Daily TribuneThe GBADS is projected not only to protect vital military installations and various ground and air assets but is also intended, when necessary, to secure our nation’s centers of gravity, critical government utilities and other essential facilities and assets of national importance
The Armed Forces of the Philippines is ending the year 2022 with a lot more firepower than it began the year as it is now capable of engaging and shooting down hostile aircraft and drones that may intrude over the country's airspace.
This was after the Philippine Air Force formally took possession of the first two batteries of its ground-based air defense system at the Basa Air Base in Floridablanca, Pampanga last 8 November, which was personally witnessed by President and Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
GBADS is tasked to protect critical defense installations and assets of the AFP aside from the Philippines' so-called "center of gravity."
"Center of gravity" may either refer to a country's densely populated areas or key political and business infrastructures.
"The GBADS is projected not only to protect vital military installations and various ground and air assets but is also intended, when necessary, to secure our nation's centers of gravity, critical government utilities and other essential facilities and assets of national importance," PAF spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said.
She added that having the GBADS in the PAF inventory gives the service a "layered defense" against intruding and hostile aircraft, adding that the GBADS batteries that are in service are the first modern surface-to-air missile defense system of the AFP.
The GBADS will also be the primary weapon of the PAF's 960th Air and Missile Defense Group.
"The newly acquired GBADS or specifically called SPYDER Philippines Air Defense System is a mobile air and missile defense system designed to protect critical installations, land-based fixed assets, mobile platforms, and friendly forces from aerial threats, such as combat aircraft, attack helicopters, unmanned air vehicles, incoming missiles, guided munition, and rockets. In certain cases, it may also be used to neutralize surveillance threats," Castillo said.
