Lebanese Air Force

Lebanese Air Force
القوات الجوية اللبنانية
Seal of the lebanese air force
Active 1 June 1949 – present
Country  Lebanon
Type Air force
Size 2000 active personnel
70 aircraft
Part of Lebanese Armed Forces
Headquarters Ministry of Defense
Motto(s) "Here I am, Lebanon's sky."
Anniversaries The 1st of August
Engagements
Website lebarmy.gov.lb
Commanders
Current
commander		 General Ghassan Chahine
Insignia
Ensign
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack Cessna 208
Bomber Hawker Hunter, SA330 Puma
Electronic
warfare		 SA341
Helicopter SA341, UH-1H Huey, SA330 Puma, Robinson R44, S-61
Reconnaissance RQ-11B Raven
Trainer Robinson R44

The Lebanese Air Force (LAF) (Arabic: القوات الجوية اللبنانية‎‎, Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Lubnaniyya) is the aerial warfare branch of the Lebanese Armed Forces. The seal of the air force is a Roundel with two wings and a Lebanese Cedar tree, surrounded by two laurel leaves on a blue background.

History

The Lebanese Air Force were 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 aircraft were donated by the British, French, and Italian governments. Britain donated 4 Percival Prentices and 2 World War II-era Percival Proctors, while Italy donated 4 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers which were mainly used for transportation. In 1953, jet fighters were introduced when 16 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.[1]

The air force, in the absence of advanced fixed wing aircraft, currently relies on a helicopter force and Hawker Hunter jets that were put back in service in late 2008. The Lebanese Air Force consists of six squadrons distributed between three air bases.

Combat history

The Lebanese Air Forces have a long history operating Hawker Hunter jets since 1958. A Lebanese Hawker Hunter shot down an Israeli jet over Kfirmishki in the early 1960s and its pilot was captured by the Lebanese Armed Forces. 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 at a time when the French and Americans were rebuilding the Lebanese Army. Three F.Mk.70s were made airworthy, and resumed 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 Rayak. The last loss took place in 1989 near Batroun during routine training, when the undercarriage failed to lower, causing the jet to crash. The pilot ejected safely from the doomed aircraft and landed in the Mediterranean 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 operations in the Nahr el-Bared camp in North Lebanon, lacking any airworthy, fixed-wing strike aircraft, the Lebanese Army modified several UH-1H Huey helicopters to permit the carrying of 500 pound Mark 82 and 1000 pound Mark 83 bombs (all unguided iron bombs, also known as dumb bombs) as well as Matra SNEB 68 mm rocket pods (taken from stored Hawker Hunters). Special mounting pads engineered by the Lebanese Army were attached to each Huey on the sides and belly to carry the bombs. The air force, in collaboration with the engineering regiment, developed and used two dumb bombs variants, the 250 kg LAF-GS-ER2 and the 400 kg LAF-GS-ER3.[2] Usually, helicopters cannot bomb using this method, in comparison to ground attack aircraft, so this became one of the rare moments in history during which helicopters were used in such a way. The Lebanese Army also made extensive use of Aérospatiale Gazelles armed with Euromissile HOT anti-tank guided missiles and machine gun pods.

Air bases

The Lebanese Air Force has three bases:

Squadrons

Second Squadron
Employs: Hunter Mk66C, Hunter Mk70A, and AC-208B Combat Caravan

De Havilland Vampire at the Israeli Air Force museum in Hatzerim, bearing colours of the Lebanese Air Force.
Savoia Marchetti SM.79.

Eighth Squadron
Employs: Aerospastiale SA-342 Gazelle

Ninth Squadron
Employs: IAR-330 SM Puma

Tenth Squadron
Employs: UH-1H

Eleventh Squadron
Employs: UH-1H

Twelfth Squadron
Employs: UH-1H
The helicopters of this squadron are on loan from the squadrons at Beirut Air Base.[3]

Fourteenth Squadron
Employs: UH-1H
The helicopters of this squadron are on loan from the squadrons at Kleyate Air Base.

Fifteenth Squadron
Employs: Robinson Raven R44 II
The squadron is part of the Aviation School, which is also based at Rayak.

Sixteenth Squadron
Employs: Sikorsky S-61N MkII

Aircraft

Current inventory

Type Origin Class Role Introduced In service Total Notes
Cessna AC-208  United States Propeller Attack 2[4] Missile-armed for Close air support.
Sikorsky S-61  United States Helicopter Utility / VIP / water bomber 3[4] Previously operated by Bristow Helicopters[5]
Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma/IAR 330  France/ Romania Helicopter Attack 11[4]
Aérospatiale SA342 Gazelle  France Helicopter Attack 7[4] Anti-armor
Bell UH-1H Iroquois  United States Helicopter Utility 24 17[4]
Huey 2  United States Helicopter Utility 9[4] 3 received on 31 March 2016
Robinson R44  United States Helicopter Trainer 4[4]
AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven  United States UAV Patrol 10[6] 12 Donated by the United States. Two crashed

Future inventory

References

  1. ↑ "Air Force". Lebanese Army.
  2. ↑ Njeim, Colonel Antoine; Rima Dumet (October 2007). القوات الجوية (in Arabic). Lebanese Army. Retrieved 4 April 2009.
  3. ↑ "Lebanese Air Force - Order of Battle". Scramble. Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "World Air Forces 2015 pg. 22". Flightglobal Insight. 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Sikorsky S61 Halat, Lebanon". helihub.com. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "Heavy U.S. Military Aid to Lebanon Arrives ahead of Elections". Naharnet Newsdesk. April 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  7. ↑ Mustafa, Awad (10 November 2015). "Lebanon Confirms A-29 Super Tucano Purchase". Defense News. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
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