PH TO GET NEXT WEEK NEW RADAR SYSTEM

The Philippine Air Force will receive its second mobile air surveillance radar system from Japan next week, which has a modern detection system for any aerial or naval threat.

Col. Maria Consuelo Castillo, PAF spokesperson, told reporters this week that the Japanese-built air surveillance radar system would be turned over to the government on April 29 at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Japan’s State Minister of Defense Makoto Oniki will lead the turnover and blessing ceremony.

“This mobile radar is one of the four radars that we acquired from Japan, specifically from Melco (Mitsubishi Electric Corp.), and we did through government to government procurement and of course this is part of developing our capabilities to be able to monitor maritime activities in our areas of concern,” Castillo said.

She said the mobile radar would be deployed “where it will be best needed especially if there are areas that are considered to be threat areas.”

The mobile radar is the second unit of the four long-range surveillance radars from Japan, three of them are fixed, ordered by the Department of National Defense under a P5.5-billion government-to-government deal.

Defense boost

In December last year, the PAF received the first fixed radar installed at the Wallace Air Station in San Fernando City in La Union.

During the turnover ceremony last year, PAF chief Lt. Gen. Stephen Parreño said the radar would operate as part of the country’s integrated air defense system and would “enable us to detect potential threats from greater distances with increased precision, giving us quicker response times to intercept.”

With over 7,000 islands to guard, the PAF needs the radar system to keep watch of the entire archipelago with greater accuracy and efficiency. This becomes especially crucial given the evolving security landscape in the region,” Parreño said.

The arrival of the mobile air surveillance radar system in the country came as theArmed Forces of the Philippines has installed high-tech Harris radios in its naval detachments in Batanes, the Philippine province nearest Taiwan and two other islands in northern Luzon.

The Northern Luzon Command said these communication devices “are designed to provide reliable and secure voice and data communication capabilities, even in challenging environments.”