Albanian Air Force

Albanian Air Force; Forca Ajrore Shqiptare
Active	1914 – Today
Country	Albania
Allegiance	Republic of Albania
Type	Air Force
Size	1,400 perssonel
Part of	Albanian Armed Forces
Equipment	22 aircraft
Commanders
Current; commander	Brigadier General Dhori Spirollari
Insignia
Identification symbol
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Multirole helicopter	AS532 Cougar
Patrol	BO-105
Trainer	Agusta AB 206, Nanchang CJ-6
Transport	Agusta AB 205, Y-5

The Albanian Air Force (Forca Ajrore Shqiptare, FASH) is the national Air Force of the Albanian military. The headquarters is located in Tirana and it operates two airbases, Kuçova Air Base and Tirana Air Base.^[1]

History[]

Military aviation started in Albania in 1914, when the Albanian government ordered three Lohner Daimler aircraft from Austria to form the Albanian Air Corps. As a result of the outbreak of World War I, the order was cancelled. Albania did not have the resources to restart the development of a proper Air Force during the 1920s and 1930s.

After World War II, the Albanian Air Force finally came into existence when Albania was equipped with Soviet aircraft. The first squadron was equipped with Yakovlev Yak-9s. The first jet fighter to enter service was the MiG-15, dating officially the 15th of May 1955, followed by the MiG-17. Some of the MiG-15s were Soviet fighters used and then withdrawn from the North Korean Air Force. The backbone of the Albanian Air Force jet fighters became MiG-19 (NATO code "Farmer"). 12 MiG-19PM were delivered by the USSR in October 1959 and on the same year pilots and specialists were sent in USSR to train with the all-weather interceptor MiG-19 PM. After the collapse of USSR-Albanian relations, significant numbers of Shenyang J-6 fighters (Chinese copy of the MiG-19S), were acquired from China. In the early 1970s, Albania exchanged its lot of Soviet-made MiG-19PM (NATO code "Farmer-E") fighters equipped for beam-riding missiles, with 12, more advanced, Chengdu J-7A fighters (Chinese copy of the Soviet-built MiG-21). Two of them were lost in incidents in the early 1970s, eight had problems with lack of batteries in the early 1980s.

In total, during the 70s and early 80s, the Albanian Air Force was able to deploy 142 airplanes, between Shenyang J-6Cs, 12 Chengdu J-7As, a fighting squadron equipped with MiG-17s, a considerable number of MiG-15 (both BIS and UTI versions), and 4 Soviet-made Il-14 transport aircraft. A squadron of Shijiazhuang Y-5 was deployed in Tirana and the Air Force Academy in Vlora had 2 squadrons of Yak-18 for basic pilot training purposes. The helicopter component consisted in 18 Harbin Z-5 (Chinese copy of Mil Mi-4) helicopters based in Farka Tirana, meanwhile there was a single prototype of a light H-5 bomber based in Rinas.

Due to relations collapse between Albania and the Chinese, maintenance became extremely difficult and the number of deadly incidents involving Mikoyan fighters increased. Despite Albanian efforts and some initial success in repairing the engines of the MiGs, the lack of specific jet fuel forced authorities to start production in a national scale, thus resulting in a low-quality production (The first attempt dates on 1961, when the Kuçova factory produced the special Jet kerosene called TSI). The fuel conditioned the life-time of the jet engines and often was blamed as the main reason of the deadly incidents (35 Albanian pilots lost their life from 1955 to 2005 mainly due to MiG's mechanical failures). In the early 90s, in an effort to keep the MiGs flying, the Albanian Air Force received spare parts from Bulgaria and engines from the ex-GDR. As of 2004, Albania still had 117 J-6C aircraft, although mostly were not operational and only 12 Chengdu J-7A.^[2] The Albanian fighter jets were definitively withdrawn from active service in late 2004 after the last deadly incident involving a J-6C during take-off from the military area at Mother Teresa Airport in Tirana.

Currently, the Albanian Air Brigade does not operate any old Soviet aircraft. Since 2011, 9 Shijiazhuang Y-5 are retired from service.

