Guatemalan Air Force
Guatemalan Air Force | ||
---|---|---|
Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca | ||
Trainer Cessna 206, T-35 | | |
Transport | Cessna 208 Caravan, Basler BT-67 |
The Guatemalan Air Force (
Mission and vision
The mission of the Guatemalan Air Force is to "plan and conduct aerial operations to maintain and guarantee the sovereignty of the national air space, through aerial combat, supporting ground units, with the purpose of dissuading, neutralizing or destroying any threat against national obrectives, as well as cooperating with the other State institutions to accomplish national efforts."[1]
The vision of the Guatemalan Air Force is "The Guatemalan Air Force will transform its Air Commands, its Training and Professionalization Centers, as well as its Air Reserve, to turn them into units with a greater mobilization, coordination and communication between them, to maximize their administrative and operational capacity, basing on a centralized command, and a descentralized execution, and a series of coordinated efforts, to adequately maintain itself organized, equipped and trained to plan, conduct and execute the actions that the Military Defence of the State imposes on the use of air power, as well as participating in military operations in service to the Nation, such as peace maintenance and/or natural disaster prevention. All of this within the legal statutes of our country, and the search for the most efficient use of assigned resources."[1]
History
In 1920 a French military aviation mission opened a flying training school. The 'Cuerpo de Aviacion Militar de Guatemala' was established in 1929 – with pioneer pilots
At the beginning of the 1970s, there was also tension concerning a dispute with the
In addition to going after the Maya rebels, the FAG destroyed villages providing support by using bombing and napalm. By 1968 the insurgency was almost neutralized but the cost was an estimated 8,000 civilians killed, so in 1977 the US was pressured to cut off overt military aid due to human rights violations.[2] To circumvent this, Guatemala turned to countries like Argentina, Israel and Switzerland, and the United States continued to supply dual-use aircraft and covertly provided the air force with millions of dollars in overhauls and spare parts for previously purchased aircraft. From Switzerland, twelve Pilatus PC-7 were acquired in 1979–1980 as training aircraft, but they were also used in combat during the counter-insurgency.
By the late 1970s the insurgency had been reborn as a mostly
By 1986 the rebellion was considered to be generally under control and the military regime turned over power to a civilian president by the mediation of Costa Rica's President
Structure
The Guatemalan Air Force was restructured in 2003, along with the rest of the Guatemalan Army. Now it is composed of three operational commands, along with 2 schools, a Hospital (Hospitalito de la Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca), a Presidential Transport Squadron (Escuadron Presidencial), and a Headquarters Command (Comandancia de la Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca). The three operational commands are: Comando Aereo Central (Central Air Command) located in La Aurora in Guatemala City and sharing space with the Comandancia de la Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca, the Comando Aereo del Sur (Southern Air Command) located in Retalhuleu and the Comando Aereo del Norte (Northern Air Command) located in Mundo Maya. The two schools are the Escuela Militar de Aviacion (Military Aviation School, or EMA) which trains new pilots and standardizes pilots trained in other countries. The school is based in Retalhuleu, but does temporary detachments all over the country for training. The other school is the Escuela Tecnica Militar de Aviacion (Technical Military Aviation School, ETMA) which is a military high school that trains all of the FAG's new mechanics and is located at La Aurora. The Hospital and Presidential Transport Squadron are also located in La Aurora but are not located within the Comando Aereo Central.
Further, the Air Force personnel are separated into four main specialties: Fixed Wing, Rotary Wing, Maintenance, and Air Defence. These four specialties form Squadrons or Units which are represented in every Command and operating location.
Most FAG Aircraft are based at La Aurora, but perform detachments as necessary to other bases as operations require. The exception for this is the EMA aircraft, the Presidential aircraft, and a few aircraft permanently based at the two other Operational Commands.
The
Aircraft
Current inventory
Aircraft | Origin | Type | Variant | In service | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Combat Aircraft | ||||||
Pilatus PC-7 | Switzerland | light attack | 1[8] | |||
A-37 Dragonfly | United States | light attack / COIN | 3[8] | |||
Transport | ||||||
Cessna 208 | United States | utility transport | 5[8] | |||
Super King Air | United States | VIP transport | 90/200 | 2[8] | ||
Basler BT-67 | United States | transport | 1[8] | modified DC-3 with P&W PT6A Turboprop engines | ||
DHC-6 Twin Otter | Canada | transport | 1[8] | |||
Helicopters
| ||||||
Bell 206 | United States | utility / liaison | 2[8] | |||
Bell 407 | United States | utility / liaison | 2[8] | |||
Bell UH-1 | United States | utility | UH-1H | 9[8] | one aircraft is an Agusta built AB 205 | |
Bell 212 | United States | utility | 2[9] | |||
Bell 412 | United States | VIP | 3[8][10] | |||
Eurocopter AS350 | France | utility | 1[8] | |||
Trainer Aircraft
| ||||||
T-35 Pillán | Chile | trainer | 4[8] |
Retired
Previous notable aircraft operated consisted of the P-51D Mustang, Douglas B-26, C-47, Lockheed T-33, Fouga CM.170 Magister and more recently the S-76 Spirit helicopter[11][12] [13]
See also
- Guatemalan Civil War
- Jacinto Rodríguez Díaz
- La Aurora International Airport
- Mexico–Guatemala conflict
References
- ^ a b "Mision y Vision de la Fuerza Aerea Guatemalteca." Archived 2018-05-11 at the Wayback Machine Ministerio de la Defensa Nacional, Retrieved: 10 May 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Guatemala's Protracted War--The Role of the Guatemalan Air Force Archived 2017-02-10 at the Wayback Machine. Dr. James S. Corum, Air & Space Power Journal.
- ISBN 9780552152907pp 77–78
- ISBN 9780552152907pp 107–109
- ^ Overall, Mario E. Combat Dragons Guatemala's Cessna A-37s. Air Enthusiast #111 May/June 2004 pp. 12–23
- ^ "Brazilian aircraft and radars to combat drug trafficking in Central America". Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine MercoPress, 28 September 2011. Retrieved: 20 December 2011.
- ^ Guatemala cancels its Pampa III purchase. Santiago Rivas, Janes Defence Weekly. 17 July 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "World Air Forces 2023". Flightglobal Insight. 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
- ^ "World Air Forces 2014 pg 15" (PDF). Flightglobal Insight. 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- ^ "Bell Delivers SUBARU BELL 412EPX To Guatemala Air Force". Bell (Newsroom). 19 December 2022. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
- ^ "World Air Forces 2004 pg. 62". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- ^ "Military Aviation 1969 pg. 246". flightglobal.com. 1969. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- ^ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 59". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 21 March 2015.