Afghan Air Forces Receive Four Light Attack Aircraft From US - Pentagon

Sputnik News

17:53 20.03.2017

Four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft for the Afghanistan Air Force (AAF) have arrived in Kabul from a base in the US state of Georgia, raising the fledgling air force's inventory of the light-attack aircraft from eight to 12, the US Department of Defense said in a press release on Monday.

WASHINGTON(Sputnik) – Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air and 438th Air Expeditionary Wing Commander Brigadier General David Hicks called Monday's delivery a "game changer."

"The AAF pilots are continually gaining proficiency in the A-29," Hicks stated. "They are capable of providing air attack anywhere in the country. In the past, the Afghan National Army relied on the [US-led] coalition for air support. Now, it's their own countrymen overhead flying the missions."

The delivery reduced the inventory of A-29 aircraft to seven at Moody Air Force base in the United States, where the planes are used to train pilots, the release explained.

© Sputnik