Another milestone has been reached in the Philippine government efforts to acquire the South Korean made F/A-50 “Fighting Eagle” jet aircraft.This was after Department of National Defense (DND) Undersecretary for Finance, Modernization, Installation and Munitions Fernando Manalo disclosed on Monday that the Letter of Credit (LOC) for the aircraft has been finally opened by the supplier.“The LOC has been finally opened. We have also given the 15 percent payment requested by the contractor,” he said in Filipino.
The LOC is a document issued by a financial institution, or a similar party, assuring payment to a seller of goods and/or services provided certain documents have been presented to the bank.The contract for the 12 F/A-50s being acquired for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is worth P18.9 billion. It was signed last March 28.The F/A-50 is manufactured by the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI).Manalo did not give the specific date when the LOC was opened but he earlier said that it would be opened seven days starting July 8.Upon opening of the LOC, two F/A-50 jet aircraft are expected to be delivered 18 months after.
The next two aircraft will be delivered 12 months later and the remaining eight jet planes on staggered basis within eight months.The F/A-50 has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one-and-a-half times the speed of sound and is capable of being fitted with air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 “Sidewinder” air-to-air and heat-seeking missiles aside from light automatic cannons.
http://www.angmalaya.net/nation/2014/07/28/2651-another-milestone-for-fa-50-program-reached-dnd
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