Aussie Pilot Cites Ideal PAF Attack Chopper

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A Filipino pilot based in Australia said the ideal procurement of an attack helicopter for the Philippine military is to buy the Bell AH-1Z Viper Attack Helicopter (AH) than the Bell AH-1 Super Cobra or Boeing AH-64 Apache.

Denmark Suede told this writer that with a limited budget of P13.8 billion for a purchase of a squadron of these combat choppers, the offer of Bell to buy five of its Vipers and the remaining seven funded by soft loan was the best gesture.

“Plus magbibigay ang U.S ng Whiskey (Super Cobra) na one squadron (10 to 12 helicopters). The U.S offer is the best offer,” he said in Filipino.

He cited that Turkey Aerospace Industry (TAI), the maker of T-129 attack chopper, offers loan too to the Philippines to buy their product.

A pilot and a pilot-gunner operate each of the attack helicopters.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Technical Working Group of the Philippines Air Force (PAF) recommended in 2018 to purchase the T-129.

“But they could only get “less than 10” units with their budget,” he said.

Last December 2019, Boeing offered to sell a squadron of AH-64 Apache to the Philippines.

ATTACK CHOPPERS FOR PH. Clockwise above: U.S Bell AH-1 Z Viper Attack Helicopter (AH), U.S Boeing Apache AH, Turkey Aerospace Industry’s T-129 ATAK, and U.S Bell AH-W Super Cobra.

The country has a budget of P13.8 billions for a squadron of attack choppers as mandated by the Horizon-I of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Modernization Act (RAFPMA) or what is known as Republic Act 10349, that covered years 2013 to 2017..

According to a military website, Super Cobra AH W or Whiskey, AH-1Z Viper, Apache, and T-129 have price tags of US$10.7 million (2007)/ P535 million (AH-W), US$27 million/P1.350 billion (refurbished Viper) or US$31 million/ P1.55 billion (newly built Viper), $40 million/P2 billion (Apache), $50 million/PP2.5 billion (T-129), respectively.

DefenseTurkey.com cited that the $50, 000 or P2.5 billion price tag apiece of T-129 includes the comprehensive packages of logistics, munitions, spare parts, ground support equipment and training.

The publication about the other choppers did not provide if their prices included as those packages on T-129.

SUPER COBRA

The Bell AH-1 Super Cobra, according to Wikipidea, is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the United States Army's single-engine AH-1 Cobra. The twin Cobra family, itself part of the larger Huey family, includes the AH-1J Sea Cobra, the AH-1T Improved Sea Cobra, and the AH-1W Super Cobra. The AH-1W, the backbone of the United States Marine Corps' attack helicopter fleet for decades, is being replaced by the next generation Bell AH-1Z Viper.

VIPER

The Bell AH-1Z Viper is an American twin-engine attack helicopter, based on the AH-1W Super Cobra, that was developed for the United States Marine Corps as part of the H-1 upgrade program, according to Model Designation of Military Aerospace Vehicles by the US. The AH-1Z features a four-blade, bearing less, composite main rotor system, uprated transmission, and a new target sighting system. The AH-1Z, one of the latest members of the prolific Bell Huey family, is also called "Zulu Cobra", based on the military phonetic alphabet pronunciation of its variant letter.

T-129 ATAK

The TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK, according to airforce- technology.com, is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role, all-weather attack helicopter based on the Agusta A129 Mangusta platform. Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) developed the T129 with partner AgustaWestland. The helicopter is designed for advanced attack and reconnaissance missions in hot and high environments and rough geography in both day and night conditions.

AH-64 APACHE

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night vision systems. It is armed with a 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 chain gun carried between the main landing gear, under the aircraft's forward fuselage, and four hardpoints mounted on stub-wing pylons for carrying armament and stores, typically a mixture of AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and Hydra 70 rocket pods. The AH-64 has significant systems redundancy to improve combat survivability.

The United States has lifted out recently its sanction on Turkey thus the supply of U.S made engines LHTEC T800, made by a consortium of British’s Rolls Royce and U.S Honeywell, for T-129 have returned to business with foreign buyers.

