THE Philippine Air Force (PAF) said it intercepted and chased away an unidentified aircraft spotted in the vicinity of Pangasinan on Thursday, September 2, 2021.
In a statement released on Saturday, September 4, the PAF said the Philippine Air Defense Control Center (PADCC) detected at about 9:36 a.m. Thursday an unidentified aircraft at approximately 120 nautical miles northwest of Bolinao, Pangasinan.
It said the aircraft was flying at 21,000 feet at 265 knots while moving towards Philippine airspace.
Following coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority in the Philippines (CAAP), it was classified to be an unknown track of interest.
PAF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano said there was also no radio response from the said aircraft.
The PADCC issued a “scramble” order for two FA-50 fighter jets to intercept the unknown aircraft for visual identification but it sped up and headed away from the Philippine airspace four minutes into the intercept.
The intercept was terminated at 9:45 a.m. Thursday
“The objective of the intercept was to visually identify the said unknown aircraft and since the aircraft was not responsive to the radio calls and instructions given to it there was no intention to fire at the unknown aircraft. The intercept was merely for Identification,” Mariano said in an interview.
He said they cannot yet identify the type of aircraft which entered the Philippine territory, particularly whether it was military or civilian.
Mariano said it was not the first time that the country’s fighter jets conducted an interception mission. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo / SunStar Philippines)