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The United States’ (US) Department of Defense (DOD) recently announced on their official Website that the Philippines is among several Countries who are paying thru Foreign Military Sales (FMS) a Contract to integrate the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) into its existing Aircraft.
The JDAM by the Way is a Kit that is attached to existing conventional Bombs to turn them into Guided Weapons. Its Guidance System mainly uses a Satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS).
Not much other relevant Details have been released, but I think I can make good assumptions about this Contract, first is that it will likely be for existing Combat Aircraft, and likely for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) since they are the ones with such Aircraft in their Inventory right now.
Next is that this is unlikely for the PAF’s older Aircraft like the OV-10 Bronco or the S-211 as those are in the process of being phased out already, so these are likely for their latest Combat Aircraft like either the FA-50PH Fighting Eagle or the A-29B Super Tucano Aircraft.
For the current and older Batches of the FA-50, as far as I know the JDAM is about the only Guided Bomb that it is qualified for right from the Factory based on Press Releases that its Manufacturer, “Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI)” released several Years ago. Upcoming Versions will have more, but for the older ones, it is only the JDAM, hence there is no need to integrate it there anymore.
This leaves us with the Super Tucano. A quick look of its Brochure available on the official Website of its Manufacturer, “Embraer SA” shows that the only Guided Bombs available for it right from the Factory are the GBU-12, GBU-58, Griffin and the Lizard Bombs, no JDAM.
From this, I think it is very likely that the JDAM Integration then will be for the Super Tucanos. Not sure if this will be for all six Aircraft or only a selected number of them.
But this brings me to another Question that may be related to the Lizard III Bombs which were prominently displayed during the Philippine Fleet Defense Expo (PFDX) last Year of 2023 which I was able to attend and even made a Video about.
As per the Commanding Officer of the 15th Strike Wing during his Speech then at the Wing’s Anniversary last Year, the Lizard Bombs were supposed to have arrived already by the second Quarter of this Year of 2024.
However, when I talked to one of the Personnel of the Wing at the recent Asian Defense and Security (ADAS) 2024 Event in Pasay, the Person said that the Lizards have not arrived yet. No other Details were mentioned, like if they are arriving at a later Date, or something.
So this makes me wonder if the Lizard III has been canceled and replaced by the JDAM? The two Weapons have different Guidance Systems, though, the Lizard III is Laser-guided only while the JDAM uses Satellite-based GPS System.
They are also made by different Countries, the Lizard is made in Israel and the JDAM is made by a US Company. Anyway, if the Lizard Bomb is really being replaced by the JDAM, since this current Administration of Bong Bong Marcos (BBM) is Pro-US, then it sort of makes sense that we are getting or relying more on US Weapons now than we did before.
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| Philippines to integrate JDAM into Aircraft, to replace Lizard Guided Bombs of the Super Tucanos? |
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