The two pilots’ capable helicopter is heavily armored plated especially on its belly and rotors that could sustain blast against 12.7mm armor-piercing rounds projectiles while it carries its three-barrel rotary cannon (500 rounds) and hard points.

SUPER COBRA

The performances of the AH-1W Super Cobra, according to the International Directory of Military Aircraft, are maximum speed: 190 knots (218 mph, 352 km/h), Range: 317 nmi (365 mi, 587 km); Service ceiling: 12,200 ft (3,720 m), and; Rate of climb: 1,620 ft/min (8.2 m/s).

Its armaments are: M197 3-barreled Gatling cannon in the A/A49E-7 turret (750 rounds ammo capacity); 2.75 in (70 mm) Hydra 70 or APKWS II[55] rockets – Mounted in LAU-68C/A (7 shot) or LAU-61D/A (19 shot) launchers; 5 in (127 mm) Zuni rockets – 8 rockets in two 4-round LAU-10D/A launchers; TOW missiles – Up to 8 missiles mounted in two 4-round XM65 missile launchers, one on each outboard hardpoint; AGM-114 Hellfire missiles – Up to 8 missiles mounted in two 4-round M272 missile launchers, one on each outboard hardpoint, and; AIM-9 Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles – 1 mounted on each outboard hardpoint (total of 2).

Australia based pilot Denmark Suede and author at the latter Talk Radio 101.

VIPER

The performances of the Viper, according to Wikipidea, are never exceeded speed of 222 knots (255 mph, 411 km/h) in a dive; Cruise speed: 160 kt (184 mph, 296 km/h); Range: 370 nmi (426 mi, 685 km; Combat radius: 125 nmi (144 mi, 231 km) with 2,500 lb (1,130 kg) payload; Service ceiling: 20,000+ ft (6,000+ m); Rate of climb: 2,790 ft/min (14.2 m/s).

In terms of armaments. It has the following: Guns: 1 × 20 mm (0.787 in) M197 three-barreled rotary cannon in the A/A49E-7 turret (750 round ammo capacity); Hardpoints: Up to 6 pylon stations on stub wing; Rockets: 2.75 in (70 mm) Hydra 70 or APKWS II[52] rockets – Mounted in LAU-68C/A (7 shot) or LAU-61D/A (19 shot) launchers (up to 76 unguided or 28 guided rockets total); Missiles: AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles – 1 mounted on each wing tip station (total of 2), AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles – Up to 16 missiles mounted in four 4-round M272 missile launchers, two on each wing.

T-129 ATAK

Its performances are maximum speed: 278 km/h (151 knots, 174 mph); Cruise speed: 269 km/h (145 knots, 167 mph); Range: 561 km (303 nmi, 341 mi); Ferry range: 1,000 km (540 nmi, 620 mi)

• Service ceiling: 6,096 m (20,000 ft), and; Rate of climb: 14.0 m/s (2,750 ft/min).

The T-129 armaments are: Guns: 1× M197 20x102 mm (0.787 in) three-barrel rotary cannon (500 rounds), Hardpoints: Provisions to carry combinations of: Rockets: maximum 4 pods with 38× 81 mm (3.19 in) unguided rockets or 76× 70 mm (2.75 in) unguided rockets or 12.7 mm (0.50 in) machine gun pod, Missiles: 8× AGM-114 Hellfire, BGM-71 TOW, Hydra 70, Spike-ER, UMTAS, OMTAS, anti-tank and anti-armor missiles and Sura D/Snora; 12x Roketsan Cirit, and; 2× AIM-92 Stinger or Mistral or AIM-9 Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles.

