U.S officials formally deliver four Super Tucano attack aircraft to the Afghan Defense Ministry, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 15, 2016.

U.S officials formally deliver four Super Tucano attack aircraft to the Afghan Defense Ministry, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 15, 2016. Haroon Sabawoon / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

The Taliban Captured Helicopters. Can They Capture an Air Force?

These are the lethal warplanes that could fall under Taliban control.

Updated at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 14.

The Afghan National Security Forces has a long record of losing track of U.S.-supplied guns and rifles. But as the Taliban gains territory following the U.S. troop withdrawal, Afghanistan could lose far more lethal weapons: combat aircraft.

The Pentagon says that has not happened yet, and that the Afghan Air Force continues to fly missions and carry out airstrikes against the Taliban every day. But Taliban fighters, as of Friday, reportedly have captured armored vehicles, small surveillance drones, and several unflyable helicopters. Could they capture more?

“We are always worried about U.S. equipment that could fall into an adversaries’ hands,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Friday. “What actions we might take to prevent that or to forestall it, I just simply won't speculate about today.”

As of June 30, the Afghan Air Force had just over 200 aircraft, but only 167 were available for missions, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Most of the planes operate from two bases, one in Kabul and the other in Kandahar. The Taliban on Friday took control of Kandahar, including the airfield.

On Saturday, multiple Twitter postings purported to show Black Hawks and other helicopters that had been operated by the Afghan Air Force seized by the Taliban at the overrun Kandahar Airport, but there was no immediate way to confirm their authenticity.

Many of the aircraft and helicopters are armed, but the most lethal are a small fleet of just over two dozen propeller-driven attack planes. These A-29 Super Tucanos were supplied to Afghan forces specifically so they can provide close-air support to their ground fighters. They can fire laser-guided and other types of bombs. 

The Afghan government also has 50 American-made MD-530 attack helicopters, which are armed with machine guns and rockets. Additionally, the Afghan Air Force flies American-made UH-60 Black Hawks and Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters, as well as C-130 and Cessna transports, and a small fleet of armed Cessnas. The U.S. is continuing to provide financial support for many of these aircraft, Kirby said. 

“We have made commitments to help [the Afghan Air Force] improve their capabilities,” he said. “Those commitments remain in place.”

Over the last 20 years the U.S. has given the Afghan Air Force more than 130 aircraft. In July, the Defense Department said it was providing the Afghan Air Force more aircraft—including 35 Black Hawks and three A-29 Super Tucanos—in a sign of continued commitment to the Kabul government even as U.S. forces withdrew. Three of the Black Hawks were delivered last month. 

The Defense Department was not immediately able to comment on the status of the rest of those new helicopters and attack planes, or whether they would now be held back to keep them from falling into Taliban hands.

The Taliban reportedly captured an Mi-35 helicopter gifted from India, but video showed the aircraft was missing its rotors. The group also posted a video showing two Mi-17 helicopters in a hangar with spare rotors and parts. It also reportedly captured an MD-530, but that aircraft appeared heavily damaged.

Even if the Taliban captures working aircraft, it would be difficult for them to fly it without proper training, according to people familiar with these types of military planes. A trained pilot could fly it, but they would also need to be familiar with the bombs and missiles and know how to mount them and arm the aircraft. And, because the planes need regular maintenance, it’s unlikely the planes would be flyable for long, even by skilled pilots. 

Still, to prevent planes from falling into enemy hands, the U.S. could bomb the aircraft or airfields first. Kirby declined to say what actions, if any, the U.S. military would take.

“I'm not going to speculate about … the destruction of property,” Kirby said. “Going forward, we are going to continue to stay focused on making sure they have the capabilities to use in the field.”

Another possibility is that the Taliban could sell the aircraft to Russia and China, who could try to exploit the technology. And even if they’re unflyable, posting pictures and video of the captured aircraft are a powerful propaganda tool for the Taliban.

The majority of these combat aircraft are based in Kabul and Kandahar, according to Military Periscope, an open source military database owned by GovExec, Defense One’s parent company. The Pentagon announced Thursday the U.S. military had sent 3,000 troops into Afghanistanin part to guard the Kabul Airport.

Even before the Taliban began claiming cities and towns, some were sounding the alarm  about the U.S. not properly monitoring the weapons it gave Afghan National Security Forces.

In December, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said the Pentagon “did not meet enhanced [end use monitoring] requirements to account for all sensitive defense articles transferred to the Afghan government; the requirements are designed to minimize national security risks by preventing the diversion or misuse of defense articles that incorporate sensitive technology.”

Because of the U.S. withdrawal ordered by President Joe Biden, “All aircraft platforms are overtaxed due to increased requests for close air support, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance missions, and aerial resupply now that the ANDSF largely lacks U.S. air support,” SIGAR said. 

All aircraft are 25 percent over their recommended scheduled-maintenance intervals, SIGAR said. “This is exacerbating supply-chain issues and delaying scheduled maintenance and battle-damage repair.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.