The Philippine Army's Airtronic RPG-7USA and Sight Options

An RPG-7USA. Photo courtesy of the X-Box Experts Blog

So the Philippines finally goes over to the "Dark Side" and acquires the RPG-7s for its infantry soldiers to replace its M18 and M67 Recoilless Rifles.¹ This is a very positive development indeed, as not only are we acquiring these more sophisticated equipment, we are also getting MORE of them. The Philippine Army (PA) currently has approximately 186 90mm M67 and 26 57mm M18 Recoilless Rifles,² and in place of these the Army will acquire 400 RPG-7USA.

'Equipment Background'
"RPG-7" stands for "Ruchnoy Protivotankovye Granatomyot" in Russian which means "Hand-held, Anti-Tank Grenade Launcher". But personally I prefer the term, "Rocket-Propelled Grenade Launcher" to describe it as I feel it describes it better. The weapon consists of a reloadable launcher made of a steel tube which is mounted on the shoulder, and a projectile which is launched from the tube using a small gunpowder charge. Once the projectile has travelled 10 m away from the tube, the rocket motor ignites propelling the round faster and further up to 920 m before it self-destructs if it doesn't hit a target by then.

The Kfir Block 60 versus the SU-30MKK Flanker-G

A Kfir C12. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Peterman thru Airliners.net

I have already discussed my reservations about the Kfir Block 60 aircraft in a previous blog,¹ but the Kfir will always be a darkhorse for any plans for the Philippines to buy a main combat aircraft because of its low price, a huge consideration for a budget-conscious air force like ours. This blog will focus more on how it matches up with the main threat that it would be facing in our air force as of now, the SU-30MKK, if we do end up buying the Kfir in the near future.

'Aircraft Background'
The Kfir is based on the Mirage III/5 delta-winged aircraft whose blueprints were stolen by the Mossad (as is now detailed in various spy books and articles²), and is described as an all-weather, Multi-Role Fighter aircraft. It was made by the Israel Aircraft Industry (IAI) and first entered service in 1975, seeing extensive combat duty with the Israeli Air Force (IAF) before finally being retired in 1996.

The A-29B Super Tucano versus the AT-6B Texan II

Revised January 20, 2014. See bottom of the page for the complete revision history

An AT-6B Texan II. Photo by Airwolfhound thru Flickr

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) is actively looking for a new Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft to replace its aging fleet of OV-10 Bronco Aircraft. Not a lot of details have been released to the public, just that they intend to get half a dozen aircraft (6) and that procurement will be thru Foreign Military Sales (FMS).¹ We don't exactly know which aircraft the PhAF are considering, but right now there are two aircraft of this type that has been competing actively against each other for awhile now, and that is the A-29B Super Tucano and AT-6B Texan II. There are a LOT of materials in the internet comparing these two aircraft, and you can now add this one as my take on the matter.

'Aircraft Backgrounds'
The EMB314 or A-29 is made by Brazil's "Embraer" company, it is a turboprop aircraft designed for light attack, Counter Insurgency (COIN), CAS and Aerial Reconnaissance missions in low threat environments, and also for Pilot Training. It is based on the EMB312 Tucano Trainer Aircraft, but is has a longer fuselage, more powerful engine and strengthened airframe. It first flew in 1999, and since then over 170 aircraft has been built and went into service in eleven countries around the world. The A-29B is the two-seat version of the aircraft, and its official nickname is the "Super Tucano".²

Airborne Targetting Support for the Philippine Army's Anti Ship Missiles

An IAI Heron UAV with Surface Search Radar and a FLIR Ball Turret. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

If the Philippine Army (PA) does push thru with its plan to acquire shore-based Anti-Ship Missiles (AShM),¹ and if these missiles will have ranges of 150-200 km as per the RAND Corporation's recommendation,² then it will ALSO will needing AIRBORNE ASSETS to enable them to make use of the maximum ranges of those missiles due to the issue of RADAR HORIZON.

'Radar Horizon Issue'
I wrote a blog about the issue of the "Radar Horizon" a couple of years ago titled, "Radar Detection and The Horizon Distance". In summary, it basically means that since the Earth is round, it limits our ability to see objects over distance even when using radar because that object will eventually be hidden by the curved surface of the Earth. The Radar Horizon is affected by two things:
- The height of the object being observed;
- And the height of the equipment being used to observe the object.

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year to all the reader of this blog!!! Looking forward to an even MORE fruitful Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization this coming 2014.

Happy New Year Photo courtesy of the HD Wallpapers Website