Philippines receives 4 new Cessna 172S trainer aircraft from US

 

One of the Cessna 172S trainer aircraft handed over to the PN NAW. Photo c/o US Embassy in the Philippines.

The Philippine Navy (PN) has formally received and inducted 4 new Cessna 172S primary trainer aircraft received from the United States Government.

The aircraft were acquired as part of a PHP298.1 million (US$5.8 million) military assistance grant to the Philippines under the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program.

The aircraft were delivered to the Philippines on December 2021, and were reassembled locally before being handed-over to the PN’s Naval Air Wing on 10 February 2022 by US Charge D’ Affaires Heather Variava to Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, with other Philippine Navy and Armed Forces of the Philippines officials present.

The United States Government also provided pilot and mechanic training to 24 Philippine Navy personnel in Kansas City, Kansas from August to September 2021.

These new trainer aircraft will complement the Naval Air Wing’s existing Cessna 172 fleet composed of older variants, and will be used to provide primary to basic flight training to incoming pilots of the Naval Air Wing.

Based on photos released by the Department of National Defense (DND), the tail numbers of the aircraft are NVT350, NVT351, NVT352 and NVT353.

The Naval Air Wing has been expanding its fixed wing aircraft fleet in last few years, with 5 Beechcraft C90 King Air aircraft formerly with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) provided by the Japanese Government in 2018, and is expecting to receive at least 8 former US Navy Beechcraft C-12 Huron from the US Government starting in 2022.

The unit is also expected to receive at least 3 new Robinson R44 Raven trainer helicopters from the US Government within the year, also as part of the same US FMF grant.




[1] MaxDefense Philippines
[2] Naval News
[3] Shephard Media