APACHE

The AH-64 Apache performances are never exceeded speed of 197 knots (227 mph, 365 km/h); Maximum speed: 158 knots (182 mph, 293 km/h); Cruise speed: 143 knots (165 mph, 265 km/h); Range: 257 nmi (295 mi, 476 km) with Longbow radar mast; Combat radius: 260 nmi (300 mi, 480 km); Ferry range: 1,024 nmi (1,180 mi, 1,900 km); Service ceiling: 21,000 ft (6,400 m) minimum loaded; Rate of climb: 2,500 ft/min (12.7 m/s); Disc loading: 9.80 lb/ft2 (47.9 kg/m2), and ; Power/mass: 0.18 hp/lb (0.31 kW/kg)

It has armaments of Guns: 1× 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 Chain Gun with 1,200 rounds as part of the Area Weapon Subsystem; Hardpoints: Four pylon stations on the stub wings. Longbows also have a station on each wingtip for an AIM-92 Stinger twin missile pack; Rockets: Hydra 70 70 mm, CRV7 70 mm, and APKWS 70 mm[71] air-to-ground rockets; Missiles: Typically AGM-114 Hellfire variants; AIM-92 Stinger and Spike missiles may also be carried.

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

Why PH dawdles on her defense versus China

(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

4-Star Gen. and I Admire this Nonpareil Writer

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

During the 83^rd birthday of former five-time House of Representatives' Speaker Joe de Venecia attended by foreign and local high rollers and his supporters held at his coastal abode, I bumped into former Philippine National Police Chief and retired Four-Star General Art Lomibao.

“Sir, I’ve been reading about you in the old columns of Max Soliven like when you visited him in his hospital bed,” I told the former top honchos of the National Irrigation Administration and Land Transportation Office while we shook our hands.

“Send mo nga sa akin ang link,” the PMA Class of 1974 alumnus retorted.

I told him that I read the intrepid and prodigious columns of Soliven, 77, since first year college.

I first known his death in November 24, 2006 in Japan while I was airborne to Manila from Davao City after visiting my old folks in the southern island.

“Me too, we have mutual admiration (to his op-ed),” he answered me as Regional Examiner Editor Edwin Tandoc had a hard time taking our photo op with my android phone.

“Edwin, give me my phone and I’ll do the “selfie” with the general,” I said.

By the way, Soliven was Speaker JDV professor in Ateneo de Manila when the latter was cutting his teeth for his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

Author and former national police chief retired four-star general

 Art Lomibao during the recent 83rd birthday bash of former 

five-time House Speaker Joe de Venecia.

Here are some of the excerpts of the June 29, 2006 article of Soliven on Lomibao:

“Even while still in hospital, I managed to confer with Police Director General and Police Chief Arturo C. Lomibao who came to visit me. Lomibao, who is retiring on July 5, his birthday, has done a crackerjack job – but he had only one year and four months in which to do it. Too few men. Too little resources. Not enough firearms. Too many rascals in the police force. What can even the most earnest, hardworking, courageous chief of police accomplish – when he’s already a lameduck on the very day he was appointed? I’ve argued – and this, too, quite often with the President herself – that a police chief must have three years in which to lead. It won’t happen. The next guy slated to take over will, if my calculations are correct, have only eleven months until he retire also – next year. The third in line just about a year and a half”.

City, town police chiefs earn peanuts from gambling

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A chief of police (COP) of a large town reminisced the years when a COP could get P200, 000 to P400, 000 a month protection monies from the illegal number games’ jueteng lord.

“Maliit ang bigayan ngayon ng Peryahan ng Bayan sa amin, kuya,” he told me when I asked him how the number game played like jueteng PnB shares the sales with the COP.

Jueteng was illegal where most of the proceeds went to the pockets of the gambling lords, police brass, and politicians while Peryahan ng Bayan (PnB) is legal under the Duterte Administration where a bulk of its revenues go to the coffer of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to help the destitute.

Officers and men of the Philippine National Police. Photo Credit: Official Gazette.

A high official, who asked for anonymity, of the PCSO franchised Small Town Lottery (STL) who is based in Southern Luzon told this writer that chiefs of police felt sorry now because they get only a pittance monthly from the share of the PnB’s daily revenues.

“It’s only the (police) provincial and regional police directors who earned big monthly from PnB while the chiefs earned peanuts”.

He said if the collection of bet monies a day in a big city is P500, 000, the COP gets .5%  (or point five percent) or P2,500 a day or P75, 000 a month.

