The Philippines National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana disclosed on Tuesday, July 4 that the United States government is expected to deliver ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) before the year ends.
The US government has programmed to hand over a Scan Eagle-type UAV but delivery would take time, as the transfer has to pass through various agencies.
“Eventually, they told us that they are now ready to deliver. So they might deliver to us the Scan Eagle-type sometime September or October,” Lorenzana said.
Malacañang said the US has expressed its full support for the military operations to flush out terrorists.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said US Ambassador Sung Kim has vowed support for the administration’s campaign to rid Marawi City of the gunmen allied with Islamic State.
“The ambassador reiterated the US government’s full support for the Philippine government operations in Marawi as well as in its reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts for the Islamic city,” Abella said.
Last June, Naval Air Systems Command of the United States Navy released a solicitation document for the procurement of undisclosed number of ScanEagle from Insitu for the Philippine government with estimated value of $13.5M.
The contract involves ScanEagle UAVs, spares, support equipment, tools, training, and support services.
The document also revealed that Philippines has previously procured ScanEagle UAS.
It has been estimated that with the mentioned estimated value, the Philippines will be getting 15 UAVs.
Source: philstar global