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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider France air force mission now in PH for first time to boost security ties

France air force mission now in PH for first time to boost security ties

Published Jul 28, 2024 05:57 am

The PEGASE mission, an annual French Air and Space Force-led deployment in the Indo-Pacific, has arrived in the Philippines, the French Embassy announced.

France_Pegase3.jpg
 France's Rafale fighter jets  (Photo from French Embassy in the Philippines)

 

"The #PEGASE24 mission has arrived at the Clark Air Base! For the first time, the mission makes an enhanced stopover in the Philippines. Maligayang pagdating (Welcome)!," the embassy said in an X (formerly Twitter) post. 

 

The arrival of the mission is part of its “stopovers and air diplomacy” phase, it added in a separate statement. 
 

“The enhanced stopover of the PEGASE mission in the country comes after France and the Philippines signed a letter of intent outlining an agenda for increasing France’s presence in the Indo-Pacific region during the visit of Minister for Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu in Manila on December 2023.”
 

Two Rafale, two A330 MRTT Phénix, and an A400M with a detachment of more than 200 airmen arrived at the Clark Air Base in Pampanga on Saturday, July 27.
 

They are scheduled to stay until July 31.
 

In its white paper regarding the Philippines, France took note of the “promising strong defense partnership in the Indo-Pacific” and the “rising security challenges (such as natural disasters and foreign destabilization maneuvers)” Manila is facing.
 

“The deployment of the PEGASE 24 “will be a first opportunity for both countries to interact bilaterally and in the Philippines in Air-to-Air activities,” the paper stressed.
 

“To ensure the security in the aerial and maritime domain, air defence is emerging as the one of the next priorities for the Philippine Armed Forces (PAF). While the PAFs possesses American FA-50 aircrafts and Korean KAI F-50 aircrafts, it currently does not have any refuelling aircrafts,” it noted.
 

Air-to-air refueling activities will be part of the agenda with the French aircrafts Airbus A400M Atlas and A330 MRTT Phoenix, which are specialized in this aspect since the start of the PEGASE 24 last month.
 

The arrival of the PEGASE 24 mission came after the December 2023 visit of French Minister of Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu in Manila, where he met with Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.
 

The two ministers then signed a letter of intent, in which “they highlighted their strategic proximity and common security appreciations.”
 

The letter aims to achieve four goals, the white paper, said: strengthen military to military cooperation through joint exercises; strengthen the legal framework of the bilateral defense relationship; increase strategic exchanges; and deepen cooperation the field of defense industries.

Related Tags

French Embassy Indo-Pacific Region PEGASE mission
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