The Philippine Air Force recently announced during the Air Power Symposium 2012 held at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia in Pasay City that it will take delivery of a further 25 helicopters before the end of 2012.  The statement is believed to be part of its preparation for the forthcoming 65th PAF anniversary celebration on July 6th.

The 25 are in two parts – the last four Sokols from PZL’s factory in Poland, and 21 refurbished Bell UH-1H Hueys.

The Sokols will complete the Air Force’s order for eight.  Each aircraft is armed with a variety of weapons such as air-to-ground rockets, air-to-air missiles, M-60 machine guns and 20mm cannons.  The contract price of the Sokol choppers was P3 billion – approx $71M US Dollars.

A proportion of the 21 Hueys were refurbished in the United States and the others were done by PAF engineers and aircraft mechanics.

Serena Manoro – HeliHub.com Tokyo correspondent