Afghan Air Force starts breaking up unwanted C-27As

Alan Warnes, London and James Hardy, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
13 August 2014


Work on scrapping the entire Afghan Air Force C-27A fleet has started, just five years after the first platform was delivered. Source: Alan Warnes

The scrapping of the Afghan Air Force's (AAF) C-27A medium transport aircraft fleet has begun barely five years after the first two C-27As were delivered.

The original deal, brokered by the US Air Force, saw the AAF order 20 30-year-old former Italian Air Force G222s that had been stored at Pisa for about five years.

The US signed an initial USD287 million contract with Alenia North America on 29 September 2008 to retrieve, overhaul, and modernise 18 newly designated C-27As. The first two aircraft were delivered to Kabul on 15 November 2009 and were operated by the 373rd Fixed Wing Squadron.

A second contract worth about USD30 million added two more C-27As to the Afghan fleet; with logistical and spares support the total cost to the US taxpayer is reported to have been USD596 million.

However, the AAF was never keen on the aircraft, with officials saying they would have preferred to have kept their Antonov An-26 and An-32s, and the persistent grounding of the aircraft meant the C-27A's reputation with the leadership never improved. On 27 December 2012 the USAF announced the fleet's withdrawal "after failed attempts by the contractor to generate a sufficient number of fully mission-capable aircraft to provide an effective airlift capability for the AAF".


All the C-27As and a load-trainer have been moved from the Afghan Air Force ramp to the north side of Kabul International Airport for scrapping. (Alan Warnes)

Alenia denied this and in January 2013 a company spokesman told IHS Jane's that on average 12 of the 16 aircraft in Afghanistan were mission capable, with the remainder being sidelined for maintenance and other issues. The spokesman added that as the requirement was for an average of six mission capable aircraft to cover Kabul and for eight aircraft once a squadron in Kandahar was established, the company was ahead of its contracted target at the time of cancellation.

With the support contract not being renewed after March 2013, the C-27A fleet made its last operational sortie on 21 March 2013. Four examples, which had not been delivered from Naples where they were being restored, were subsequently flown direct to Ramstein for storing in Germany during the second half of March 2013.

After complaints by senior leaders that the 16 stored aircraft were an 'eyesore', it was decided to scrap them, which started in mid-July. However, concerns over the safety of the fuel tanks has meant work has been halted until a solution is found.

Following the C-27A withdrawal, the Afghan Air Force ordered four former USAF C-130Hs to fulfil its medium airlift capability gap. Two were delivered on 9 October 2013 and the second pair is due later this year.