4-3-2025 (MANILA) A Philippine Air Force FA-50 fighter jet and its two crew members have vanished whilst providing tactical support to ground forces engaged with communist insurgents in the mountainous terrain of Bukidnon province, southern Mindanao.
The aircraft lost communication with its squadron “minutes before reaching its target area” during a night-time operation, according to Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo. The jet had departed from Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base, which shares facilities with the airport serving Cebu, the nation’s second-largest metropolitan centre.
“We remain hopeful that we will still be able to recover the aircraft and crew,” Colonel Castillo told journalists on Tuesday. “We are still very optimistic that they are safe.” She noted this represents the “first major incident involving” the Philippines’ fleet of FA-50 aircraft.
Lieutenant-Colonel Francisco Garello of the 4th Infantry Division confirmed that air support had been summoned overnight during an armed confrontation with the New People’s Army in the region. “There was a firefight between the 403rd Infantry Brigade and they requested air support, so the air force responded to the encounter,” Garello explained.
The missing aircraft was part of Manila’s dozen-strong fleet of FA-50 fighters procured from South Korea over the past decade. These jets have previously been deployed in exercises over the contested South China Sea, where tensions between the Philippines and China have escalated over competing territorial claims.
The Philippine Air Force stated it was “conducting extensive and thorough search operations, utilising all available resources, to locate the missing jet fighter aircraft.”
The Maoist insurgency that has troubled the Philippines for decades is currently estimated to have fewer than 2,000 active guerrilla fighters remaining.
According to January reporting from the Inquirer, a local news outlet, the Philippine government had been considering the acquisition of 12 additional FA-50 aircraft.
The disappearance comes amid a troubling pattern of military aviation incidents in the Philippines. Last April, two navy pilots perished when their Robinson R22 helicopter crashed near a market south of Manila during a training exercise. In January 2023, another fatal accident claimed the lives of two PAF pilots when their Marchetti SF260 turboprop aircraft crashed into a rice field.
