofar as creating an international incident is concerned.

 

Now imagine the same scenario, but this time, not with an M16 that kills just one man but a Philippine navy warship bearing harpoon missiles that destroys an entire enemy ship, killing dozens of enemy sailors.

 

With great weapons, comes great responsibilities. The men commanding such warships must possess the highest possible standards of professionalism, knowledge on the rules of engagement, and the leadership to make his men follow these rules to the letter. There is no room for unprofessional, ignorant and untrained personnel in such warships.

 

It is time not only to modernize the AFP's weapons, it is time to professionalize the men and women in uniform. Their mindsets, attitudes, biases, etc. must give way to a deep understanding of their duties and responsibilities as professional soldiers. The rules on engagement must be clearly understood and observed because the consequences of a similar mistake could be extremely dire. We could lose our warship to enemy retaliation together with the deaths of countless navy personnel just because someone did not understand the rules on engagement or simply chose to ignore it.

[Bugatti Veyron]

Fundamentals of command and control must also be part of the total package to ensure that our sailors and soldiers are given timely and accurate information on a battlefield to ensure maximum enemy casualties (in case of a full blown war/skirmish) and to minimize friendly fire casualties. How we hope to achieve this without satellites and state of the art computers is anyone's guess. I'm hoping that the US helps the Philippine military develop a credible command and control system.

 

But then, as most everyone agrees, the ships and other modern weapons the AFP has been acquiring is for minimum credible defense purposes only and not meant to be used in a real war. Bro Camiar and Heetseeker have clearly stated this in their earlier posts. They are meant to be deterrents to growing Chinese aggression in the West Philippine/China Sea.

 

Here's hoping that these new upgraded weapons will be used responsibly and will not antagonize China anymore than it already is.

 

 

[everyman]

Good job by the NBI and the Philippine government investigating this incident.

 

We've asserted our jurisdiction over this incident and conducted the investigation fairly to the satisfaction of both parties proving the naysayers wrong.

 

 

 

So who here is confident that the investigation will be thorough and fair? Raise your hands.

 

If you were Taiwan, would you trust the NBI? Filipinos themselves don't trust the NBI lol.

[camiar]

The NBI report gave the Taiwanese president some room to wiggle out of his political blunder. He over-reacted to the incident and declared economic sanctions vs. the Philippines. It turns out to be more costly to Taiwanese businessmen dependent on Filipino workers than to Philippines.

 

The report also gave the amateur pinoy president some room to wiggle out of his blundering incompetence. He should have handled the incident personally by calling the Taiwanese president immediately to sort things out before the story hit the early morning news.

 

In the end, it's still the pinoys looking stupid and weak, apologizing for incidents resulting from our efforts to enforce the Philippine sovereignty.

[dungeonbaby]

...still...it's disappointing that homicide charges are being brought against so many men. Not sure how one is charged when there is command hierarchy, and one is merely following his commanding officer's orders.

 

As for tampering with evidence, that's just indefensible.

 

changed my mind. i saw the footage where our coast guard were laughing as they shot up the taiwanese boat.

 

Good job by the NBI and the Philippine government investigating this incident.

 

We've asserted our jurisdiction over this incident and conducted the investigation fairly to the satisfaction of both parties proving the naysayers wrong.

 

So who here is confident that the investigation will be thorough and fair? Raise your hands.

 

If you were Taiwan, would you trust the NBI? Filipinos themselves don't trust the NBI lol.

 

 

oh this is rich. do you just have a hard on for my posts or did someone blow his bitch whistle and sic you on the one person who posited the PCG actions were possibly an overreaction? if you're so bent on showing inconsistencies then why focus on my inconsistencies and not your beloved master's hmm? have you been fair?

 

if you agree with the NBI findings, then you agree with the points i initially brought up. caught between the monster and the deep blue sea, you don't seem to have the balls to say maybe you were wrong to call me a traitor for questioning our actions, legitimately question them as it turns out, given that the PCG have been charged with murder, which means my points were v-a-l-i-d. at least when i'm wrong i have the guts to say so.

 

when i asked that question you quoted about the NBI...who here defended them? was i not right to say filipinos don't trust the NBI e kahit ngayon ang daming nagsasabing ginawa lang yon ng NBI to appease Taiwan. e di tama ako di ba?

 

 

good job by the Philippine government? lol. what happened to all here who said good job by the PCG huh?

 

by the way, writing 101, if you're going to quote someone, indicate when you edit out sentences. tsk tsk.

Edited August 14, 2013 by dungeonbaby

[heatseeker0714]

US building of command posts near disputed Spratlys sparked outrage

 

 

"According to the Philippine Marine official, the plan is to station 50 to 60 US marines in Palawan as an advance command post in West Philippine Sea."

 

Hmmm... Interesting...

 

(Can't post the link, nangangapa pa lang sa iPad... Its in Globalbalita.com)

[oscartamaguchiblackface]

US building of command posts near disputed Spratlys sparked outrage

 

 

"According to the Philippine Marine official, the plan is to station 50 to 60 US marines in Palawan as an advance command post in West Philippine Sea."

 

Hmmm... Interesting...

 

(Can't post the link, nangangapa pa lang sa iPad... Its in Globalbalita.com)

If the Chinese are outraged by this latest development, then good. If it means their belligerency will be balanced out by the American presence, then good. The ironic thing is leftist groups would take the side of China. They would be outraged by the American presence on Philippine soil.

[hit05]

If the Chinese are outraged by this latest development, then good. If it means their belligerency will be balanced out by the American presence, then good. The ironic thing is leftist groups would take the side of China. They would be outraged by the American presence on Philippine soil.

Unfortunately, "the side of China" is being confused by this administration since they create an illusion that they are adherents of ONE CHINA Policy when they massacred the tourists from Hong Kong and then when the BFAR official sprayed bullets on the Taiwanese fishing boat, killing its captain. There is so much dishonesty dealing with the issue and no TRUTH is coming out despite the fact that illegal logging and illegal mining are rampant in the countrysides because mainland China is buying all the illegal produce. Conservationists deal with protecting endangered wildlife species by banning and making illegal trade of products made from them; how come nothing is being done about mainland Chinese buying all these illegal stuff, with DENR as main sponsor of the operation?

[maxiev]

If the Chinese are outraged by this latest development, then good. If it means their belligerency will be balanced out by the American presence, then good. The ironic thing is leftist groups would take the side of China. They would be outraged by the American presence on Philippine soil.

They would rather see a Chinese presence in Philippine territory than an American presence. Fortunately, they are a very small minority. Small but noisy.

[oscartamaguchiblackface]

They would rather see a Chinese presence in Philippine territory than an American presence. Fortunately, they are a very small minority. Small but noisy.

Noisy and aggressive. But haven't they always been this way? They became the bogeyman of Marcos. The convenient scapegoat that Marcos used to justify the imposition of martial law in 1972. So ironically, it's these very people who ushered in martial law.