The Exciting Centennial of Philippine Aviation: PAF Selects Gripen

Earmarks US$2 Billion for MRF Re-Horizon Project

24 February 2024

The Philippine Department of Defense (DND) is slated to select Swedish-made multi-role fighter aircraft next month as it signs Implementing Arrangements with the Nordic Country.

The two countries earlier signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Concerning Cooperation in the Acquisition of Defense Materiel in June 3, 2023, and ratified on September 4, 2023 by both countries.

Teodoro said they will be signing the Implementing Arrangement (IA) concerning the Procurement of Defense
Materiel and Equipment (IA-PDME) sometime in March 2024 in Stockholm. 

Sweden intends to participate in the implementation of projects under Horizon 3 of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program, specifically in the Multi-Role Fighter (MRF) Aircraft Acquisition Project of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), together with its logistical support agreement from a Swedish Company. 

Andrew Wilkinson, Gripen campaign director said in Singapore that SAAB is just waiting for the signing of the Implementing Arrangements, so that DND can officially make tender.

 Saab will join the discussions once the bilateral
agreement is signed and after the Philippines reaches a decision on its
preferred fighter jet.

Negotiations for the procurement of the MRF jets have stalled due to defense funding realignment caused by the Covid19 pandemic.

PAF earlier set their eyes on the procurement of Lockheed Martin’s
F-16 Fighting Falcon as the MRF of choice for the Horizon 3 project.

In 2021, the U.S. Congress approved the sale of 10 F-16C
Block 70/72, with a price tag of US$30 million each, and two F-16D Block 70/72 aircraft, with a price tag of $63 million each to the Philippines in a $2.43 billion
packagel

The F-16 package includes the cost of the P&W engines, spares, related equipment such M61 Al Vulcan 20mm Guns (and spares), 20 AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM), 30 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs, 12 AN/AAQ-33 Sniper Pods, spares, practice equipment, management systems, navigation equipment, logistics, and technical support, under direct Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. But the Philippines has budgeted only $1.1 billion for
the acquisition of new fighter jets, which is good enough for 6 jets.

For the budgeted amount Sweden proposed the 4th and 4.5th generation JAS 39 Gripen C and D variant in 2022, with the same price tag of $30 million per piece, including GE 404 engines, spares, undisclosed related equipment and technical support.

The GE 404 engines are the same engines used by PAF on its FA-50s.

Saab said the offer is not anymore about the fighter aircraft, as proposed in the Horizon 3 project but arrays of defense solutions in the re-horizon project.

“There is an array of systems to provide a holistic
defense solution, and they are being propose, like the GlobalEye airborne early warning and
control plane that can provide long-range air, sea, and land
surveillance in real time. Its not about the MRF anymore,” says Wilkinson.

In 2023, the Philippine government revised the law for the horizon 3 project implementation and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. approved a 2 trillion peso (U.S. $35 billion) budget last January for the ten multi year appropriation plan for the AFP, and increased the allocation of the PAF to $2 billion, still below the price tag offered by the United States for its MRF aircraft acquisition.

The DND has not however shared a specific list of assets and platforms it wants under the revised program, but stated it will focus on raising domain awareness; connectivity; maritime and aerial deterrence; command and control; communications; computer technology; and intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.

Anders Dahl, who leads Saab’s branch in
the Philippines, said that ground radars, airborne radars, and other
types of sensors are being proposed into the defense package to provide one
aviation awareness picture that can be distributed to the armed forces.