He explained this monthly amount is not hefty because the COP has to feed the daily meals of his policemen that numbered into hundreds.

“Noong panahon ng jueteng magkano ang kita ng chief of police sa siyudad na ito?” I asked him.

He said between P400, 000 to P450, 000 monthly.

Who is this Corrupt Cabinet Secretary?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Although I am not an avid fan of Irish rock band U2’s front man Bono or Paul David Hewson (I’d rather watch Australian AC-DC and Angus Young do his duck walks, te-he), I liked his activism.

Bono, who loves to garb in shades, white tees and faded jeans, had been seen in the past rubbing elbows in official ceremonies with then U.S Presidents George W. Bush and Barrack Obama, then Brazil President Lula ad Silva, then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, and anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, philanthropist, and then South African President Nelson Mandela.

This what he told recently the thousands of cheering Flips, er, Filipinos inside the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.

“Also in our prayers, let's keep the journalists, the truth-tellers, the activists who keep this country spiritually safe. We salute you, truth-tellers, everyday heroes, we see your lights, we see the stars, the Manila sky," he said as the band played the opening chords of David Bowie's "Heroes."

The Lethal, Costly Weapons of a Cobra

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Look at the weaponry of the AH-1S (Tzefa or Hebrew’s for Viper) modernized two attack helicopters donated to us by the Kingdom of Jordan.

The Cobra is armed with 20 mm M197 3-barreled Gatling cannon ,  Hydra 70 rockets, AIM-9 Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles, and BGM-71 TOW tube launched, optically tracked, wire guided U.S made anti-tank missiles. 

Since our third hand AH-1S will not be pitted with tanks, just like in the warfare she participated in the 1972 Battle of An Lộc, the capital of Bình Phước Province, Vietnam where many of them were shot down by Soviet and Chinese made anti-aircraft artillery batteries and missiles, but with communist and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) backed up guerrillas armed with light automatic weapons, her M-197 20mm Gatling gun, unguided air-to-ground Hydra 70 rocket will see action complemented with her agility and maximum speed of 149 knots (172 mph, 277 km/h), range of 315 miles or 510 kilometers, and rate of climb of 1,620 ft/min (8.2 m/s). 

The  tube (extreme left) where the  Hydra 70 Rockets are located and the 20 mm M197 3-barreled Gatling cannon at the swiveling ventral gun turret at the front belly of the Cobra Attack Helicopter.

Indeed, she will be the scourged of those bad guys I mentioned.

When will the mettle of these Cobras be tested? Will it be in Samar where many cops and soldiers have been ambushed and killed by the commies there? Will it be in Negros Occidental where my police Lt. Colonel friend Ryan Manongdo, a PNPyer and a Pangasinense, has been passionate to “indoctrinate” the Reds through his brainchild’s ELCAC or Ending Local Communist Armed Conflict? or in Basilan or Jolo Sulu where the Tausogs have been fighting the soldiers since time immemorial where the Bell Hueys (the sister utility chopper of Bell Cobra) timely saved hundreds of Marines’ lives for the meat grinder in the November 1972 Battle of Sibalu Hill there (READ HERE)?

---

Since our guerrillas are not as advanced as those Talibans in the late 1970s and early 1980s who turned into smithereens those Russian Mig jets and helicopters through the U.S made and supplied Stinger handy heat seeking missiles and Iranians and Iraqi soldiers who destroyed many Cobras and twin engine Super Cobras with their  man-portable air-defense systems (MPADS) and surface to air missiles in those countries war of attrition, the Philippine coffer save a lot by arming the old, expensive to maintain, and night deficient Cobra (reasons why Israel and Jordan gave them away) with  20 mm M197 3-barreled Gatling cannon , and Hydra 70 rockets.

Gatling cannon, located at the swiveling ventral gun turret, is a lightweight, three-barrel version of the M61A1 Gatling gun intended for applications that require a lightweight, highly reliable weapon capable of firing up to 1,500 shots per minute (that’s P1, 899,675.00, son of a gun, per minute!)?

