Posted on 03/18/2017 6:52:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Pilots and flight crews of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSF) will be tasked to fly and deliver two of the five leased turbo-prop TC-90 aircraft to the Philippine Navy’s (PN) Sangley Point air facility on March 27.
This was confirmed by Navy spokesperson, Capt. Lued Lincuna, in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Friday.
He said they are still to get the names of the Japanese pilots.
The JMSDF will formally transfer the TC-90s to the Navy on the same day.
Lincuna said the Navy will get the remaining three TC-90s before the end of the year.
The TC-90s will augment the existing Norman-Britten BN-2 Islander fleet, which the Navy uses in patrol, surveillance and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) and rapid assessment missions, he noted.
Last November, two Navy pilots and six air crew members left for Japan to start their TC-90 flight training.
The Department of National Defense (DND) earlier announced that the Philippines will re-equip the TC-90s as Japan had stripped them of some equipment, including their surveillance systems.
The country will pay Japan an annual fee of USD7,000 for each of the first four aircraft and only USD200 for the fifth, for a total of USD28,200, as stipulated in the lease agreement.
The department is also looking at the possibility of using the TC-90s for 20 years as the military upgrades its equipment.
The TC-90, which is part of the Beechcraft King Air aircraft family, was offered by Japan shortly after the Agreement Concerning the Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology was finalized last February 29.
The TC-90’s patrol range is double those of small Philippine aircraft, which only have a maximum range of 300 km.
The Lily might have been a more suitable option.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_Ki-48
If you are going with a 50 year old design, why not go for an 80 year old design.
Is this good or bad? Seems good.
On a side note I was stationed at Sangley Point when I was in the Navy.
I looked up the Ki-48. Faster and had a longer range then the C90 and the service ceiling is higher.
FYI
“Is this good or bad? Seems good.”
Once upon a time there was a nice neighborhood where the kids played together very well. This was facilitated by a very strong police force that never had to really do any bad-a$$ policing because at one point they had pretty much beat up all the neighborhood bullies.
Then, about eight years ago, the leader of the police let it be known that police were really a bad thing and nobody needed them. So they stopped policing, because, policing is bad and American. It was hurting the neighborhood’s diversity and transgender acceptance.
So, a normally, nominally “good” kid in the neighborhood decided that it really should own the neighborhood and started really pressing his precense. This was threatening and the police did little more than make some diplomatic throat clearing noises. Finally, the leader of the
police was replaced with somebody who promised to be more American in their policing. But two things were readily apparent. The kid had made lots of progress in taking over the whole neighborhood and in four or eight years the leader of the police could be replaced with another metrosexual.
The neighbors formed a self-policing agreement and started supporting each other. Yes, a good thing.
Also useful for other than looking.
There’s probably a large market out there for third world quality aircraft. After all, how fast of a plane do the Peruvians need to murder missionaries https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Peru_shootdown
or shoot down unarmed American transports?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Peru_shootdown
I remember when that happened. Very sad. But it has nothing to do with my post to you.
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