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Somali Air Force

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Somali Air Force
CountrySomalia
Size10,000 Personnel (Pre-1991)
Part ofSomali Armed Forces
Garrison/HQAden Adde International Airport
Baledogle Air Base
Nickname(s)SAF
Motto(s)isku tiirsada!
Equipment178 aircraft
EngagementsOgaden War
1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
Shifta War
Commanders
Chief of Armed forcesPresident of Somalia
Notable
commanders		Ali Matan Hashi 1960-1978
Insignia
The Roundel
Finflash

The Somali Air Force (SAF) (Template:Lang-so, Template:Lang-ar, Al-Qūwāt al-Gawwīyä as-Ṣūmāl) is the air force of Somalia. The Somali Aeronautical Corps (SAC) was the name of the Somali Air Force during the pre-independence (1954–1960) period. After 1960, when Somalia gained independence, the name changed to the Somali Air Force. SAF principal organizer and the first Somalia pilot Ali Matan Hashi became the founder as well as the Chief of SAF. [1]. The SAF at one point had the strongest airstrike capability in the Horn of Africa.[2] Following the outbreak of the civil war in the early 1990s, the air force disbanded. A reconstituted Somali central government later relaunched the SAF in the 2010s.

Pre-Independence (1954-1960)

Following an agreement signed between the Somali and Italian governments in 1962, Somali airmen began a training regimen in Italy with the assistance of Italian technical staff and pilots.[3] Over the same period, fifty Somali cadets also commenced training in Russia as jet aircraft pilots, later to be joined by more than two hundred of the nation’s elite NCOs and officers for general military training.[4] Most of these trained Somali military officials then returned to Somalia with the skills and knowledge that they had acquired abroad.

Post-Independence (1960–1969)

Asli Hassan Abade, a pioneer in the Somali Air Force.

The Somali Air Force was established before Somalia's independence, and was at first equipped with a small number of Western aircraft, including Beech 18s and C-47 Dakotas for transport tasks, a few Piaggio P.148 trainers, P-51D Mustangs used as fighters, and a pair of Bell 47 Sioux helicopters.

On October 15, 1969, while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod, Somalia's then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards. His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d'état on October 21, 1969 (the day after his funeral), in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition — essentially a bloodless takeover. The putsch was spearheaded by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, who at the time commanded the army.[5] Barre then proclaimed Somalia to be a socialist state, and rapid modernization programs soon followed suit. Numerous Somali airmen were subsequently sent to train abroad in countries such as the United States, Italy, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. After their training, many of these men went on to become the nation's leading instructors and fighter pilots. The Somali Air Force was at this time considered to be among the very best air forces on the continent.

Asli Hassan Abade was the first female pilot in the Somali Air Force. She had been training on single prop aircraft, and later earned a scholarship to study at the United States Air Force Academy.

Historical aircraft

On July 30, 1960, the following was the SAF's aircraft according to the administration of Air Defense in Mogadishu:[6]

The reference to P-51D Mustang is almost certainly in error, however. Some of these had been used by the Italian forces in Somalia in the 1950s, but it is very unlikely that any remained at independence, except possibly as scrap.

Ogaden War (1977–1978)

Main article: Ogaden War

In July 1977, the Ogaden War broke out after Barre's government sought to incorporate the predominantly Somali-inhabited Ogaden region into a Pan-Somali Greater Somalia. The Somali national army invaded the Ogaden and was successful at first, capturing most of the territory. The invasion reached an abrupt end with the Soviet Union's sudden shift of support to Ethiopia, followed by almost the entire communist world siding with the latter. The Soviets halted their previous supplies to Barre's regime and increased the distribution of aid, weapons, and training to Ethiopia's newly-communist Derg regime. They also brought in around 15,000 Cuban troops to assist the Ethiopian military. By 1978, the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden.

Equipment

The following was the Somali Air Force's major equipment in 1981:[7]

A Somali Air Force MiG-21 fighter-bomber in flight.
Type Description Country of Manufacture Inventory
Combat aircraft
MiG-17 Fresco Mach 0.9 fighter-bomber Soviet Union 9
MiG-21 Fishbed Mach 2.1 fighter-bomber with AA-2 Atoll anti-aircraft missiles Soviet Union 3
Shenyang F-6 Mach 1.3 fighter-bomber China 30
Il-28 Beagle Subsonic jet light bomber Soviet Union 3
SF-260W Single-engine light attack craft Italy 6
Hawker Hunter fighter, reconnaissance aircraft United Kingdom 8
Transport aircraft
An-2 Single-engine light transport Soviet Union 3
An-24/-26 Twin-turboprop transport Soviet Union 3
C-47 Twin-engine transport United States 3
C-45 Twin-engine light transport United States 1
G-222 Twin-turboprop transport Italy 4
Helicopters
Mi-4 Twelve-seat transport Soviet Union 4
Mi-8 Twin-engine medium transport Soviet Union 8
AB-204 General utility helicopter United States/Italy 1
AB-212 General utility helicopter United States/Italy 4
Trainers
P.148 Single-engine, two-seat primary trainer Italy 6
Yak-11 Single-engine, twos-seat advanced trainer Soviet Union 20
MiG-15 UTI Two-seat advanced jet trainer Soviet Union 4
SM-1019 Single-engine training, observation, and light attack aircraft Italy 6

Disbandment

With the fall of Siad Barre's regime in 1991 and the start of the civil war, funding for any government activity, including the SAF, ended immediately. The remains of the SAF were subsequently photographed in a derelict state at Mogadishu Airport in 1993 by U.S troops in Mogadishu.

Relaunch

In the early 2010s, the Somali Air Force was re-established by Somalia's central government. On October 29, 2012, 40 senior SAF and Somali National Army officers participated in the three-day Improving Understanding and Compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) workshop in Djibouti. Organized by AMISOM as part of the Somali Armed Forces' National Security Stabilization Plan (NSSP), an initiative designed to strengthen and professionalize the national security forces, the program offered a refresher course on the essentials of IHL. Officials from Somalia's Ministry of Defence also took part, with the Djibouti Chief of Defence Forces opening the workshop.[8]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Luigi Pestalozza, The Somalian Revolution, (Éditions Afrique Asie Amérique latine: 1974), p.27.
  2. ^ Tom Cooper, African MiGs: MiGs and Sukhois in service in Sub Saharan Africa, (SHI Publications: 2004), p.109.
  3. ^ Italy. Centro di documentazione, Italy. Servizio delle informazioni, Italy; documents and notes, Volume 14, (Centro di documentazione: 1965), p.460.
  4. ^ John Gordon Stewart Drysdale, The Somali dispute, (Pall Mall Press: 1964)
  5. ^ Moshe Y. Sachs, Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, Volume 2, (Worldmark Press: 1988), p.290.
  6. ^ Historical Somali Aircraft
  7. ^ Somalia: A Country Study - Army Ranks and Insignia
  8. ^ "AMISOM offers IHL training to senior officials of the Somali National Forces". AMISOM. Retrieved 23 November 2012.

References

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