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Chilean Air Force
The Chilean Air Force is the national Air Force or aviation branch of the armed forces of Chile.
History
The first step towards the current FACh was taken by Teniente Coronel Pedro Pablo Dartnell when he founded the Servicio de Aviacion Militar de Chile (Military Aviation Service of Chile) on December 20 1910 being trained as a pilot in France. Although a school was included, the first officers were sent to France for their training as well. One of them, Capitan Manuel Avalos Prado, took command over the Chilean military aviation school that was officially instated 11 February 1913 and remained in command until 1915. The Escuela de Aviacion Militar was named in honor of him in 1944 and still carries that name today.
In those early years many aviation milestones were achieved, conquering the height of The Andes was one of the main targets as well as long distance flights. Typical aircraft of that era were Avro 504, Bleriot XI, Bristol M.1C, DH.9, and SE5a. In the following decade the (Airmail Line of Chile) Linea Aeropostal de Chile was created on 5 March 1929 as branch of the military aviation. This postal airline later developed into the airline Linea Aerea Nacional (National Airline) that is still the leading airline in Chile today. Shortly afterwards, on 21 March 1930, the existing aviation elements of the army and navy were amalgamated into a dedicated department: the Subsecretaria de Aviacion (Department of the Air Force) effectively creating the current independent Air Force. It was initially named Fuerza Aerea Nacional. The international airport of Chile carries the name of Lan's founding father and first commander of the air force, Arturo Merino Benitez.
The first outlines of the organization of the current air force were visible in 1945 with the inception of Grupo de Transporte No.1 (First Transport Group), later renumbered Grupo 10, with two C-45s and a single T-6 Texan at Los Cerillos. Two years later the first Fuerza Aerea flight to Antarctica was performed. The fifties meant entry into the jet age for the FACh and Grupo 7 was the first unit to receive them in 1954. Chile got its aircraft from both the United States and Europe. The American supply consisted of F-80, T-33, T-34 Mentor, T-37, A-37 and F-5E for example, whereas the British supplied Hawker Hunters and the French delivered various helicopters and Mirage 50 aircraft.
Commanders-in-chief
Industry
Chile also maintains its own aviation industry, ENAER. The design of the T-35 Pillan trainer based on the PA-28 Dakota is the best known example, seeing some export success as well. Furthermore, the assembly of the A-36/T-36 Halcon (CASA C-101) was achieved as well. Performing maintenance on most types in the current inventory such as minor modifications on F-5E aircraft for example, the industry is of significant importance to the air force. ENAER is reported to be in talks with Embraer of Brazil to codesign the first indigenous South American fighter.
Order of Battle (2006-2007)
Personnel = 10,600 (including 700 conscripts)
Future Programmes
The delivery of six new F-16 Peace Puma aircraft from the United States to Chile kicks off a promising era of interoperability between the two nations. Over the next months, the Chilean air force will receive four additional F-16 C and D model (Block 50) aircraft from the contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. The 10 aircraft sale, munitions and maintenance -- all part of the Peace Puma program -- is worth $900 million.
The Air Force worked with the Chilean government, the Chilean air force and the defense contractor to broker the aircraft sale as the latest improvement in the long-term relationship between the two nations air forces, said Bruce Lemkin, Air Force deputy undersecretary for international affairs.
Included in the purchase are joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs, AIM-9 heat-seeking missiles, and advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, or AMRAAMs.
The Air Force will conduct F-16 flying training with Chilean pilots. In addition, train-the-trainer instruction will enable the Chileans to train their own pilots. The Air Force and contractor will also provide maintenance training.
These are state-of-the-art aircraft and will provide great capability for Chile, and will also provide interoperability with us. These are the same airplanes the U.S. Air Force flies, he said. These F-16s will become the centerpiece of a 30-year or more relationship between the U.S. Air Force and the Chilean air force.
The long-term relationship comes not only from operating common hardware, but also from the experiences of Airmen working together throughout their careers, Mr. Lemkin said.
We will be training together, operating together, flying together and learning from one another, Mr. Lemkin said. There is no substitute for the relationship that results when a captain from the Chilean air force is in F-16 training with a captain from the U.S. Air Force, and 20 years later they are both generals. That becomes the most essential element of an air force to air force relationship -- the human element.
Together with the purchase of brand new F-16s, the Air Force has recently purchased 18 refurbished F-16As from the RNAF. These aircraft have been recently upgraded to F-16MLU standard and have more in common in equipment and capabilities to the F-16C Block 50s than the original F-16A block 5, 10 and 15 stock from where they come. These aircraft will replace the aging Mirage 5 Elkan (Mirsip). A further 10 aircraft from the same source may follow in the near future, making The Netherlands the primary supplier of the Chilean Armed Forces .
