PH Air Force, Navy boost interoperability via ship deck drills
Philippine News Agency
By Priam Nepomuceno
February 28, 2025, 10:39 am
MANILA -- The Philippine Air Force (PAF) said its helicopters and personnel operating its rotary-wing aircraft have been undergoing training with their Philippine Navy (PN) counterparts to gain expertise on how to land on ships.
"We have been training with the Philippine Navy for ship deck operations, so that operations (are) possible," PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said in an interview Friday.
She made this comment when asked if PAF helicopters are capable of accompanying civilian maritime patrol aircraft while performing their duties in protecting the country's vast maritime territories.
This comes in the wake of the Feb. 18 incident where a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy helicopter performed dangerous maneuvers against a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources aircraft conducting a routine maritime domain awareness flight over Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) in the West Philippine Sea.
"What's just critical here is the operational requirements, considering that's a different area from our operations. However, our helicopters are capable of ship deck operations," Castillo said.
Ship deck operations refer to landing and taking off from the naval ship's hangar or flight deck.
Naval craft used in these exercises were the landing dock vessels BRP Tarlac (LD-601) and BRP Davao Del Sur (LD-602) and large transport ships of the PN. (PNA)
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