Eritrean Air Force

The Eritrean Air Force (ERAF) is the official aerial warfare service branch of the Eritrean Defence Forces and is one of the three official uniformed military brances of the State of Eritrea.

History

The Eritrean Air Force was established shortly after Eritrean War of Independence in 1994. It was first established by Commander Habtezion Hadgu, who used to be an Ethiopian Air force pilot during the Mengistu regime, and latter defected to the Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) in the late 80s. When the air force was established,Commander Hadgu, called many officers who served in the Ethiopian Air force, including Col. Abrahan (Chief of Staff), Col. Melake, Col. Mesfin, Col. Dr. Efrem, and some others like Major Shekay who came from Lebanon. His Deputy was a veteran EPLF fighter, a Major General, Aka. Wedi Kahsay whom he remained acrimonious with commander Habtezion until he was sent to Norther zone as a commander of a regiment in the army. The director of air-force intelligence and administration was also a veteran EPLF fighter, Col. Mussie Lebassi, who gives immense value to education, and who enjoyed a good relationship with Commander Habtezion Hadgu and other officers, and was member of the 72nd intelligence unit of the EPLF, which was dissolved in 1994. Commander Habtezion and Col. Mussie were latter suspended form the air force when they allowed a defected Ethiopian war plane to land at the Asmara air force base with the permission of the president. Eventually, the air force was taken over by Major General Teklay Habteselasie who is also the commander of the Sawa military training camp. Under his command many young officers and pilots have defected to neighboring countries and the moral of the air force personnel declined sharply. The Eritrean Air force trained and grew enormously in such a short period and was able to challenge the Ethiopian army in the 1998 border conflict. Commander Habtezion along with young Air Force pilots retaliated in short time after the Ethiopian Air force bombed Asmara through their popular pilot General Bezabh Petros, who was in captive during the liberation war and captivated for the second time in the 1998 war. Commander Habtezion destroyed 11 planes in air force base in Mekele and returned safely. The MiG-21's which were taken from the Ethiopian Air Force are believed to be no longer in service. The main airbase is Asmara AP, which is combined civil/military. At this moment, peace-keepers from different countries try to maintain the fragile peace over the disputed border. Other bases are Barentu, Mitsiwa and Aseb. Serials are sometimes worn with 'ERAF'in front of the digits, but not always.

The make-up of the original force was composed of aircraft that were abandoned by the defeated Ethiopian armed forces. The Eritrean Air Force is a smaller branch of the Eritrean Defence Forces.

Expansion of the Eritrean Air Force (ERAF) did not occur until the Eritrean-Ethiopian War in which the two air forces fought for superiority. In a sort of arms race Eritrea responded to Ethiopia's purchase of Su-27's with a purchase of MiG-29's.^[1] Also during the border war with Ethiopia, Eritrea captured attack helicopters from Ethiopia. However, ERAF suffered a great loss during this war which even forced it to ground until the end of the war. In 2000 the ERAF bought eight Su-25's from Georgia, and six more MiG-29's from Moldova. In 2003 Eritrea also acquired several Su-27's.^[2]

Organization

The Commander of the Eritrean Air Force is Major General Teklai Habteselassie. The official headquarters of the Eritrean Air Force is located in Asmara, Eritrea.^[3]

Armament

Air-to-air missiles

Aircraft Inventory

References