So one combat mission in the New People’s Army, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters , or Abu Sayaff lair means tens of millions of pesos spent on the ammos of the Gatling Guns.

The Hydra 70 Rocket, located at the wing store pylons, is a 2.75- inch (70 mm) diameter fin-stabilized unguided rocket used primarily in the air-to-ground role. It can be equipped with a variety of warheads, and in more recent versions, guidance systems for point attacks.  Each of the rockets cost $2,799 or P142,077. If the Cobra unleashed 10 of them in Samar or Jolo Sulu they are a staggering mind blowing sum of P1, 420, 770.00 of taxpayers’ money!

Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war), eh?

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN

U.SMilitary Rescue Operation: Things Filipinos Could Learn

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MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

Thanks Jordan, But Those Cobras Are Not The Deadliest

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Several reporters of national dailies, bloggers, and social media members mistakenly dubbed the two AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters donated by Jordan to the Philippines, as “One of the world’s most lethal combat helicopters”.

Those Messengers of Death for the commies' New People’s Army and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) backed guerrillas arrived last November 26 at the former U.S Clark Air Base in Pampanga. 

Since these late variant of attack helicopters, armed with 20 mm M197 3-barreled Gatling cannon , Mk 40 rockets, AIM-9 Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles, and others, were mass produced in 1967 they are not considered deadly compared to the armaments, radar, and armor of the Top 9 Powerful Attack Helicopters in the world today.

Here are their rankings according to military.com.today:

1.       Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian (USA); 2. Bell AH-1Z Viper (USA); 3. Kamov Ka-52 Hokum-B (Russia); 4. Mil Mi-28 Havoc (Russia); 5.Eurocopter Tiger (France/Germany); 6.  Z-10 (China); 7.  Denel AH-2 Rooivalk (South Africa); 8. Augusta A129 Mangusta (Italy); 9.  Mil Mi-24 Hind (Russia).

 

AH-1F Cobra. Photo Credit: aircav.com

In the hardbound book’s Apache Dawn by Damien Lewis that I gave to my classmate, farmers’ leader, and my avid listener about military science since elementary days in Mindanao Farmer Joe Ontoy Fabila despite me reading only several pages there, the author crowed that aside from being piloted by British Warrant Officers (geez man, they are not officers like lieutenants or captains), Lewis wrote that the AH-64 Apache could still fly back to the base despite its one of the two turbo shaft T700 –GE70IC engines (the Brits used the powerful Rolls Royce Engines) being hit by anti –aircraft gun, its heavily armored plated side and underbelly, night vision capability, Longbow Hell Fire Modular Missiles System, Long Bow Fire Control Radar – Mast Mounted System and a powerful camera that could enhance with high resolution the I.D of a person thousands of miles above, and infrared jammer where a Taliban guerilla could not ring his cellular phone to trigger the explosion of a bomb where the British military convoy pass over it.

Enough said for the Apache!

Soldiers Killed Officers Who Abused Them

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

In the past two weeks, two of my blogs cum columns went viral as based on the statistics of blogspot.com that gauge how many readers around the world opened it and read. Online techie called the number of readers that run to thousands as “hits”.

The first intriguing blog I posted was titled: Cong’womanto Resign After Naked Photos, 3-Somes Exposed. while the second was the controversial Soldiers Shot Officers Because They HazedThem – Ex General.

Controversial and intriguing are two words I learned in my almost three decades column writing as bait for the number of curious readers to gravitate in a column and thus spike the number of hits, and of course the ads there teh he, when I became online writer sometimes in years 2010s.

When former two-star police general Leopoldo Bataoil became a source on my second blog, he told me about his and members of the Triple A or the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association (PMAAA) pep talk with cadets of the PMA after the brutal killing through hazing of Cadet 4^th Class Darwin Dormitorio. Some of Bataoil, now a mayor of Lingayen, Pangasinan, remarks tackled too the physical abuses of officers who were either graduates of PMA and Officer Candidates School to the soldiers in the field.

Those who want to read the various comments from soldiers affirming and collaborating with their posts that these abuses ensued can go to the comment section at the bottom of that second blog.