The Chilean Air Force have also showed interest in the JAS 39 Gripen Attack Fighter by Swedish company Saab and are seriously looking for an attack fighter role to go along with the F-16.
Chile has issued an RFP for 5.5 tonne, twin engined new generation helicopter and HAL is participating in the competition with its HAL Dhruv helicopter. HAL had conducted live demonstration of Dhruv equipped with advanced cockpit, electronic warfare suite and surveillance pod in Chile. Four Dhruv choppers were involved in a wide range of applications for evaluation with the demonstration clocking a total 107 hours. It flew to highest altitudes, hot and desert conditions, carried out ship deck landing at Valparaiso, search and rescue at 12,500 ft above mean sea level at a temperature of two degrees Celsius of Iquique as well as long distance ferry flights between Santiago to Arica and back, covering 3600 km. All the requirements for the Chilean Air Force was met by Dhruv helicopter.
Aircraft Inventory
! style="text-align: left; background: aacccc;"|Aircraft
! style="text-align: left; background: aacccc;"|Origin
! style="text-align: left; background: aacccc;"|Type
! style="text-align: left; background: aacccc;"|Versions
! style="text-align: left; background: aacccc;"|In service"World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 15 2007.
! style="text-align: left; background: aacccc;"|Notes
|- | Beechcraft 99 | | transport/patrol | 99A | 6 | modified locally to Petrel ELINT standard |----- | Beechcraft King Air | | utility | B100200
300 | 1
1
1 | used by local Civil Aviation Directorate |----- | Bell UH-1H Iroquois | | utility helicopter | UH-1H | 10 | 4 additional units purchased second-hand and refurbished in USA |----- | Bell 206B JetRanger | | utility helicopter | 206B | 3 | |----- | Bell 412 | | transport helicopter | 412EP | 4 | 12 additional new aircraft purchased in Nov 2007 |----- | Boeing 707 | | airborne early warning
tanker/transport | IAI Phalcon (707-385C)
707-330B | 1
1 | Israeli AWACS modification
modified airliner. Tanker aircraft to be replaced by 2 Airbus A310MRTT |---- | Boeing 737 | | transport
VIP transport | 737-330QC
737-58N | 1
1 | |- | CASA C-101 Aviojet | | trainer
attack | T-36 Halcon (C-101BB-02)
A-36 Halcon | 7
17 | 12 delivered; 8 locally built by ENAER
23 delivered; 22 locally built by ENAER |----- | CASA C-212 Aviocar | | tactical transport | C-212-200
C-212-300 | 2
4 | |----- | Cessna 206 Skywagon | | utility | | 2 | |----- | Cessna O-2 Skymaster | | liaison | O-2A | 2 | |----- | Cessna A-37 Dragonfly | | attack
reconnaissance | A-37B | 14 | 34 purchased in 1973. 10 additional OA-37 on loan from USAF returned to USA in 2005. |----- | Cessna Citation | | VIP transport | CitationJet CJ1 | 4 | |- | de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter | | utility transport | DHC-6-100
DHC-6-300 | 4
9 | |- | ENAER T-35 Pillan | | trainer | T-35A
T-35B | 19
14 | |----- | MBB Bo 105 | | utility helicopter | | 1 | 5 sold to civilian market. Now used for EMS service in Chile |----- | Extra 300 | | aerobatic | 300L | 6 | |----- | Gulfstream IV | | VIP transport | | 4 | |----- | Learjet 35 | | VIP transport | 35A | 2 | |----- | Lockheed C-130 Hercules | | tactical transport | C-130B
C-130H | 3
2 | only 1 C-130B currently operational |----- | Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon | | fighter
fighter
lead-in trainer | F-16 total
F-16A-20MLU
F-16B-20MLU
F-16C-50
F-16D-50 | 28
11
7
6
4 | 18 F-16 MLU were sold by Netherlands Air Force |----- | MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 | | utility helicopter | BK 117B-1 | 1 | |----- | Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II | | fighter
lead-in trainer | F-5E
F-5F | 13
3 | upgraded in Israel (retired in near future) |----- | Piper PA-28 Dakota | | utility | PA-28-236 | 10 | |----- | Pitts Special | | aerobatic | S-2S | 1 | |----- | Sikorsky S-70A Black Hawk | | transport helicopter | S-70A | 1 | |-----
|}
External links
Ranks of Fuerza Aerea de Chile website
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Chilean Air Force
