Representatives of the Taliban movement (a terrorist organization banned in Russia) are trying to revive high-speed jet planes stored at Kabul airport for their newly created Air Force.
According to the authors of the well-known blog Oryx, we are talking about the Czechoslovakian-made L-39C training jets that Afghanistan received back in the late 70s. A total of 26 aircraft were delivered. They entered service with the 393rd training aviation regiment at the Mazar-I-Sharif airbase in the north of the country.
These cruise vehicles have one suspension unit under each wing and can carry blocks designed to launch 57 mm unguided S-5 missiles, or bombs of various types weighing up to 250 kg.
The maximum take-off weight is 4700 kg. The horizontal flight speed is 760 km/h. The practical ceiling is 11,500 m. The range is 1015 km.
It is believed that only three such winged vehicles survived after the civil war of the 90s and the American invasion.
They underwent major repairs and continued to be used for several years, but not for pilot training, but for participation in various ceremonial events, such as military parades. Then, since the beginning of the 2010s, the aircraft were in storage, and now it has been decided to return them to service again.
The repair of old AN-26 and AN-32 aircraft is also underway. At one time, the Americans tried to replace them with the C-27A Spartan, but nothing came of this venture. Due to the imperfection of the design of the latter, they were forced to write them off. It is assumed that the L-39C and Soviet-made transporters will form the backbone of the new Afghan Air Force.
Alexey Moiseev
