DARWIN, Australia (Reuters): The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multi-role fighter jets as it modernises and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said on Saturday.
Philippine pilots are taking part for the first time in multinational war games overseas, the Pitch Black war games involving 20 Indo-Pacific and European countries over a vast area of northern Australia.
The exercises are consuming a million litres of aviation fuel a day, as fighter jets from the United States, Britain, Australia, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, among others, test war tactics and skills, organisers said.
The Philippines brought four of its 12 South Korean-built FA-50 fighter jets to the games and is assessing the capabilities of more advanced jets for its modernisation programme, the contingent's commander, Colonel Randy Pascua, told Reuters in Darwin.
The Philippine military chief Romeo Brawner said this month the government had approved a decision to buy "faster and more lethal" multi role jet fighters because the FA-50 was "not enough to defend our country", although no decision had been made on the type or how many.
Pascua said the air force needs to close a "big technological gap" as it modernises its fighter jets, including lifting pilot skills.
"If we have to acquire more than 20 multi-role fighters, we really need to step up," he said. "We are here to train and enhance our operational capability because we had lost capability for air defence for decades."
Participation in Pitch Black would strengthen the Philippines' international partnerships and "enforce our commitment to regional security and stability", he said.
The Philippines Air Force is focused on maritime domain awareness in joint operations with the navy, and Manila is building its air defences amid tensions with Beijing.
Manila and Beijing locked in a confrontation in the disputed South China Sea and their encounters have grown more tense as China presses its claims to shoals in waters that the Philippines says are well within its exclusive economic zone.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Darwin; Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by William Mallard) - Reuters
