| Ecuadorian Air Force | |
|---|---|
Seal of the Ecuadorian Air Force |
|
| Active | 1920 |
| Country | Ecuador |
| Branch | Air Force |
| Size | 7,258 ~80 aircraft |
| Part of | Military of Ecuador |
| Engagements | Paquisha War 1981 Cenepa War 1995 |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander |
Brigadier General
Leonardo Barreiro Muñoz Comandante General de la Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana |
| Insignia | |
| Identification symbol |
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The Ecuadorian Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Ecuatoriana, FAE) is the Air arm of the Military of Ecuador and responsible for the protection of the Ecuadorian airspace.
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To develop the military air wing, in order to execute institutional objectives which guarantee sovereignty and contribute towards the nation's security and development.
To be a dissuasive Air Force, respected and accepted by society, pioneering within the nation's "air-space" development.
The FAE was officially created on October 27, 1920. However, like in many other countries, military flying activity started before the formal date of birth of the Air Force. The history of Ecuador is marked by many skirmishes with its neighbour Peru. As a direct result of the 1910 Ecuador-Peru crisis the members of Club de Tiro Guayaquil decided to expand their sporting activities into aviation as well. Renamed Club de Tiro y Aviación, they started an aviation school. Cosme Rennella Barbatto, an Italian living in Guayaquil, was one of the very first members of Club de Tiro y Aviación. In 1912 Cosme Rennella was sent to his native Italy for training where he successfully graduated as a pilot. He later returned to Europe a second time in 1915, where he participated in World War I. In 152 combat sorties he scored 18 victories, although only 7 were confirmed. When he returned to Ecuador, his experiences served as motivation for a reduced group of Ecuadorian pilots, who moves to the Aviation School in Turin, Italy, with the objective of graduating as the first Ecuadorian pilots of the nascent Ecuadorian Military Aviation. However, aviation did not start in earnest until the early forties when an Ecuadorian mission to the United States resulted in the delivery of an assortment of aircraft for the Aviation school at Salinas. Three Ryan PT-22 Recruits, six Curtiss-Wright CW-22 Falcons, six Fairchild PT-19A Cornells and three North American AT-6A Harvards arrived in March 1942, considerably boosting the capacity of the Escuela de Aviación at Salinas.
The fifties and sixties saw a further necessary build up of the air force, gaining more units and aircraft. Meanwhile efforts were made in enhancing the facilities at various airbases. In May 1961 the "First Air Zone" with its subordinate unit Ala de Transportes No.11 was founded. The "Second Air Zone" controlled the units in the southern half of Ecuador, Ala de Combate No.21 at Taura, Ala de Rescate No.22' at Guayaquil and Ala de Combate No.23 at Manta as well as the Escuela Superior Militar de Aviación (ESMA) at Salinas.
The Ala 11 has its own commercial branch, like in many other South-American countries, the Transporte Aérea Militar Ecuatoriana (TAME). Besides the military transport aircraft, it also uses commerial airliners. Flying to locations off the beaten track, TAME provides an additional service to the people of Ecuador.
The FAE saw action on several occasions. A continuous border dispute with Peru flared up in 1981 and 1995. The FAE managed to down several Peruvian aircraft during that conflict.[1][2] Today the FAE faces the war on drugs as well as many humanitarian and logistic missions into the Amazon-region of the country. Nevertheless, being a small country and supporting a relatively large air force is a burden.
