The New Taliban Air Force May Not Be Equal To NATO
A lot of the aircraft captured "intact" aren't exactly airworthy - and $83 billion is the whole sum used over the course of 20 years to arm, equip, and pay the Afghan National Army...
“By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
The list only includes captured Afghan aircraft of which photographic or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of aircraft captured is undoubtedly higher than what is listed here. Not all aircraft captured in intact condition are operational at the time of capture. Thus, the number of aircraft captured by the Taliban thus doesn't translate into an operational fleet of similar size. Civilian aircraft are not included in this list.
Aircraft captured intact:
Aircraft (13)
1 A-29B light attack aircraft: (1)
1 Cessna 208 utility aircraft: (1)
3 L-39 jet trainer: (1, 2 and 3) [Inoperational for several years at the time of capture]
8 An-26/32 transport aircraft: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) [Inoperational for several years at the time of capture]
Helicopters (41)
6 UH-60A 'Blackhawk' transport helicopter: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)
11 MD 530F attack helicopter: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5, 6 and 7)(8)(9 and 10)(11)
12 Mi-8/Mi-17 transport helicopter: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6 and 7)(8)(9)(10 and 11)(12)
13 Mi/24Mi-35 attack helicopter: (1)(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13) [2 to 13 were inoperational for several years at the time of capture]
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (7)
Aircraft captured at Kabul International Airport but rendered disabled by U.S. forces (73 reported):
Aircraft (27)
12x A-29B light attack aircraft: (1)(2)(3, 4 and 5)(6, 7, 8 and 9)(10 and 11)(12)
12x C-208/AC-208 utlity/attack aircraft: (1 and 2)(3, 4 and 5)(6)(7, 8, 9, 10 and 11)(12)
1x PC-12NG special mission aircraft: (1)
Helicopters (43)
12x UH-60A 'Blackhawk' transport helicopter: (1 and 2)(3)(4)(5 and 6)(7, 8, 9 and 10)(11 and 12)
5x CH-46 transport helicopter: (1, 2, 3 and 4)(5)
14x MD 530F attack helicopter: (1 and 2)(3)(4 and 5)(6)(7)(8 and 9)(10, 11 and 12)(13 and 14)
14x Mi-8/Mi-17 transport helicopter: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7, 8 and 9)(10)(11, 12 and 13)(14)
This list is constantly updated as new footage becomes available.
1x A-29B light attack aircraft:
Mazar-i-Sharif, captured on the 15th of August 2021”
(source: https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2021/08/the-taliban-air-force-inventory.html) - refer to this site for an updated list of pictures.
Most of the aircraft captured weren’t exactly in top condition, the 73 at Kabul Airport were pretty well trashed, what got left behind were aircraft not in operating condition. The aircraft above was one of the few that hadn’t been shot up or was missing components, like blades for helicopters.
”The United States, as has been widely reported, spent an enormous amount on training and equipping the Afghan National Army and Air Force – some $83 billion since 2002. Though some of this equipment has been lost or destroyed in battle, the bulk of it is now in the hands of the Taliban.
The first thing to note is that none of this equipment is likely to change the strategic balance outside Afghanistan. The Afghan security forces were equipped to fight against irregular opponents on its own territory, not to launch offensives across national boundaries. Given that the Taliban never fielded an air force, there were no shoulder-fired missiles in the Afghan inventory that could be used to target civilian airliners, no ballistic or cruise missiles, and no long-range strike aircraft. What was left behind can be used for internal repression and propaganda – neither of which should be ignored – but will not suddenly transform the Taliban into an expeditionary military.
There is an interesting (though less urgent) question about the fate of the several dozen planes and helicopters apparently flown by Afghan pilots to Uzbekistan, including the bulk of the Afghan Air Force’s A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft. The Uzbek government might choose to return them to the Taliban, once it solidifies its control of the country; or to sell them back to the United States in exchange for some kind of political or financial incentive; or to simply keep them and use them to supplement its own air force. But again, none of those systems represents either a meaningful intelligence loss to the West nor a strategic threat.
More fundamentally, though, many of those weapons cannot simply be used in perpetuity by their new owners. In general, the more complex a weapons system is, the more onerous its maintenance requirements are. Simple weapons, like rifles, can last decades (or longer) in rough conditions and with minimal maintenance. Likewise, basic vehicles – pickup trucks, for example, which are the building blocks of armed mobility for many irregular forces worldwide – can be kept running with ingenuity and a degree of mechanical knowledge. But systems such as aircraft, computerized sensor systems, modern armored vehicles and so on all require specialized parts, complex maintenance procedures and – increasingly – regular software updates to keep them effective, or even functional.
Indeed, the withdrawal of U.S. technical and logistical support – agreed to by the Trump administration as part of its February 2020 deal with the Taliban and not reversed by the Biden administration – did real harm to the ability of the Afghan army and air force to fight as they had been trained and equipped for. Some of the more sensitive electronic systems were literally stripped out and taken back to the United States; in a grim irony, those left behind only threaten the West’s Afghan allies.” https://thediplomat.com/2021/08/are-the-talibans-captured-weapons-any-use/
So it may not be the case that the Taliban got as much as the outraged press here say they got - and they won’t have spare parts or tools to work on the aircraft, or repair manuals, or that sort of thing. And keeping aircraft going in a dusty and sandy environment is quite a trick even if you do have tools and manuals…