Italian media reports which suggest that the Afghan National Air Corps is to acquire secondhand Alenia G222/C-27A tactical transports appear to have received indirect confirmation from the US Air Force and Pentagon statements.
USAF Gen Jay Lindell, commander of the Combined Air Power Transition Command Afghanistan, says the country’s military strongly needs a new fixed-wing tactical transport component to replace four Antonov An-32s, and that the preferred solution should be Western-produced aircraft.
Pentagon sources have gone further, however, relvealing that the US administration has bought 22 used transports to be sent to Afghanistan, where they will equip the local air force on their delivery between 2009 and 2011.
Alenia Aeronautica declines to comment on the reports, but with the G222 having left Italian air force service and US-operated C-27As having been retired in 1999, the twin-turboprop design seems to be the sole medium transport aircraft available in the world market in suitable numbers: the services had combined fleets of more than 60 of the aircraft. The company is already under contract to modernise G222s for the Nigerian air force.
Any aircraft transferred to Afghanistan are likely to undergo limited upgrade and refurbishment, but details of the whole operation - including logistics support, maintenance and crew training - have not been disclosed.
Source: Flight International
