The rhk111 Military and Arms Page: First of two ATR 72-600 Patrol Aircraft to be delivered to the Philippines in 2025

I saw this Piece of News on the Day I released the Video about Thailand adopting China’s QBZ-195T Assault Rifle, and I thought that it will be all over the News, so I wasn’t thinking of putting it into a Video, I thought I would just make a Written Post about it.

Imagine my surprise when a couple of Days later and still not a lot of News Organizations were posting it. I think it might have something to do with all the negative Publicity that Israel has been getting lately about its War in Palestine.

Anyway, Israel's Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss recently told a Philippine News Organization that the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is scheduled to receive the first of two brand new ATR 72-600 Long Range Patrol Aircraft (LRPA) that it bought from the Israeli Company "Elbit Systems Limited (Ltd)" in the middle of next Year of 2025.

Elbit actually announced this Sale back in July 2023, but back then they refused to name the Country they sold the System to, referring only to an "Asia-Pacific Country". This is one Reason why I don’t like the Philippines’ acquisitions from Israel as sometimes they are a bit too secretive.

But again, it seems that they are trying to counter the bad Press that they are getting due to the ongoing Crisis in Palestine by being more “open” nowadays about Transactions like these. The Contract is worth around Usd 114 million, or around Usd 57 million per Aircraft. Since the Contract was signed in July 2023 under the Term of President Bong Bong Marcos (PBBM), then I would consider this as a "buy" by his Administration.

I actually made a Video about the ATR 72-600 back in September of 2022 when a French Website reported that the competition for the LRPA was down to it and the C295MPA Persuader.

Back then I said that the C295 Platform had the Advantage of being used already by the PAF and has slightly better Performance, but that the ATR 72-600 had the Advantage of using an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar as it is a “stealthy” Radar that is difficult to detect, improving the survivability of the Aircraft Platform.

The Italian Aircraft Manufacturer “Leonardo SPA” markets the Maritime Patrol Version of the ATR 72-600 as “ATR 72MP” on their Website, but Elbit markets the same Aircraft as the “Special Mission Aircraft (SMA)” on their own Website, and it was to them that the Contract was awarded to.

Based on the Description of what the PAF got, their ATR 72-600 will also have a Electro-Optical (EO) System, Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) Capability and various Communication Systems. Anyway, good that the Israelis are opening up about their Defense Sales, and that the PAF will finally get their LRPA next Year.

SOURCES:

* PAF to get Israeli-made Long-Range Patrol Aircraft {Archived Link}

* Elbit Systems Awarded $114 Million Contract with Asian-Pacific Country for Long-Range Patrol Aircraft {Archived Link}

* Leonardo SPA Multi-Mission Surveillance Aircraft {Archived Link}

* Elbit Systems / Special Mission Aircraft {Archived Link}

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