DND Studying US Attack Helicopter Offers for Philippine Air Force (PAF)

The Department of National Defense (DND) will evaluate the United States' offer to sell two types of top-of-the-line attack helicopters to the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said they will also determine if the attack helicopters being offered by the Americans are brand-new equipment or old ones.

"We will study the US offer. Baka used na naman mga ito (Maybe these are used ones again)," he said in a message to the Philippine News Agency late Tuesday.

Last April 30, the US State Department issued a "determination" approving a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to the Philippines of six AH-1Z attack helicopters and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD450 million.

On the same date, another one was issued for the possible sale of six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD1.5 billion.

Turkish T-129 ATAK helicopter

However, Lorenzana said the PAF is more interested in acquiring around six Turkish Aerospace Industries T-129 choppers for its attack helicopter program which has a budget of around PHP12 to PHP13 billion.

"Yes, the PAF is intent in (acquiring) it," he added.

The PAF is looking for dedicated but affordable attack helicopters to beef up its fleet of lightly-armed choppers like the MG-520 and AW-109E which are being used for counter-terror and ground support missions.

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South Korea Plans to Upgrade its SSM-700K Anti-Ship Missile

South Korea is planning to enhance the performance of its SSM-700K Haeseong (C-Star) anti-ship missile (photo : RoKN)

South Korea is planning to enhance the performance of the locally developed SSM‐700K Haeseong (C-Star), sea-skimming, anti-ship missile, which has been in service with the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) since 2005.

An official from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) told Jane's in late April that advanced research analysis on a potential performance upgrade will be conducted between October 2020 and April 2021.

It is unclear what the upgrade will exactly entail but the navy is believed to be seeking to extend the weapon's maximum range - currently 150 km - to more than 200 km, bolster its anti-jamming capabilities, and enhance its satellite navigation and overall guidance system.

Military officials told Jane's that they want the upgraded SSM-700K to have a performance similar to that of the US-made RGM-84L Harpoon Block II anti-ship missile, but with a longer range. The RGM-84L had a stated maximum range of 124 km.

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD) began developing the radar‐guided, air‐breathing SSM-700K in 1996, with mass production and deployment starting in 2005.

Prior to this the RoKN had introduced US-made Harpoon and French-made Exocet anti-ship missiles.

The SSM-700K, which is currently deployed on the RoKN's KDX-3-class destroyers, Incheon (FFX-I) and Daegu (FFX-II)-class frigates, and Gumdoksuri-class (PKG-A)-class fast patrol vessels, among others, is thought to use a phased‐array active radar seeker.

In flight the gimballed seeker scans in the horizontal plane only. The missile uses a GPS‐aided inertial navigation system for mid‐course guidance and active radar for terminal homing.