add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Medical Air Transportation mercy air ambulance air ambulances medical... americanairambulance.com | Air Mattress Equipments, Medical Air Mattress, Hospital air mattress, monarchsurgical.com | Georgetown Air Abrasion, Lexington Air Abrasion, Paris Air Abrasion,... thoroughbredsmiles.com | Bethesda Air Abrasion, Rockville Air Abrasion, Gaithersburg Air... bethesdasedationdentistry... |
The Lebanese Air Force (LAF) (Arabic: القوات الجوية اللبنانية Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Lubnania) is the aerial warfare branch of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The seal of the air force is constituted of a Roundel with two wings and a Lebanese Cedar tree, surrounded by two laurel leaves on a blue background.
[edit] HistoryThe Lebanese Air Force was established in 1949 under the command of then Lieutenant Colonel Emile Boustany who later became commander of the army. Soon after its establishment a number of planes were donated by the British, French, and Italian governments, while an additional number of planes were donated by Britain and Italy the same year. Britain donated 4 Percival Prentices and 2 World War II period Percival Proctors while Italy donated 4 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers which were mainly used for transportation.[1] In 1953, jet fighters were introduced when a number of de Havilland Vampire jets were received. The first Hawker Hunters arrived in 1959 and were followed by additional fighters through 1977. In 1968, 12 Mirage IIIELs were delivered from France but were grounded in the late 1970s due to lack of funds. In 2000, the grounded Mirages were sold to Pakistan.[2] The air force, in the absence of advanced fixed wing aircraft, currently relies on a helicopter force and Hawker Hunter jets that were been put back in service late 2008. The Lebanese Air Force consists of six squadrons distributed on three air bases. [edit] Combat history The Lebanese Air Force has a long history operating Hawker Hunter jets since 1958. A Lebanese Hawker Hunter shot down an Israeli jet over Kfirmishki in early sixties, its pilot was captured by the LAF.[3] One Lebanese Hawker Hunter was shot down on the first day of the Six-Day War by the Israeli Air Force. The Hawker Hunters have not flown any combat sorties since September 17, 1983. This was during the period where the French and Americans were rebuilding the Lebanese army, and three F.Mk.70s were made airworthy, and started combat operations on September 15. Because the main airfield, Rayak Air Base had been shelled by Syrian forces, the Hunters had to operate from an airfield in Byblos. The Hunters were finally grounded in 1994 after a minor accident with one of the T.66 trainers during landing and the remaining 8 were stored in the Rayaq Air Base.[4] The last loss took place in 1989 near Batroun during a routine training, when undercarriage wheels was not able to lower, later the jet crash. But not before the pilot was able to eject safely from the doomed jet and land in the sea, where he was promptly rescued by the Syrian army, which then handed him over to Suleiman Frangieh, who in turn handed him over to the Lebanese Army at the al-Madfoun crossing. During Operation Nahr el-Bared camp in North Lebanon, due to the fact of possessing no airworthy fixed-wing strike aircraft, the Lebanese army modified some UH-1H helicopters to permit the carrying of 500 pound Mark 82 bomb and 1000 pound Mark 83 bomb loads (all unguided iron bombs, also known as dumb bombs) as well as Matra SNEB 68 mm rocket pods (taken from stored Hawker Hunters) to strike at militant positions. Special mounting pads engineered by the Lebanese army were attached to each UH-1 Hueys on the sides and belly to carry the bombs. The air force in collaboration with the engineering regiment locally developed and used two dump bombs variants, a 250 kg LAF-GS-ER2 and a 400 kg LAF-GS-ER3.[5] Usually, helicopters cannot bomb in this method as compared to ground attack aircraft, this became one of the rare moments in history during which helicopters were used in such a way. Also, the Lebanese army had made extensive use of the Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters equipped with Euromissile HOT missiles and machine guns pods during the conflict. [edit] Air BasesThe Lebanese Air Force has three bases
[edit] Squadrons  [edit] Second SquadronEmploys: Hunter Mk66C and Hunter Mk70A [edit] Eighth SquadronEmploys: Aerospastiale SA-342 Gazelle [edit] Tenth SquadronEmploys: UH-1H [edit] Eleventh SquadronEmploys: UH-1H [edit] Twelfth SquadronEmploys: UH-1H [edit] Fourteenth SquadronEmploys: UH-1H [edit] Fifteenth SquadronEmploys: Robinson Raven R44 II [edit] Aircraft inventory
[edit] FutureThe air force is currently making efforts to enhance its capabilities after over a decade of negligence, which has affected all branches of the Lebanese Armed Forces. Reported interests include additional number of attack and utility helicopters and a small number of (3 to 6) jet fighters or trainers. Many types have been rumored but still no official statement has been made by the army or the air force. Due to lack of funds, donations from friendly nations are believed to be a strong possibility. Some media reports mentioned during July 2009 that the United States has conveyed to the UAE its approval for the transfer of BAE Hawk jets to Lebanon.[17] The Lebanese Air Force has been approaching the UAE to acquire a squadron of Hawks jets for advanced training and light air support. On February 10, 2009, UAE officially announced approval to provide Lebanon with 10 Aérospatiale Puma transport helicopters that can be delivered immediately [18]. Before a day, the As-Safir newspaper wrote that Lebanon received positive signs from UAE concerning providing Lebanon with 10 PUMA transport helicopters and some Euromissile HOT missiles for the Aérospatiale SA-342L Gazelle attack helicopters.[19] On December 16, 2008, Russia announced that it will supply Lebanon with 10 MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said on Tuesday after a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov. Serdyukov said Moscow had received a weapons procurement list from the Lebanese Armed Forces which would be considered in the near future. He added that the fighter deliveries would provide a fresh impetus to military cooperation between the two countries [10]. Before all aircraft are shipped to Lebanon they will be repaired and modernized to "export standards". The Russian government has mentioned that the Lebanese pilots will be trained in Russia [20]. Annahar newspaper quoted sources in August 2009 saying that Lebanon requested from Russia sending Russian engineers to checkup Rayak and Kleyate air bases in order to start preparing them to accommodate these jets.[21] It is also said that Lebanon is approaching Russia for a number of Mi-35 attack helicopters. A controversial US promise to supply Lebanon with AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter came into discussions during 2008; however, that promise did not see the light yet, nor was it clearly confirmed. [edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
