PAF adds C-208B surveillance aircraft to fleet

A brand new Cessna-208B (C-208B) Grand Caravan EX Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) Aircraft was added to the fleet of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) on Tuesday.

In a ceremony in Clark Air Base in Pampanga, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. formally received the aircraft’s documents from Joint US Military Assistance Group-Philippines chief Colonel Edward Evans.

According to the PAF, the new aircraft will be used by the 300th Air Intelligence and Security Wing.

“It will also boost our capability in missions of law enforcement, terrorism, and maritime domain awareness,” PAF chief Lieutenant General Stephen Parreno told reporters.

“It will be used for all types of missions depending on the need. And during HADR (Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief), this aircraft will also be useful particularly sa aftermath ng disasters and on RDANA (Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis) missions so that we could assess the damage during calamities,” he added.

AFP chief General Romeo Brawner said the aircraft  will boost the Philippines’ capability in patrolling maritime seas.

“As mentioned by the commander of Western Command, si [Vice Admiral Albert Carlos], our ability to protect our sovereign rights in our exclusive economic zone depends highly on the equipment that we have so definitely,” Brawner told reporters.

“This aircraft will help us, will boost our capability in making sure that we secure our territory and our sovereign rights,” he added.

With this addition, the PAF said it now has three units of this aircraft in its inventory. The first two were delivered and turned over in August 2017.

All of these were acquired as grants from the US government, the PAF said. —VAL, GMA Integrated News