The Philippines is expected to issue a request for bids (RFB) for up to 24 fighter aircraft by the end of March, with a potential supplier to be selected by the middle of the year.
The Philippines air force is in desperate need of combat aircraft to replace its ageing Northrop F-5s, only a handful of which remain airworthy.
Sources close to the fighter procurement suggest that the RFB will ask for proposals covering the acquisition of 12, 18, and 24 aircraft. Bidders will include Boeing, proposing the F/A-18C/D; British Aerospace, with the Saab JAS39 Gripen; Dassault offering the Mirage 2000; Israel Aircraft Industries, offering its Kfir 2000; Lockheed Martin, with the F-16C/D; and MAPO, with the MiG-29 Fulcrum.
Alongside the RFB for the combat aircraft, the Philippines is also expected to seeks bids for its offshore patrol vessel programme, as well as for five air defence radars. The radar competition has been narrowed down to Alenia, GEC-Marconi and Northrop Grumman, with Thomson-CSF apparently out of the running.
The RFB for the fighter project requires bidders to submit their best and final offers within 60 days. An evaluation period of just under seven weeks is being suggested, although this timescale for a selection decision is optimistic. A potential stumbling block is the June Philippine presidential election.
Some project sources also suggest that the USA may once again try to interest the Philippines in taking refurbished F-5s as an inexpensive way of bolstering its air force. Previous attempts to interest the Philippines in mothballed F-16A/Bs from the Netherlands have so far proved fruitless, however.
Alongside the fighter aircraft, the RFB is also expected to ask for a comprehensive package of air to air missiles (AAMs) and air to surface guided weapons. In terms of AAMs, short range offerings will include the Matra BAe Dynamics Magic 2 and Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile, as well as the Rafael Python-4 and Vympel R-73 (AA-11 Archer). It is not known whether the Raytheon AIM-9 Sidewinder, or the replacement AIM-9X, will be proposed as part of US aircraft bids.
Medium range active radar- guided AAMs will include the Matra BAe Dynamics Mica, Rafael Derby, Vympel R-77 (AA-12 Adder) and, possibly, the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. The AIM-120 has not been released to the region, but the USA could argue that it will have been cleared by the time of aircraft delivery, should the air force be able to pay for a beyond visual range missile.
Source: Flight International
