Aside from multi-role fighter (MRF) aircraft, the Philippine Air Force (PAF) also needs Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) capability, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Tuesday.

"It is not only the purchase of the MRF per se which we need to deal with but also to make the MRFs operational as a force package, meaning to say we need the AWACS capability," he said.

"A lot of countries have experienced the fact that they are realizing that they need AWACS, notwithstanding the fact that their satellite capability is not enough, we need tankers and we need sustainment," he added.

Teodoro also noted the need "to maintain and to use the equipment with adequate stores, reserves, and munitions which will add considerably to the cost of the package must be all taken into account."

He noted that although the acquisition of MRF under the third horizon of the revised modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is already approved in principle the proposal of the project is still under evaluation.

"We are also looking at other capabilities which are equally important like other deterrent capabilities," he said.

In a previous interview, PAF Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura, said the service also considered the "potential" of the Japanese-made MRF.

"Mitsubishi fighters, the Japanese made multi-roles, are very potential platforms," he said referring to Mitsubishi F-2, a multi-role fighter aircraft derived from the United States F-16 Fighting Falcon that was jointly developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Lockheed Martin for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF).

The F-2 which is armed with a 20mm cannon, air-to-air radar missile, air-to-air infrared missile, air-to-ship missile has a maximum speed of Mach 2.0. Robina Asido/DMS