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| Photo: Philippine FA-50 fighter jet |
KOMPUTER JADUL-, A Philippine FA-50 fighter jet has gone missing while undergoing a "tactical" operation from an air base near Cebu City. The whereabouts and condition of the two crew members on board the jet are still unknown.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) in a statement, as reported by Berita Journalists, Tuesday (3/4/2025), reported that the jet lost contact with other jets on the flight mission "a few minutes before they reached the target area".
Philippine Air Force spokesperson Colonel Consuelo Castillo told reporters that this was "the first major incident involving" the FA-50 fighter jet squadron, which was previously used in exercises in the disputed South China Sea.
The Philippines has dozens of fighter jets purchased from South Korea in the past decade.
Castillo said the jet was flying "over land" on its way to the target area when it went missing during a "night tactical operation to support our ground forces".
He declined to specify the nature or location of the actual mission, which saw the jets fly from Mactan-Benito Ebuen Air Base. The air base shares a runway with a civilian airport in Cebu, the Philippines' second-largest city.
Castillo said the military was "hopeful that we will be able to locate" the jets and their crew. "We are still very optimistic that they are safe," he said.
The Philippine Air Force, in a statement, said its forces were "conducting extensive and thorough search operations, utilizing all available resources, to locate the missing jets."
The FA-50s have been taking part in joint air patrols with treaty ally the United States in the disputed South China Sea, where China and the Philippines have been locked in an increasingly tense standoff over the waters.
Beijing claims almost the entire vital waterway, through which trillions of dollars of trade pass each year, despite a ruling by a Hague tribunal that ruled that China's claims have no legal basis.
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