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Philippine Air Force intercepts unknown aircraft


The Philippine Air Force on September 2, 2021 scrambled jet fighters to intercept an unknown aircraft that was headed toward the country's airspace.

In a release on Saturday, the PAF said that the Philippine Defense Control Center (PADCC) detected an unidentified inbound aircraft into the Philippine Air Defense Identification Zone (PADIZ), approximately 120 nautical miles north west of Bolinao, Pangasinan.

Likewise,  the PAF said the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) classified the inbound aircraft as an "unknown track of interest."

Thus, the PAF issued a "scramble" order to two FA-50 jets stationed at the ADCC and were given the mission to intercept the unknown aircraft for visual identification.

PAF's FA-50 jet
PAF's FA-50 jet

Moreover, the PAF said that the unknown aircraft was at 21,000 feet flying at 265 knots heading North East.

The FA-50s flew at the maximum allowable speed towards the direction of the unknown aircraft, it said.

At about four  minutes into the intercept, the unknown aircraft changed direction towards the North and increased its speed to 400 knots and headed away from the Philippine airspace, it added, saying that intercept was terminated at 9:45 a.m.

"In past decades, aircraft flying without clearance would willfully violate the Philippine airspace knowing that they will not be challenged; today our airspace is being closely monitored jointly by the Philippine Air Force and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines," the PAF said. —LBG, GMA News

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