Namibian Air Force

Namibian Air Force
Founded	1994 (Namibia Defence Force Air Wing) 2005 (Namibian Air Force)
Country	Namibia
Part of	Namibia Defence Force
Commanders
Air Force Commander	Brigadier-General Martin Pinehas

The Namibia Air Force was commissioned on 13 March 2005 at Grootfontein Air Base.^[1] The policy, mission statements and concept of operations envisage the development of an Air Force to operate in support of the Army and the Navy.

Five separate roles for Air Force are; surveillance, transport of personnel and transport of supplies/equipment; support to the civil authorities or civil community, and training.^[2]

With Grootfontein as the main air base, expansion projects are underway to expand the Keetmanshoop air base, as well as construct a new base at Karibib. This was reported by The Namibian on 20 June 2008.

The policy for the Air Force is to acquire dedicated air assets to undertake the surveillance and transport tasks. The MOD and NDF will train and employ their own pilots and technicians. Co-operation and co-ordination with other Ministries may extend to making such assets available for non-defence tasking. In addition, consideration will be given to arrangements whereby private and other national air assets could be employed where appropriate or necessary.

Aircraft Inventory

Following the independence of Namibia from South Africa in 1991, the Air defence wing of the defence forces were established in 1993-1994. Equipment purchased included Cessna O-2s, HAL Chetaks and Cheetahs from India. In late 1994 a Learjet 31A entered service for Government use.

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	Numbers In Service	Comments
Fighter / Trainer Aircraft
Chengdu F-7 Airguard	China	Fighter/Trainer	Total F-7NM FT-7NG	12 10 2	FT-7NG trainer versions received in November 2006 [3] All 12 equipped with Grifo-MG radars.
Hongdu K-8 Karakorum	China/  Pakistan	Fighter/Trainer	K-8	12
Transports
Cessna Skymaster	United States	utility	FTB.337G O-2A	5
Antonov An-26 Curl	Soviet Union	transport	2
Harbin Y-12	China	Transport VIP transport	Y-12	2
Learjet 36	United States	VIP transport	Model 36	1
Dassault Falcon 900	France	VIP transport	Falcon 900	1
Helicopters
Mil Mi-35 Hind-E	Soviet Union	attack helicopter	Mi-35P	2
Mil Mi-8 Hip	Soviet Union	Assault helicopter	Mi-8	2
Aérospatiale SA 319 Alouette III	France	light utility	SA 319	2
HAL Cheetah	India	light utility		1[4]	Indian variant of French Aérospatiale Lama
HAL Chetak	India	light utility		2[4]	Indian variant of French Aérospatiale Alouette III

References

1. ^ http://www.mod.gov.na/n_item1.htm Accessed 2007/07/27
2. ^ http://www.mod.gov.na Accessed 2007/07/27
3. ^ http://cnair.top81.cn/F-7_J-7_J-8.htm Accessed 2007/07/27
4. ^ ^{a b} HAL bags $10 mn order for Chetak, Cheetah from Namibia

External links

• http://www.ab-ix.co.uk/namibia.pdf - Namibian Air Force unofficial summary