Photo courtesy of PAF
Around eight aircraft from the Republic of Korea Air Force’s “Black Eagles” Team and four Philippine Air Force FA-50PH jets will participate in a scheduled “Friendship Flight” on February 23.
The exercise aims to strengthen interoperability between the two air forces and highlight growing defense cooperation.
PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Christina Basco said the Black Eagles will fly seven TA-50s in arrowhead formation with one photo ship tasked to film the maneuvers.
For the Philippine contingent, four FA-50PHs will take part, with three in formation and one serving as a photo ship.
The flight will take place over Clark Air Base in Angeles City, Pampanga, according to a PAF advisory released on Wednesday.
The T-50 aircraft used by the Black Eagles are aerobatic variants of the Mach 1.5-capable FA-50PHs operated by the PAF as fighter jets.
Both aircraft types are manufactured by Korea Aerospace Industries, which supplied the PAF with an initial 12 FA-50PHs and a second batch of more advanced models.
The Black Eagles, officially the 53rd Air Demonstration Group, was established on December 12, 1994, originally flying six Cessna A-37B “Dragonfly” planes, disbanded after the 2007 Seoul Air Show, and reformed with T-50B jets in 2010.
