A pair of brand new Airbus A400M Transport plane has been offered by the French Government to the Philippines for disaster relief. The offer was made by French President Francois Hollande at Palais de l’Elysee in Paris to President Aquino Wednesday as it signed updated bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the Philippines.
No further details are available. But sources in Paris said that sale could be in the form of Official Government Assistance (ODA) from the French government financing the acquisition of the aircraft similar to the Rosenbauer firetruck purchases which was secured via loan grant from the Austrian government.
The Philippines-France Defense Cooperation Agreement was signed by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian.
“The Philippines is in the process of modernizing our armed forces and improving our defense capability, and we believe that France will be a reliable partner in this regard,†Aquino said in a Press release.
Pierre Jaffre, Airbus executive vice president for Asia Pacific said said that it sees the possibility of selling its €150 million A400M military transport plane to the Philippine military. If approved, the Philippines could be the second country in ASEAN after Malaysia to order the aircraft. The Philippines operate a fleet of 5 refurbished C-130 aircraft for disaster relief.
http://airsoc.com/articles/view/id/541b82c33139442e7b8b456a/a400m-offered-to-the-philippines
