15th Strike Wing, Philippine Air Force

15th Strike Wing
15th Strike Wing Emblem
Active	since 1973
Country	Philippines
Branch	Philippine Air Force
Garrison / HQ	Danilo Atienza Air Base
Nickname(s)	Trojans
Anniversaries	November 26, 1973
Website	[1]
Commanders
Wing Commander	BGEN DOMINGO O PALISOC AFP
Aircraft flown
Attack	North American Rockwell OV-10A/C Bronco, SIAI Marchetti SF-260TP/W
Attack helicopter	McDonnell Douglas 520MG Defender

The mission of the 15th Strike Wing is to conduct tactical air operations in support of Armed Forces of the Philippines units. The unit is headquartered at Danilo Atienza Air Base, Sangley Point, Cavite, just outside the capital Manila. The Wing, as of 2009, was organized with Personal, Coordinating and Technical Staff. Under the Wing's command were units broken up into 3 major groups: Tactical, Maintenance and Supply, and Air Base. The Wing's tactical elements included the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 20th Attack Squadrons and the 25th Composite Attack Squadron. Many of these units were forward deployed under the operational control of the Philippine Air Force's numerous Tactical Operations Groups. The 460th Maintenance and Supply Group and the 590th Air Base Group filled the other roles.

The 15th Strike Wing was organized and activated as a provisional unit on 26 November 1973, at Sangley Point, Cavite City, with a mission statement: To conduct counter-insurgency and special warfare operations. The appointed Acting Wing Commander then was Colonel Emerito P Surio PAF (GSC), with Colonel Pompeyo P Vasquez PAF (GSC), the Deputy Commander, and a complement of two officers and ten airmen.

Initially, the Wing had six (6) Beechcraft T-34 Mentors and six (6) North American T-28 Trojans, mostly from 100th Training Wing and 5th Fighter Wing. Ten (10) airmen were sent to the 410th Air Materiel Wing to undergo maintenance on-the-job training (OJT), in February 1974. Then, additional personnel were reassigned to the Wing such that, by the end of the year, the unit had 27 officers and 288 airmen, who became the nucleus of 15th Strike Wing.

On 1 July 1974, the 18th Maintenance and Supply Squadron (forerunner of 461st Field Maintenance Squadron), was activated and manned under the leadership of Major Salvador Cereno PAF. A month later, 16th Attack Squadron was organized in anticipation of the delivery of T-28D aircraft from Vietnam. This unit was activated and manned on 1 August 1974, with LT Colonel Santiago O Pitpitan JR PAF as Squadron Commander. Following this, the 17th Attack Squadron was activated on 1 October 1974 and was projected to man the SIAI-FRAT-260 Warriors (SF-260W). However, for several months after the unit’s activation, the squadron only manned one (1) T-34A Mentor. The first batch of the Italian-made, locally assembled SF-260W Marchetti aircraft, arrived in late February 1975.