PHILIPPINE Air Force spokesman Colonel Araus Robert Musico on Tuesday confirmed that one of the new FA50 “Golden Eagle” jet fighter that was grounded due to a bird strike is already under repair, almost five months after the incident in April.
“Yes, one of our two FA50 aircraft was on a takeoff roll when a bird hits its engine,” Musico said in a text message, a day after the story was published.
“The engine is now undergoing repair and will soon be in service,” Musico said, again correcting the source’s information that the damaged engine was “totally damaged.”
The supersonic aircraft was among the first batch of a couple of delivery made by manufacturer Korean Aerospace Inc. in November 2015.
The government had ordered a squadron of the aircraft, or 12 units, worth P18.9 billion through a government-to-government negotiation.
President Rodrigo Duterte had criticized the procurement as a “waste of money” even as he vowed to allot more budget to the ongoing modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.