AAF receives first UH-60 Black Hawks
The Afghan Air Force (AAF) has received its first two UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters at Kandahar Airfield, the US Air Force announced on 26 September.
The UH-60s are the first to be delivered to the AAF under the Aviation Transition and Modernisation programme to modernise and increase the AAF fleet.
The first group of UH-60s will be stationed at Kandahar Airfield, where flight training for pilots is scheduled to begin in October. Once the Afghans aviators graduate and become mission ready, combat missions will be planned and conducted by AAF crews.
Additional Black Hawks will be distributed to four primary AAF bases throughout Afghanistan over the coming years.
The UH-60s will be used for troop and cargo transport, including casualty evacuation. In addition to the 61 base model UH-60s, the AAF will also receive 58 UH-60 models with fixed forward-fire capabilities.
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