In association with
The Royal Thai Air Force ended operations with its Aero Vodochody L-39 trainers, with 33 removed from use. The same nation’s army, meanwhile, halted operations with the UH-1H, stripping 76 aircraft included in our previous listing. Also deleted are 30 Antonov An-30 transports previously operated by Vietnam’s air force. However, Cirium data shows that other developments in the region included the Turkmenistan air force’s introduction of two Leonardo M-346FA combat aircraft, with another four on order. The service also has introduced five EMB-314/A-29s, a pair of Leonardo C-27J transports, and ordered eight AW139s from the Italian manufacturer. Export success Airbus Defence & Space, meanwhile, on 1 September announced its first export sale for the A400M Atlas, with Kazakhstan’s air force to field two examples from 2024. In Europe, departures included Austria’s Saab 105 trainers, 19 of which were listed in our previous directory. This step leaves only the Swedish air force as still operating the type; although Stockholm in 2021 ordered seven Grob Aircraft G120TPs as eventual partial replacements. Cyprus has removed its 11 Mi-35s from use, and reportedly is now offering the assault helicopters for sale. Germany retired its A310 in-flight refuelling aircraft, having shifted to using a pooled NATO fleet of A330 multi-role tanker transports (MRTTs). With a growing fleet of A400Ms, its air force also reduced its C160 Transall fleet from 41 aircraft to just seven. The German army, meanwhile, ended operations with its 62-strong fleet of UH-1Ds, declaring “Goodbye Huey!” The nation’s navy is to field five Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft from 2024, under a Foreign Military Sales programme deal concluded with the USA in late September. The Italian army in late October conducted its final operational flight with the AW109, retiring its last 15 examples. Warsaw markedly cut the size of its aged PZL Mielec TS-11 fleet, from 36 to eight aircraft, as the Polish air force increased to 12 the number of M-346 advanced jet trainers in use.
After making increased use of its new A400Ms during Madrid’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Spanish air force in December 2020 retired its entire fleet of 10 C/KC-130Hs. In the UK, the Royal Air Force retired its four Raytheon UK Sentinel R1 ground-surveillance aircraft, and also removed from use its last three Boeing E-3D Sentry airborne early warning platforms. The nation’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance fleet rationalisation effort also included the retirement of 10 Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders, which had previously by operated by the Army Air Corps.
Fleet size for leading countries by role Combat aircraft Country
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
USA China Russia India North Korea South Korea Pakistan Saudi Arabia Egypt Taiwan Other Total
Source: Cirium fleets data
6 FlightGlobal
Special mission Active fleet
Share
2,740 1,571 1,511 694 572 492 447 364 338 288 5,696 14,713
19% 11% 9% 5% 4% 3% 3% 3% 2% 2% 39% 100%
Country
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
USA Japan Russia China India France Brazil Germany Austrailia South Korea Other Total
Tanker Active fleet
Share
774 164 132 114 71 46 41 41 31 30 566 2,010
39% 8% 7% 6% 4% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 28% 100%
Country
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
USA Saudi Arabia Russia France Israel Singapore Italy United Kingdom Iran Turkey Other Total
Active fleet
Share
627 22 20 18 11 11 10 9 7 7 77 819
77% 3% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 10% 100%
