The South Sudan Air Force (SSAF), also previously known as the Sudan People's Air Force or Sudan People's Liberation Air Force, is the

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

of the

South Sudan People's Defense Forces The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a ...

(SSPDF) of

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

. The headquarters are located in

Juba Air Base Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...

History

Sudan: 2008–2011

On 24 June 2008, the South Sudan Air Force was formally created by the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, although it didn't have any aircraft at that time. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations School announced in July 2009 that Sudan participated in the Building Partner Aviation Capacity Course. In May 2010, Major General Kuol Dim Kuol of the Sudan People's Liberation Army said: "SPLA has formed a nucleus air force and navy. Our pilots and engineers have been trained, and local support and administrative units will follow suit." On 8 August 2010, the South Sudanese government impounded a

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition to ...

Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian service. ...

variant from SudanAir as an effort to stop smuggling of weapons in the South, a few days before delivery of the first SSAF Mi-17s. British magazine ''

Jane's Defence Weekly ''Jane's Defence Weekly'' (abbreviated as ''JDW'') is a weekly magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs, edited by Peter Felstead. It is one of a number of military-related publications named after John F. T. Jane, an Englishman who ...

'' said in September 2010 that "Bloomberg News had reported earlier that the fleet consisted of nine Mi-17V-5 transport helicopters and one

Mi-172 The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

variant, purchased for a total US$75 million from Russia's

Kazan Helicopters Kazan Helicopters, Joint Stock Company is a Russian helicopter manufacturing company based at Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan. It is one of the largest helicopter manufacturers in the world. Its products include the Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-17 helicopters ...

, in a contract negotiated in May 2007 for deliveries set to begin in March 2010." The deal was reported to be worth US$75 million; deliveries of the first eight aircraft had taken place by December 2010, with the helicopters delivered to

Juba Airport Juba () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria, Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevate ...

Antonov An-124 The Antonov An-124 Ruslan (; russian: Антонов Ан-124 Руслан, , Ruslan; NATO reporting name: Condor) is a large, strategic airlift, four-engined aircraft that was designed in the 1980s by the Antonov design bureau in the Ukrain ...

transports, with the remaining two aircraft were delivered in January 2011. Nine of the helicopters were Mi-17V-5s configured for transport, with the remaining aircraft being a Mi-172 configured for VIP transport.

South Sudan: 2011–present

On 11 January 2011, President

Salva Kiir Salva (Latin for "Save") may refer to: People *Francisco Salva Campillo (1751-1828), Spanish scientist * Ramon d'Salva (born 1921), Filipino actor * Héctor Salva (1939-2015), Uruguayan football midfielder *Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 1951), South ...

launched the region's air force as the South Sudan Air Force in the presence of senior officials of the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) and foreign diplomats. The SPLA purchased its first batch of 10

Mil Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 ( NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian servic ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s from

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, a Russian supplier, and ordered unarmed aircraft for transport purposes. On 13 September 2014, six air force military officers and engineers of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit have joined the rebels or

SPLM-IO The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (abbreviated SPLM-IO), also known as the anti-governmental forces (AGF), is a mainly South Sudanese political party and rebel group that split from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 20 ...

, saying their decision to join the SPLM/A-in Opposition is a result of lack of diversity in the army of training opportunities and poor promotion policy. The deserted SPLA personnel also said that the government of South Sudan used the air force to transport militias and SPLA regular soldiers who participated in the killing of innocent civilians in Juba late last year. On 25 November 2015, the South Sudanese government launched an aerial campaign on rebel positions in a SPLA-IO's designated area in Mundri County of

Western Equatoria State Western Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of . Its capital is Yambio. The state was divided into counties, each headed by a County Commissioner. Western Equatoria seceded from Sudan as part of the Republic of South Sudan on ...

. It was said that the South Sudan Air Force unleashed helicopter gunships and attacked the designated cantonment area of the rebels. The action was a violation of the ceasefire deal and the security arrangements signed by the two parties (GRSS and SPLA-IO).

Organisation

The air force is divided into 2 wings. *Helicopter Unit **Equipped with Mi-17V-5s,

Mi-35 The Soviet and later Russian Mil Mi-24 helicopter has been produced in many variants, as described below. History In 1966, Soviet aircraft designer Mikhail Mil created a mock-up design of a new helicopter (derived from the Mil Mi-8) which was m ...

s and a

*Fixed Wing Unit **Equipped with 2 L-39s

Key dates

*June 24, 2008 – South Sudan Air Force formally created. *February 2010 – first fixed-wing aircraft received –

Beech 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop regional airliner manufactured by Beechcraft. It is also used as a freight aircraft and corporate transport, and by several governmental and military organizations. With c ...

. *December 2010 – first helicopters received – Mi-17.

Aircraft and bases

Current inventory

It is difficult to ascertain a list and number of aircraft types operated by the air force of South Sudan because of secrecy.

Aircraft orders 2010-2015

The first aircraft was received in February 2010, and the first helicopters from an initial order for 10 was received in December 2010.

Bases

Headquarters –

Air Force commanders

*24 May 2017 – 15 December 2017: Charles Lam Chol *15 December 2017 – present: James Kong Kong

References

{{Authority control Military of South Sudan Military units and formations established in 2011 Military aviation in Africa