An aircraft contracted by the Department of Defense (DOD) crashed in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao del Sur on Thursday, killing an American service member and three defense contractors.
“The aircraft was providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies. The incident occurred during a routine mission in support of U.S.-Philippine security cooperation activities,” said the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).
“We can confirm no survivors of the crash,” the statement said.
INDOPACOM said the names of the crew will be “withheld pending next-of-kin notification,” and the cause of the crash is “currently under investigation.”
A senior defense official told Fox News the downed aircraft was a U.S. Marine Corps Beechcraft King Air 350, a versatile and reliable twin-prop plane popular with both government and business clients. The standard model has a range of up to 1,806 nautical miles, offering a hefty payload capacity that can work from runways designed for small planes.
Military and government buyers use the King Air 350 for everything from medical evacuations to coastal mapping and surveillance. The plane can be equipped with a belly pod full of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) equipment. The King Air 350’s long range, good airspeed, and relatively quiet operation make it ideal for ISR missions.
A defense official told USNI News that the plane, which was owned by an ISR contractor called Metrea, “crashed in a rice field.” Local reports indicated a water buffalo was killed in the crash, but no people on the ground were injured.
Fox News quoted local officials who said residents of the area saw smoke coming from the plane and heard an explosion before it nose-dived into the ground only half a mile from a “cluster of farmhouses.”
The flight apparently took off from Mactan-Cebu International Airport, which the U.S. military gained access to through the 2014 Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement. Several more sites were added to the access list when the agreement was expanded in 2023.
“It is with deep regret we are able to confirm that there were no survivors. The families of our crew have been informed and we’re providing full support,” Metrea said in a statement on Thursday.
“Metrea has enacted its emergency response plan and is working closely with all relevant government authorities to establish the cause of the accident. The safety and wellbeing of our employees and customers continues to be our top priority,” the company said.
USNI News noted that DOD increased surveillance support to the Philippines after a series of disputes with China over islands and shoals in the South China Sea, which the Philippines refers to as the West Philippine Sea. Both U.S. Navy airplanes and drones have been more active in the South China sea since Washington and Manila signed an intelligence cooperation agreement in November.
The Associated Press (AP) also noted that U.S. forces have been deployed in the southern Philippines for decades to advise and train Philippine forces fighting Muslim insurgents. The region where the crash occurred is “the homeland of minority Muslims in the largely Roman Catholic nation.”
Thousands of armed fighters from the largest Muslim insurgent group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), are still unaccounted for, over a decade after MILF agreed to disarm. The Philippine government regards the insurgents as a potential threat to midterm elections in May.
