Philippine Air Force commissions ex-USAF C-130H transport aircraft

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) inducted into service a recently acquired ex-US Air Force (USAF) Lockheed Martin (Lockheed) C-130H Hercules medium transport aircraft in a ceremony held on 18 February at the Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, Metropolitan Manila.

On 18 February the PAF formally inducted into service a refurbished Lockheed Martin (Lockheed) C-130H Hercules medium transport aircraft in a ceremony held at the Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, Metropolitan Manila. (Via Philippine Department of National Defense)

The refurbished aircraft was commissioned in an “acceptance, turn-over, and blessing ceremony” that was presided over by Secretary of Defense Delfin Lorenzana.

The C-130H (with tail number 5125), which had arrived in the Philippines on 29 January, is the first of two platforms of the type procured by the PAF under the US Excess Defense Articles Program. The second aircraft is expected to be delivered later this year.

The transport will now operate under the PAF’s 220th Airlift Wing at the Brigadier General Benito N Ebuen Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu Province.

In a statement issued in early February the PAF had said that the aircraft, which received an avionics upgrade, will provide enhanced capability in terms of heavy airlift missions to support the movement of troops and cargo during territorial defence and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.

According to Philippine authorities, the two second-hand platforms, which will add to the PAF’s current fleet of four, were purchased from the United States for a total of PHP2.5 billion (USD52 million), of which Manila contributed PHP1.6 billion and Washington PHP900 million, through the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme.