The reconnaissance and surveillance capability of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is expected to get a big boost with the formal turnover of six ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Tuesday.
Maj. Aristides Galang, PAF spokesperson, said the UAVs were acquired from the United States through its foreign military financing program.
The six ScanEagle UAVs are worth USD13.76 million. The Boeing Insitu ScanEagle is a small, long-endurance, low-altitude unmanned UAV built by Insitu, a subsidiary of Boeing, and is used for reconnaissance. Turnover ceremonies took place at the 250th Presidential Airlift Wing Hangar at the Villamor Air Base, Pasay City.
The UAVs, which arrived last March 10, were formally presented by US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Y. Kim to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Galang said the UAVs would greatly help the military in conducting air, ground, and naval operations as it is capable of missions in support of internal security, anti-terrorism, and limited maritime patrol aside from humanitarian assistance disaster relief operations.
Aside from these, the ScanEagles can also help in monitoring illegal logging and fishing activities and conduct of aerial survey.
The PAF spokesperson said that UAVs would be operated by their 300th Air Intelligence and Security Wing.