Afghan Air Force Will Get Its Hands on Super Tucano Very Soon

Afghanistan’s air force will be getting its first block of fixed-wing aircraft in early 2016, expanding the force's limited close-air support capability, defense officials said. The delivery of the first four A-29 Super Tucanos, a turbo prop light attack aircraft, will arrive in Afghanistan in January, and a total of eight are due before the end of 2016. A fleet of 20 will be in place by 2018, according to a senior U.S. defense official.
 

The Afghan air force will receive its first A-29 Super Tocano next month.

"In the next few months the Afghan air force will start to take off with greater firepower into the air. A-29s arrive and provide close-air support, which will be a key element to increasing the superiority of Afghan forces over Taliban forces," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said during a visit here Friday. For the past 15 years the Afghan military has mostly relied on U.S. aircraft to provide close-air support for combat units on the ground. But the U.S. military scaled back its commitment to provide that air support when it formally ended the American combat mission here in December 2014.

The arrival of the new aircraft will give Afghanistan a chance to develop its own close-air support capability. “I think it’s going to be a really important component in how they do aerial fires next year and the kind of overmatch they need to be able to have against a Taliban insurgency,” the senior defense official said. Afghan Defense Minister Mohammed Masoom Stanekza said his country's military will continue to rely on U.S. aircraft for some time to contain the array of insurgent forces roiling the troubled nation.

“Building the air force of Afghanistan is not going to happen overnight. It’s going to take a long time and a lot of investment,” he said Friday in a joint press conference with Carter Currently the U.S. military is providing pilot training at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, where the U.S. Air Force's 81st Fighter Squadron plans to train 30 Afghan pilots over the next five years. “The critical piece of this is making sure that they have the human capital, the pilots, available to fly the platform,” the defense official said. For now the Afghan military is unable to provide the kind of logistics and maintenance support that A-29s require. The U.S. has helped arrange and pay for a logistics and maintenance contract support for those aircraft. While there is a long-term plan for the Afghans to develop self-sustaining logistics and maintenance capabilities, for the near future the contract support will be “absolutely critical,” a senior defense official said.

The Pentagon purchased the Super Tucanos in a $427 million contract with Sierra Nevada Corp. and Embraer, a Brazilian aerospace company. The aircraft are manufactured at Embraer's facility in Jacksonville, Florida. The Super Tucanos carry two 12.7mm machine guns in the wings, and can be configured with additional underwing weaponry of up to 1,500 kg. They will augment the Afghan forces' Russian-made Mi-17 'Hip' helicopters and American-made MD 530F Cayuse Warrior helicopters that can also provide ground attack and close-air support. The aircraft are designed to operate in high temperature and humidity conditions in extremely rugged terrain.

Afghanistan 'Poised To Acquire' Military Helicopters From India

India has delivered its first major offensive military platform to Kabul, with a Mi 25 attack helicopter reaching Afghanistan earlier this month. The first of the four Russian origin choppers that have been gifted to the neighbouring nation has arrived in Afghanistan, with three more on the way, senior officials have told ET.The attack helicopters, designed to take on fortified enemy positions and flying in troops to locations prone to heavy ground fire, will join the Afghanistan Air Force that already operates three of the Indian built Cheetal light helicopters.

The delivery marks the first time India has gifted offensive combat capability to Afghanistan, a sensitive topic in the past due to strong objections by Pakistan. Under the agreement, which has the approval of Russia which is the original manufacturer, India will also train Afghan defence personnel on operations.In the past, India has transferred non-lethal equipment, including vehicles, transport choppers, communication equipment and medical supplies to Afghanistan. However India is a major training partner with Kabul sending across cadets for various courses as well as basic officers training programs.

India is currently in the process of retiring its Mi 25 chopper fleet that are being replaced with newer generation Apache choppers that have already been contracted from the US this year under a government-to-government deal.The Mi 25 transfer is the second helicopter dispatch to take place this year. In April, India delivered three military choppers to Kabul weeks ahead of the first visit by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani. The three Cheetal utility helicopters were manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited ( HAL) with Afghan pilots and technicians trained to operate them.