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Afghanistan
Far From Finished: The Islamic Emirate Air Force
2022-11-06
Table of equipment and tallies below.
[ORYXSPIOENKOP] The Islamic Emirate Air Force (IEAF) has surprised friend and foe alike by not only continuing to exist as a functional air force, but also by continuously expanding its operational inventory of aircraft through overhauling both damaged and decommissioned aircraft. Though still only a fraction of the size of the Coalition-supported Afghan Air Force, the IEAF's operational inventory meanwhile includes more than a dozen attack helicopters, more than twenty transport helicopters and half a dozen transport aircraft. While the Taliban was expected by many to be unable to operate its UH-60A+ Black Hawks for more than a few months, at least six Black Hawks currently continue to see service as well.

In its attempts to re-establish a fixed-wing transport force, the IEAF has fallen back on a number of Soviet-era aircraft decommissioned by the previous Afghan Air Force after their replacement by Western types. This currently concerns three An-32Bs and one An-26, but these are expected to be joined by other examples in the future. These Antonovs operate alongside at least four (A)C-208s inherited from the former Afghan Air Force. The IEAF has also attempted to restart operations with the four C-130Hs it inherited (which suffered only minor damage), with one aircraft performing a successful engine run in June 2022. Further progress appears to be hampered by a lack of qualified pilots.

This issue appears not only to be confined to the IEAF's C-130Hs. Indeed, while Taliban forces captured two A-29 light attack aircraft intact at Mazar-e Sharif air base, all the pilots qualified to fly the type appear to have fled the country or are currently in hiding. The Taliban has pleaded for their return on several occasions (along with the aircraft they escaped the country with), in the hopes that they would join those personnel that stayed behind and already joined the ranks of the IEAF. In the meantime, the IEAF has fallen back on four restored Mi-35s and at least ten MD 530F attack helicopters to form the armed component of its force. Additional aircraft of different types might similarly be operational but not flown due to a lack of qualified pilots.
Posted by:trailing wife

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