Under the supervision of NATO advisors, the Afghan air force officially retired its fleet of legacy Antonov An-32 medium transport aircraft with a last photo call at AAF’s base in Kabul. “Thirty years of war since these aircraft have come to Afghanistan, so it’s all memories,” said Afghan flight engineer Capt. Halimkhan Rahimi at the June 17 ceremony. Last December, the AAF phased out its last An-26 transports. With US assistance, the Afghans have been replacing the Soviet-built airlifters with a more capable fleet of 20 refurbished C-27As. “The decision was made several years ago to move toward a more western style aircraft,” said Lt. Col. Douglas Magoffin, a NATO air training advisor. “We want to get [the AAF] to more of a world standard.” In February, the AAF hit the halfway point in that transition, when its 10th C-27 arrived. (Kabul report by Vladimir Potapenko)
Due to the prolonged delay in deliveries of the Tech Refresh 3 version of the F-35 fighter, Denmark is pulling six of its TR-2-configured F-35 jets stationed in the U.S. back to home base in order to consolidate aircraft and get better training for its pilots and maintainers, the Danish…