• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

355th Aviation Engineering Wing
550th Aviation Engineering Wing
PAF Engineer Construction Battalion

The Philippine Armed Forces first organized an Engineering unit within the Army in 1935 to build barracks and other structures needed to support the military. The tradition grew as the decades passed, and in 1967, President Marcos expanded these capabilities by ordering the creation of construction battalions within the Philippine Navy and Air Force. This was part of a broader strategy to quell insurgencies through infrastructure and public works construction that would benefit poor areas.

The original dedicated construction unit within the PAF was the "Engineer Construction Battalion." On February 1st, 1979, it was renamed the "550th Aviation Engineering Wing," and was again renamed the "355th Aviation Engineering Wing" in 1979. The unit has held this name ever since.

The unit primarily tasks itself with construction or repair of runways, hangars and PAF buildings. A noteworthy recent project was the 2008 repair of Rancudo runway, which is located on Pag-asa island in the Spratly Island group.

The 355th is headquartered at Basa Air Base but operates throughout the country as needed. It does not have its own planes.