Mauritania Islamic Air Force

The Air Force of Mauritania is the air force of the Armed Forces of Mauritania. It was established in 1960. Like many of the former French colonies, Mauritania received limited economic and military aid from France. They started as a transport force with four C-47s, two Aérospatiale N 262 and two Reims F337's.[1]

Mauritanian Air Force
Mauritania Islamic Air Force roundel
Country Mauritania
Part ofArmed Forces of Mauritania
Engagements Western Sahara War Mauritania–Senegal Border War
Commanders
CommanderMohamed Ould Hreitani
Notable
commanders		Air Chief Marshal
Aircraft flown
AttackEmbraer EMB 314 Super Tucano
HelicopterHarbin Z-9
TransportBasler BT-67, Pilatus PC-6, Harbin Y-12, Cessna 208 Caravan

History

Achieving independence in 1960 the Faidem's (Force Aerienne Islamique de Mauritanie) received equipment from France, such as C-47s and MH.1521 Broussards, which was later replaced by the Britten-Norman BN-2A Defender between 1976 and 1978 and had operated as a transport and observation squadron in the Western Sahara War.[2] During the same time two Cessna 337s and two DHC-5 Buffalo STOL transports were supplied in 1977 and 1978 with one DHC-5 crashing almost immediately and the other being returned to De Havilland Canada in 1979. After the Polisario Front shot down one Defender and damaged two in 1978 the Mauritanian government ordered six IA-58 Pucarás for ground attack duties from Argentina; this order was later cancelled after a Mauritanian military coup.

The Air Force School was recently created in Atar. It was founded to train pilots, mechanics, other crewmen for the Air Force.[3]

More recent procurements have been from China in the form of the Harbin Y-12 II turboprop transports were delivered in September 1995, one crashed in April 1996. A second one crashed on July 12, 2012.[4] The Xian Y-7 (a licensed variant of the An-24) was delivered from October 1997, which crashed in May 1998.

Aircraft
Mauritania Air Force A-29B Super Tucano at Paris Air Show 2013.
Mauritanian Douglas C-47A Dakota in the Sahara.
Aircraft Origin Type Variant In service Notes
Combat aircraft
EMB 314 Super Tucano Brazil COIN / attack 2[5]
Maritime Patrol
BN-2 Islander United Kingdom maritime patrol 3[5]
Cessna 208 United States patrol / reconnaissance 2 1 on order[5]
Piper PA-31 United States maritime patrol 2[5]
CASA/IPTN CN-235 Indonesia transport 2[5]
Transport
Basler BT-67 United States transport / utility 1[5] modified Douglas DC-3 with P&W PT6A Turboprop engines
Cessna 441 United States VIP transport 1[5]
Pilatus PC-6 Switzerland utility 1[5] STOL capable aircraft
Harbin Y-12 China transport 1[5]
Helicopters
Harbin Z-9 China utility 2[5]
AgustaWestland AW109 Italy utility 2[5]
Trainer Aircraft
EMB-312 Brazil trainer 5[5]
SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 Italy trainer 4[5]
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See also

References
  1. "World Air Forces 1975". flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  2. World aircraft information files Bright Star Publishing London File 337 Sheet 4
  3. Super Administrateur. "The Directorate of Air". Archived from the original on 2017-12-06. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  4. "CORRECTED-OFFICIAL-Kinross chartered plane crashes in Mauritania, 7 dead". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  5. "World Air Forces 2020". Flightglobal Insight. 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
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