This is the current structure of the Ecuadorian Air Force:[3]
| Aircraft | Origin | Type | Versions | In service[5] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IAI Kfir | Israel | fighter | Kfir C.2/C.10 Kfir TC.2 |
12 1 |
Delivered: 18 throughout the years. Lost: 5. Eight Kfirs are upgraded to the C.10 version, referred to in Ecuador as Kfir CE, featuring a helmet mounted display system, armed with Python-3 and -4 IR-homing AAMs. Two were second-hand IDF/AF examples. It is planned to upgrade all Kfir to C.10 standard.[6] |
| Atlas Cheetah | South Africa | fighter | Cheetah C Cheetah D |
10 2 |
A contract was signed in December 2010. The contract includes maintenance for five years.[7] |
| Dassault Mirage F1 | France | fighter | F.1JA F.1JE |
11 1 |
Armed with Python 3 air to air missile. To be replaced eventually by the Cheetah C supersonic fighter. Delivered: 18 total: 16 Mirage F-1JA, 2 Mirage F-1EJ. See photos of Mirage from this link.[8] |
| Mirage 50 | France | fighter | Mirage 50M | 6 | Upgraded batch of Mirage IIIEs and 5s to the Mirage 50 standard. All donated cost free by Venezuela. To remain in service until 2012-2013.+4 for spare parts. |
| Cessna A-37 Dragonfly | United States | attack | A-37B | 20 | To be replaced by Embraer Super Tucano until 2012. Delivered: 41 total: 37 Cessna A-37B, 4 Cessna T-37G.[9] |
| Embraer Super Tucano | Brazil | trainer, light attack, COIN | EMB 314 | 8 (+10) |
Delivery: to be finished by 2012, at 2 units per month. An initial order of 24 units was reduced to 18 in May 2010.[10] |
| Beechcraft T-34 Mentor | United States | trainer | T-34C-1 | 15 | Based at the Cosme Renella Aviation School. Delivered: 27 total: 6 T-34B, 21 T-34C.[11] |
| Cessna A-150L Aerobat | United States | trainer | A150L | 24 | Based at the Cosme Renella Aviation School.[12] |
| T-41 Mescalero | United States | trainer | T-41A T-41D |
8 12 |
Based at the Cosme Renella Aviation School.[13] |
| MXP-650 | Colombia | trainer | MXP-650 | 2[14] | Based at the Cosme Renella Aviation School.[15] |
| North American Sabreliner | United States | VIP | Sabreliner 40 Sabreliner 60 |
1 1 |
Modified to generate microgravity for the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency |
| Embraer Legacy | Brazil | VIP | Legacy 600 | 1 |
Presidential aircraft. |
| Embraer | Brazil | passenger transport | ERJ-170 ERJ-190 |
3 2 |
Operated by TAME |
| Airbus A320 | European Union | passenger transport | A320-200 | 3 | Operated by TAME |
| Boeing 727 | United States | passenger transport | 727-200 | 2 | Operated by TAME |
| Boeing 727 | United States | strategic transport | 727-100 | 1 | Ex-TAME |
| Lockheed C-130 Hercules | United States | transport | C-130B C-130H L-100-30 |
2 1 1 |
Delivered: 8 total: 4 C-130B, 1 C-130-30, 3 C-130H. All may not be operational since sources vary. |
| Avro 748 | United Kingdom | transport | HS.748 | 2 | Delivered: 5 from Brazil. Operational: 2, others used as spares.[16] To be replaced by 4 MA60[17] |
| de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter | Canada | transport | DHC-6-300 | 3 | STOL aircraft. Delivered: 6 total. |
| IAI Arava | Israel | transport | IAI-201 | 2 | STOL aircraft. |
| HAL Dhruv | India | Utility helicopter | 7 | First Handover in February 2009,[18][19][20] one lost during accident replaced with a new one. More orders planned.[21]. See Photos of Dhruv from this link.[22] | |
| UH-1 Iroquois | United States | utility helicopter | 23 | Some may not be operational. Delivered: 24 total. | |
| Bell TH-57 Sea Ranger | United States | training helicopter | TH-57 Sea Ranger | 9 | Initially 13 were ordered in 1990. Lost: one on May 12, 2008, three in earlier incidents.[23] |
| Bell 212 | United States | utility helicopter | Bell 212 | 3 | 2 bought in 1977, 1 in 1980. |
| Eurocopter AS555 Fennec | European Union | utility helicopter | AS-555AN | 4 | |
| Eurocopter AS350 Ecureuil | European Union | utility helicopter | AS350 AS350 B6 |
5 2(9) |
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| Aérospatiale Alouette III | France | utility helicopter | SA 319B | 2 | Both were still operational in 2007. Delivered: 11 total to the FAE.[24] |
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