Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 19, 2020 Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry says more than 30 Taliban militants have been killed in air strikes in the country’s north, although provincial officials said civilians were also among the dead. The ministry said two air strikes targeted a Taliban base in the Khan Abad district of the northern province
Janes: Afghanistan has received a further four Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)-Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light attack turboprop aircraft, with a delivery ceremony held at Kabul International Airport on 17 September. Click here to read more (external link).
Jane’s Defence Weekly: Afghanistan is to receive an undisclosed number of Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters to help replace its ageing Russian-built inventory and to enhance its air mobility capabilities, the US government disclosed in late January. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 26, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Angry residents Sunday rallied in a northern province of Afghanistan to protest the killing of at least seven civilians in an Afghan air force airstrike. Protesters, carrying bodies of the victims, said three women and three children belonging to the same family were among those killed
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News January 8, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Two Afghan pilots died in a military helicopter crash in Farah province in western Afghanistan Wednesday. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the MI 35 gunship was on its way from the provincial capital to the Pur Chaman district in the east of the province. MoD
Tolo News: The Afghan Air Force received five MD-530 Cayuse Warrior light attack helicopters on November 22. The helicopters were delivered to Kandahar via a Boeing 747 cargo aircraft on October 27 and were reassembled for active service within ten days, according to a statement by the US-based defense contractor MD Helicopters Inc., as quoted by
Air Force Times: A program to train Afghan attack pilots has been ended after the airmen kept going absent without leave, or AWOL, while training in the United States. More than 40 percent of the Afghan Air Force students enrolled in the U.S.-based training program to fly the AC-208 Combat Caravan, a light attack combat aircraft, went AWOL, according to a
Military Times: The U.S. has been transitioning Afghanistan’s air force from a fleet of Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopters to the U.S.-made UH-60 Black Hawks since 2017, but recruiting, training and sustainment challenges plague the program. The Black Hawk shipments are part of the Afghan Air Force’s modernization initiative. Click here to read more (external link).
The New York Times: Eleven years after the United States began building an air force for Afghanistan at a cost now nearing $8 billion, it remains a frustrating work in progress, with no end in sight. Some aviation experts say the Afghans will rely on American maintenance and other support for years. Such dependence could complicate
VOA News | December 13, 2018: The Afghan ministry of defense Wednesday released footage of a series of nighttime airstrikes carried out by Afghan security forces. Afghan officials told VOA the airstrikes were carried out in southern Uruzgan province against Taliban hideouts. The recent strikes mark the first time U.S.-trained Afghan pilots are carrying out airstrikes