5 Eurocopter AS532 Cougar are to be bought by the Albanian air force.

Aircraft Inventory[]

See full article: List of Albanian Air Force aircraft

Current[]

The Albanian Air Force has retired all its fixed wing aircraft and now operates various types of helicopters. Also, close to NATO Integration the Air defense has become a secondary priority for the Albanian military. Current plans are to reduce the manpower of the Albanian Air Force to around 1,400.^{[citation needed]}

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	Quantity^[3]	Notes
Agusta A109	Italy	VIP	A109C	1
Agusta-Bell AB205	Italy	Utility	AB205 A-1	3
Agusta-Bell AB206	Italy	Utility	AB206 C-1	7	All retired
Eurocopter EC145	France	VIP	EC145	1
Eurocopter AS 532	France	Medium Utility	AS532 AL	2	3 more on order
MBB Bo 105	Germany	Light Utility	Bo 105E-4	6
Black hawk UH60	USA	Trasnport		2	4 on order

Retired[]

All of the Albanian fixed-wing aircraft's have been withdrawn from active service in 2005.

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	Quantity	Notes
Fighter aircraft
Chengdu F-7	China	Fighter Interceptor	F-7A	1	All 10 survivors placed in storage in May 2005
Shenyang F-6	China	Fighter	F-6 FT-6	1+ 2	More than 1 delivered, including a few FT-6 two-seat trainers (which were retired in 2002)
MiG-19	Soviet Union	Fighter	MiG-19PM	1	Delivered by the Soviet Union in 1959 and exchanged in 1965 with China for more Shenyang F-6
Attack aircraft
Shenyang F-5	China	Light Attack	F-5 FT-5	2+ 1
MiG-15	Soviet Union	Light Attack	bis UTI	2+ 1	2 delivered by the USSR in 1955, with further examples delivered by China in 1956.
Bomber aircraft
Ilyushin Il-28	Soviet Union	Light bomber		0	Traded for a Harbin H-5 in 1971
Harbin H-5	Soviet Union	Light bomber		0	Received in 1971, stored in 1992
Trainer
Nanchang CJ-6	China	Basic Trainer		3	1 in active service, with a further 1 planned for overhaul and return to service
Yakovlev Yak-11	Soviet Union	Basic Trainer		0
Yakovlev Yak-18	Soviet Union	Basic Trainer	Yak-18 Yak-18A	0 1	Delivered by the USSR in 1953 and 1959
Transport
Harbin Y-5		Transport		4	Liaison and communications; 4 remain in active service, 9 in storage
Harbin Z-5	Soviet Union	Transport Helicopter		3	Acquired from 1967–1971, mostly copies of the Mi-4A, but including six Mi-4S VIP models; 3 remain in reserve.
Mil Mi-8	Soviet Union	Transport Helicopter	Mi-8T	0

Deployment of the Albanian Air Force until 2005[]

Unit	Type	Location
4004 Regiment	1st Squadron Nanchang CJ-6 Military Aviation Academy	Vlora
	2nd Squadron Nanchang CJ-6 Military Aviation Academy	Vlora
	3rd Squadron MiG-15bis, MiG-15UTI	Kucova Berat
4010 Regiment	1st Squadron Chengdu J-7A, Shenyang J-5	Zadrima Lezha
	2nd Squadron Shenyang J-6C	Zadrima Lezha
	3rd Squadron Shenyang J-6C	Zadrima Lezha
4020 Regiment	1st Squadron Shenyang J-6C, MiG-15bis, Ilyushin Il-14	Rinas Tirana
	2nd Squadron Shenyang J-6C, MiG-15bis, Ilyushin Il-14	Rinas Tirana
4030 Regiment	1st Squadron Shenyang J-6C, MiG-15bis,	Kuçova Berat
	2nd Squadron JJ-5, MiG-15bis	Kuçova Berat
4040 Regiment	1st Squadron Harbin Z-5	Farka Tirana
	2nd Squadron Z-5	Farka Tirana
	3rd Squadron Z-5	Farka Tirana
4050 Regiment	1st Squadron Y-5, AS-350, Bell 222/VIP (lost in incident 2006), Mil Mi-8	Rinas Tirana

Ministry of Health Aviation Unit	SA 316	Tirana Aerodrome

References[]

↑ Komanda Forcave Ajrore Shqiptare
↑ BAES Albania 2006
↑ "World Air Forces 2013". Flightglobal. 2013. http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/media/reports_pdf/world-air-forces-2013-101015.aspx. Retrieved 7 May 2013.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Air force of Albania.

Albanian Air Force 60th anniversary video

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Albanian Air Force and the edit history here.

[1] Komanda Forcave Ajrore Shqiptare

[2] BAES Albania 2006

[FlightGlobal-3] "World Air Forces 2013". Flightglobal. 2013. http://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/media/reports_pdf/world-air-forces-2013-101015.aspx. Retrieved 7 May 2013.

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