The Philippine air force was expecting
the delivery of three hermes 900 and one
hermes 450 unmanned aerial systems, UAS. Each comprising three UAVS ground
control system and support equipment, plus a spare used hermes 450 UAV included by albert systems as part of
the deal bringing a total of 13 flying UAVS.
Acquisition project and the planned
procurement of hermes 900 in hermes 450 UAVS back in august as part of the
horizon two phase priority projects of
the revised AFP modernization program. The PAF UAS acquisition is actually the
first big ticket project of the Philippine air force under the horizon
two phase, as it was pushed even before
the horizon 2 phase was approved by
president Duterte.
Delivery completion by 2021. According to
our sources the last batch of hermes 900 UAVS arrived in the Philippines last
august 2020. Although Albert Systems
contract with the department of national
defense dnd is not yet complete as elvit
will need to complete all other
requirements including establishment of
ground facilities, training, logistics
support and spares. It would be remembered that in the
philippine air force's lead as one
publication released in last mid 2020, it
mentioned that the PAF is expecting the
delivery of two UAS composed of six UAVS in ground support equipment.
Aside from surveillance the PAF's hermes
900 fleet can also be deployed for
maritime search and rescue. While albert systems has not identified
the customer for their new life raft
deployment capability.
Max Defense
sources confirmed that it is indeed the
philippine air force. This could be useful in assisting ships
in distress on the high seas or even
within philippine territorial and
archipelagic waters, allowing faster
response in saving lives. Below is a video from albert's system
showing this new capability for the
hermes 900 UAV. Hermes 900 in hermes 450 in paf service, the UAVS will be operated by the PAF's
303rd aerial reconnaissance group of the
300th air intelligence and security wing.
The 303rd ARG divided the deployment of
these new UAVS as well as existing ones
like the boeing incident scan eagle 2 UAVS to different bases around the
country and training being conducted at
the philippine army aviation regiments
base in Fort Magsaissai in Nueva is Siege. Location of bases where the UAVS will be
deployed are confidential, although it
would be remembered that sightings of
the both hermes 900 and hermes 450 were
confirmed in several locations in the
philippines. While the hermes 450 and hermes 900 UAVS are already delivered. They will all
undergo operationalization.
According to sources only one hermes 900
unmanned aerial system with three UAVS and the Soul Hermes 450 UAS with four UAVS are partially operational while the
two other hermes 900 UAS with three UAVS each will probably reach partial lope
rationalization by second quarter of
2021. Once operational the Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 UAS can be utilized for
several surveillance missions, including
tracking down terrorists in jungle and
urban areas, battlefield surveillance and
real-time surveillance and maritime
surveillance in the West Whilippine Sea Northern borders with Taiwan, Japan and
the Bashi Channel, Southern Tri border
with Indonesia and Malaysia and the Philippine rise and other missions like
search and rescue.
The UAS could also cover for the lack of
sufficient manned maritime patrol
aircraft. Although there are certain
missions that a manned maritime patrol
aircraft are capable of doing that these UAS may not be able to do including
anti-submarine warfare and munitions
delivery. Horizon 2 still far from complete with
the deliveries completed this marks the
completion of the first major project of
the philippine air force under the
horizon 2 Phase.
While this is Major Milestone the delays
in several other horizon 2 major
projects for the PAF is disappointing
considering the end of horizon 2 is just
a little over two years. Max Defense hopes that the DND and PAF to speed up their other projects like
the already delayed attack helicopter
and the slow-moving multi-role fighter
acquisition projects.
