U.S. transfers surveillance planes to the Philippines

The United States on Thursday transferred to the Philippines two brand-new, single-engine surveillance planes, boosting the capability of its former colony to patrol sprawling maritime borders, including pirate-infested southern waters.At a ceremony at an air base in Manila, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said two Cessna 208B aircraft were fitted with electro-optical sensors and other surveillance equipment to detect ships in the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea."These planes will give us mo