THE Air Force will test-fly 15 T-41 Cessna planes donated by the South Korean government today to confirm their airworthiness, officials said.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Air Force commander Lt. Gen. Oscar Rabena will lead the turnover ceremony with Korean Ambassador Choi Jung Kyung at the Clark Airbase in Pampanga.

The maiden flights will start from the nearby Basa Air Base in Florida town to Fernando Airbase in Lipa City.

Air Force spokesman Maj. Gerardo Zamudio Jr. said the addition of 15 trainer planes would ease the backlog in training for new pilots.

?The arrival of the trainer planes will greatly enhance the operational readiness of the entire [Air Force], especially in training its pilots for the transition to territorial defense mode in 2012 from the current internal security operations of the Armed Forces,? Zamudio said in a statement.

The Philippines and Korea have been exchanging military technology since 1994.

Earlier, the Korean government delivered 12 PK boats or high-speed surveillance patrol vessels, 10 PKM boats, three F-5/A aircraft, 16 buses for the Philippine Military Academy, parachutes, field telephones, Kevlar ballistic helmets, engineering equipment and ammunition and maintenance parts for the patrol boats.

Korean military officers, in return, are accommodated at the National Defense College and the AFP Command and General Staff Course, the educational institutions within Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

?We have an existing memorandum of agreement on logistics and defense industry cooperation with Korea. It covers procurement, supply, maintenance and transportation,? Zamudio said.

The Air Force had only eight Cessna planes before the turnover.

Learning to fly a Cessna is a prerequisite to flying more complicated aircraft such as the SF-260, OV10 and other fighter jets. Jaime Pilapil