Portal:Military history of Africa/equipment/3

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The Alouette II is a light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale of France. The Alouette II is the first helicopter to use a gas turbine instead of a conventional heavier piston engine.

It was mostly used for military purposes in observation, photography, air/sea rescue, liaison and training but it has also carried anti-tank missiles and homing torpedoes. As a civilian helicopter it was put to use as a casualty evacuation (with two external stretcher panniers), crop-spraying and flying crane (with a 500kg external sling load).

Alouette II is used by Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Senegal, Togo and Tunisia.