PAF says it needs more multi-role fighter jets

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June 25, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Confirming its plan to acquire more powerful multi-role fighter jets (MRFs), the Philippine Air Force (PAF) said the country needs a credible defense posture that can at least make foreign intruders hesitate.

“We’re not even small. We are what we call a niche air force. So we cannot ask for a very robust integrated air defense system. We should be asking for what is practical to us in terms of what we can procure, what our fund will allow us. Now this is an opportunity for us because our fund allows us to procure the MRF,” PAF chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura said at a press briefing yesterday.

“Because if we cannot be, if we are comparing ourselves to the threat in the region, let’s say from China, we cannot be at par with China even 10 to 20 years from now. That’s the reality here. But we can project what we call credible deterrence. They will think twice if they will intrude in the country,” Cordura pointed out.

He said the MRFs are more powerful than light combat aircraft and the country needs more of them, apart from the 12 new FA-50 fighter jets being readied for delivery from South Korea. The PAF chief said they have already submitted details of the planned acquisition, including the aircraft’s specs, to the Department of National Defense (DND).

“Mitsubishi fighters, the Japanese made multi-roles, are very potential platforms also. The selection for the multi-role will depend upon the appreciation of the department in terms of how these are incorporated, this can be effectively incorporated in the whole CADC (comprehensive archipelagic defense concept),” Cordura said.

“So it does not discount later perhaps platforms coming also from Japan if they will serve the purpose of our territorial defense plan,” he told reporters, referring to other possible platforms like the F-16 aircraft from the United States.

“We need a platform that has a longer endurance, a greater payload that can carry ammunition, it has asymmetric capability that can land on shorter runways,” he explained.

He said the MRF “should be highly-integrable and interoperable with our allies in the region.”

Cordura clarified that PAF’s FA-50s – currently totaling 11 – are classified as lead-in fighters.

“In the integrated air defense system, right now what we lack practically – it’s not yet ideal. In terms of 100 percent, it’s not yet 100 percent, because we do not have the multi-role,” he said.

“Multi-role capabilities are different from the FA-50 capabilities. Multi-role allows us a greater reach and endurance. Its communication system allows us a better encryption. Its radar tracking is more enhanced, and the platform itself in terms of performance, in terms of projecting the force that we require. It can carry a variety of air munitions and the FA-50 cannot,” Cordura said.