A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft of the Afghan Air Force (AAF) conducted airstrikes against insurgent targets in the northeastern province of Badakhshan on 15 April, multiple sources confirmed to IHS Jane’s . These marked the first confirmed combat sorties of the aircraft in Afghanistan.
Foreign sources in Kabul stated that the AAF’s A-29s conducted combat sorties in Badakhshan and an officer of the Afghan National Army (ANA) deployed to Badakhshan told IHS Jane’s that three airstrikes were conducted in the Khostak valley in the district of Jurm, one of the main insurgency strongholds in the region. According to the officer, these were night operations launched from Kabul that targeted and killed three insurgent commanders: two locals as well as one commander who was reportedly a national of Tajikistan. The officer added that the strike against the Tajik commander killed the whole family, in total 12 persons.
Speaking to IHS Jane’s , a diplomatic source familiar with air force matters clarified that the A-29s successfully hit the targets, designated by co-ordinates provided by unspecified intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, with bombs.
Currently, eight A-29s are fielded with the AAF, with the first four having arrived in January and an additional four on 29 March. These airframes are the first of a total of 20 that the United States is incrementally providing to the AAF. Another four are scheduled to be delivered by the 2017 fighting season, while the remaining eight are scheduled to arrive in 2018.
IHS Jane’s 360: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly – Digital, Online and Print Magazine
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