PHL buys 12 aircraft worth P39.8B from Korea Aerospace Industries

SOUTH KOREAN defense company Korea Aerospace Industries on Wednesday said it had signed a deal worth 975.3 billion won (P39.8 billion) with the Philippine Defense department to supply 12 aircraft.

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The company will export 12 of its FA-50 fighter jets by 2030, as part of the Southeast Asian nation’s push to modernize its military, it said in a statement.

Korea Aerospace signed a similar deal with Manila in 2014 and supplied another batch of 12 FA-50 jets in 2017.

South Korea, which has sold FA-50 fighter jets, corvettes, and frigates to the Philippines, aims to become the world’s fourth-largest arms exporter by 2027.

Also on Wednesday, the Philippine and US marines held drills in Batanes province in the country’s north as part of their Kamandag (poison) 9 annual exercise, the US Marines said in a statement.

Soldiers conducted “simulated marine strikes” on June 1, using the Navy-Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) in their drills, it said.