Validating the significant U.S. investment in aircraft and pilot training, the Afghan air force is becoming proficient at supporting its own ground troops in combat with only minimal guidance from U.S. personnel, according to a U.S. Army colonel recently returned from leading a brigade through a nine-month deployment to the war zone.
“In southern Afghanistan, through train, advise and assist, we saw the Afghan air force become a highly effective enabler when integrated with army ground maneuver,” Col. Larry Burris, commander of 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne, told reporters Sept. 6 at the Pentagon. Burris is fresh off a nine-month deployment to southern Afghanistan that ended in July.
(U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Larry E. Reid Jr., Released)
Paid for by the U.S., the fledgling Afghan air force (AAF) consists of small fleets of Embraer A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, MD530 light attack helicopters and Russian-made Mi-17 heavy utility helicopters that are used for cargo, transportation and medical evacuation missions.
As of Feb. 28, the U.S. government has spent $5.2 billion developing the AAF since fiscal 2010. A total of $1.3 billion was laid out in fiscal 2017, of which $814.5 million funds the Afghan Aviation Transition Plan, which will replace the AAF’s aging, Russian-made Mi-17 fleet with refurbished, U.S.-made UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters procured from U.S. Army stocks, according to a recent report to congress by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
The AAF’s current inventory of aircraft includes four Mi-35 helicopters, 46 Mi-17 helicopters, 26 MD-530 helicopters, 24 C-208 utility airplanes, four C-130 transport airplanes and 19 A-29s light attack airplanes. Twelve of the Super Tucanos are in Afghanistan supporting ongoing operations and seven are in the United States supporting AAF pilot training.
MD Helicopters, based in Mesa, Ariz., on Sept. 5 won a $1.3 billion foreign military sales contract to build 150 MD530F aircraft and associated program management, delivery, pilot training and maintenance support.
“What we saw was the Afghans were able to generate their own target packets, submit that to higher headquarters to do things such as deliberate A-29 strikes,” Burris said. “They were also able to conduct dynamic strikes with MD530s and A-29s.”
U.S.-trained Afghan joint tactical air controllers operate can now identify ground targets and coordinate airstrikes in support of Afghan ground troops with only minimal input or guidance from U.S. personnel, Burris said. Afghan airmen are able to submit target packets to and communicate with pilots overhead, which Burris said “paid big dividends for us.”
Where necessary, U.S. Air Force and Army personnel help Afghan soldiers and airmen with the targeting process and calling in airstrikes.
“They made great strides integrating the air force with the army on the ground conducting operations,” he added. “The MD530 pilots would go out there just like our Apache pilots and support the guys on the ground and they had no issue engaging targets once the ground-force commander cleared them to do that.”
Learning to fly in support of ground troops is a separate issue from establishing an enduring AAF, which has proved problematic in the past. Combat aircraft require regular maintenance and engineering work that the Afghan forces have been unwilling or unable to perform in the past.
Most notably, a fleet of C-27 cargo aircraft bought from Italy by the U.S. government for nearly $500 million, ended up parked on a runway near Kabul and sold for scrap after the aircraft were allowed to rust to pieces.
The Afghan government contracts with helicopter maintenance personnel from Eastern Europe to care for their Mi-17 aircraft, Burris said. While his unit was deployed, Burris said the Afghans became more proficient at phased maintenance on the Mi-17 than the contractors.
“Not only are they becoming proficient at flying and integrating with the ground, they are also becoming proficient at maintenance,” Burris said.
Both the A-29 and the MD530 are comparatively more complex and delicate machines than the Mi-17, however. The MD530 contract covers pilot training and maintenance but does not specify how long contractor support will last. Burris did not comment on Afghan maintenance of those aircraft.