PH fighter jet patrols West Philippine Sea, tests flare maneuvers

This screengrab from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) handout video taken on August 19, 2024, and received on August 24, 2024, shows a Chinese air force fighter jet deploying flares near a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) plane that was conducting a maritime domain awareness flight near China-controlled Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine Air Force (PAF) fighter jet patrolled the West Philippine Sea with Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. aboard.

In an ambush interview in Taguig on Monday, Brawner said the FA-50 also practiced its flare capabilities last Friday (Aug. 23), a day after the latest incident when the People’s Liberation Army-Air Force (PLAAF) used flares against one of the PAF’s planes.

“Last Friday, I was aboard our FA-15, then we patrolled the West Philippine Sea, and we also tested our flares,” Brawner said in an ambush interview in Taguig City.

READ: China fires flares anew at PH plane in Zamora Reef, Scarborough Shoal

Brawner did not further elaborate on the activity.

This comes as China used flares against Philippine aircraft in the West Philippine Sea three times this month.

The latest incident occurred on August 22, when the flares were fired from China-occupied Zamora (Subi) Reef and targeted the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)’s Cessna 208B Grand Caravan plane.

The same BFAR plane also encountered flares during its patrol in Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal last August 19.

READ: China’s dropping of flares in WPS expected as PH asserts sovereignty – Teodoro

For the first time, two PLAAF fighter jets shot flares into the path of the PAF’s NC-212i plane and made “dangerous maneuvers” during the patrols in the Panatag Shoal last August 8.

Brawner deemed these incidents as escalations.

“It is an escalation, definitely,” Brawner said when asked if the flares escalated the tensions, but he noted that China used flares even against the United States and Australia.

Beijing’s actions are based on its assertion of sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including most of the West Philippine Sea, as it continues to reject a July 2016 Arbitral Award that effectively dismissed its claims and ruled in favor of Manila.

The landmark ruling stemmed from a case filed by Manila in 2013, a year after its tense standoff with Beijing over Panatag Shoal, whose lagoon the latter now effectively controls.