A Philippine Air Force (PAF) attack aircraft on aerial gunnery training crashed Wednesday afternoon in Tarlac, killing two officers.

Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr., Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman, said this latest tragedy, calls to mind the urgent need to modernize the AFP.

Brawner said initial information reaching the AFP headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, showed an OV-10 aircraft crashed at Crow Valley in Capas, Tarlac at around 2:55 p.m. The aircraft was said to be engaged on aerial gunnery training as part of a joint exercise with the United States Air Force when the tragedy occurred.

The ill-fated OV-10 reportedly came from Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

The aircraft’s pilot and co-pilot, identified as certain Capt. Jose Enriquez Leonardo Corpuz and 1Lt. Apollo Carandang (PMA Class 2003), were killed in the crash.

Brawner said one UH-1H helicopter with five search and rescue personnel was immediately dispatched to the crash site at around 3:06 p.m. The victims’ remains had been recovered and were to be flown to Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio, Air Force spokesman, said a maintenance recovery team from the 15th Strike Wing was also on its way to the crash site as of press time to retrieve the aircraft’s debris.

Wednesday’s incident was the second aviation tragedy involving a military aircraft this year. The first occurred in January, when a Nomad-18 aircraft crashed in Cotabato City, killing all its passengers, including a PAF general and seven other Air Force personnel.

With the latest incident, Brawner reiterated the need to upgrade the capability of the Armed Forces, as he said a staggering P331 billion may be needed to fully modernize the AFP.

“Hopefully, our lawmakers and other stakeholders realize the importance of modernizing our Armed Forces. It is not just for the AFP, but for the entire country,” said Brawner.

The AFP spokesman noted that in the 1960s, the Philippines was the object of envy of other military forces in Asia as it had the most modern equipment then. Today, however, it lags behind the military forces of Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.

“Hindi naman tayo kulelat sa ngayon, we are above Laos, Cambodia, and a little above Vietnam.” (We are not that far behind…)