News / Afghanistan

Afghanistan receives 1st Black Hawk helicopters

Tuesday, 19 September 2017 1:56 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 19 September 2017 2:39 PM ]

A US black hawk helicopter flies over the site of a Taliban suicide attack in Kandahar on August 2, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

The Afghan Air Force took delivery of its first four US-made UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters on Tuesday as part of a planned replacement of its aging fleet of Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters, officials said.

The US plans to supply a total of 159 Black Hawks to Afghanistan in the coming years as it boosts the capacity of the AAF, considered one of the best-performing parts of the Afghan Defense and Security Forces.

“The first Afghan Air Force UH-60s arrived today in Kandahar. They will help further develop a capable and sustainable AAF,” the NATO-led Resolute Support mission said.

The robust Soviet-era Mi-17 is the workhorse of the AAF, accounting for around half of all sorties in recent months and is very popular with Afghan pilots.

As well as moving troops and casualties and flying in supplies to areas difficult to reach by road, the helicopters can also be fitted with weapons for close air support to units on the ground.

In this photograph taken on August 27, 2017 an Afghan soldier stands guard while an Afghan Air Force helicopter flies past during a combat training exercise at the Shorab military Camp in Lashkar Gah in the Afghan province of Helmand. (Photo by AFP)

However their age makes them increasingly difficult to maintain and replace and they are to be phased out over the coming years and replaced with refurbished Black Hawks, one of the mainstays of the US Army’s helicopter force.

According to a report in July by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan, a US Congressional watchdog, 19 of the AAF’s 46-strong Mi-17 fleet were unusable because they were undergoing overhaul or repair.

In addition to operational considerations, the Pentagon has also long faced political pressure from Congress to switch spending to US-built aircraft.

Strengthening the Afghan Air Force is a central part of President Ashraf Ghani’s four year plan to improve Afghan security forces which have struggled to contain the Taliban insurgency since the NATO-led coalition backing the government ended its main combat operations in 2014.

(Source: Reuters)

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