Cuban Air Force, a battle-hardened unit with 8,000 active personnel and currently composed of 2 squadrons of combat attack aircraft, 4 squadrons of fighters, and 4 squadrons of transport aircraft. The main combat mission is to defend the security of the country's airspace and prevent the infiltration of the Cuban airspace and territorial waters of the US team, but only for the long-term blockade by the United States and the collapse of the economies of other countries in the Americas, the various types of aircraft currently in service with the Cuban Air Force have fallen into disrepair, and all kinds of parts and components are seriously aging, and now there have been many major flight accidents.
In July 2013, the North Korean cargo ship "Cheongcheonjiang" was seized by Panama, according to news reports, because the Panamanian Navy found that in addition to the declared brown sugar, the ship was also carrying undeclared ** equipment. It includes two sets of anti-aircraft guns, nine dismantled anti-aircraft missiles, two MiG-21 fighter jets and other spare parts of the older MiG-21F-13 fighters that Cuba transported to the DPRK for maintenance. Cuba's industrial level has taken a sharp turn since it left the Soviet Union, and although it has the help of Russia and China, both powers are too far away from Cuba to support Cuba's economic construction on a large scale, and how its air force develops in the future depends on the wisdom of its leaders.
The Cuban Air Force also has some ties to our country, and in 1961, just two years after the victory of the Cuban Revolution that overthrew the regime, the leader of the revolution, Fidel F. Castro called on aspiring young people to learn Xi new technology in various advanced units, and after being selected by the Air Force, a total of 223 people arrived at the 12th Aviation School and the Eighth Aviation School of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in five batches in September of that year to study Xi. Several surviving Cuban veterans gathered to write a book, which was published in 2016, "They Gave Wings to Fly in China."
5 MiG-29A UB fightersThe Cuban Air Force imported 12 aircraft in 1989 to strengthen its own combat capability, and the earliest Soviet Union delivered Cuba 5 MiG-29 and supporting R73 66 air-to-air missiles, which shot down two invading Cessna series light aircraft in 1996. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba has been able to get fewer and fewer parts, and most of the MiG-29s have been forced to be grounded.
28 MiG-23ML U-UB type fightersSince 1978, Cuba has received several batches of MiG-23 series fighters from the former Soviet Union, and these aircraft are currently the strongest strength of the Cuban Air Force. Up to now, the MiG-23BN MF fighters aided by the Soviet Union have been grounded for various reasons, and some of the newer airframes can still fly after simple repairs. The prospects of this type of aircraft are not very promising, after all, the mechanical structure of the variable sweep wing is more complex, and Russia cannot provide enough parts, and this series of fighters uses one less aircraft.
13 MiG-21ML U-type fightersDuring the Cold War, the Cuban Air Force acquired nearly 300 MiG-21s of various models, most of which are currently in a state of decommissioning, mothballing and organ donation. Cuba completely replaced the MiG-19 after acquiring the MiG-21 that year, and this fighter jet, also known as the patron saint of Cuban fishermen, flew to the airspace of the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic on several occasions to demonstrate, and successfully forced these countries to release Cuban civilians detained.
25 L-39 advanced jet trainers, the Czech aviation L-39 Albatross (Aero L-39 Albatross) is a Czech trainer aircraft and fighter. First flight November 4, 1968 1972, it was selected as the main trainer aircraft of the Warsaw Pact member states. Until 1999, when 2,868 aircraft were produced, more than 30 countries were in service around the world. This high-volume, slower-flying trainer is more handy for escort and expulsion missions.
20 Z-326 Trener Master primary trainersThis trainer is the successor to the Z26 trainer, which was produced in 1959 and mainly exported to the previously mentioned countries such as Mozambique, East Germany and Austria. The defection of the famous Cuban pilot instructor José Díaz Vázquez was the one who flew this type of trainer plane, but after the defection, the United States did not fulfill its promise to give preferential treatment and rewards to the pilots and their families, and even did not take their families to the United States (in the end, it was this ruthless man who secretly flew back to Cuba to pick up his family).
3 tactical transport aircraft of the An-26 typeDuring the Cold War, during the Angolan civil war, the Cuban Air Force sent the An-26 to carry a large number of Cuban special forces to land in the rear of the troops of the Union National de Angola (UPI). Withstood the continuous attacks of the South African army, forcing the enemy to retreat on all fronts. Subsequently, the Cuban army, together with the Angolan pro-Soviet forces it supported, repeatedly thwarted enemy attacks.
4 Mi-35M armed transports***In 2018, four Mi-35M armed transport aircraft were ordered from Russia to adapt to the environment of the Cuban region. More advanced avionics equipment and power systems are the best anti-armor and anti-landing equipment that the Cuban Air Force can come up with, and cheaper UAVs are not currently on Cuba's procurement list, after all, it takes too much money and energy to re-train a capable UAV force.
10 Mi-8P 17 transport***, all for the Soviet Union aid, is the Miri Moscow *** plant (formerly Miri Experimental Design Bureau) designed a single-rotor with tail rotor medium-sized multi-purpose *** Mi-17 in 1981 at the Paris Air Show for the first time, the early Soviet Union delivered the Mi-8 series *** from 1983 began to export to Cuba, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is difficult for Cuba to obtain the Mi-8 17 series from other countries
1 An-30 reconnaissance aircraft, is an aerial mapping aircraft manufactured by the Antonov Aircraft Design Bureau of the Soviet Union, the prototype of which is the military An-26. The aircraft was first tested in 1974, equipped with a variety of powerful aerial telemetry equipment, can complete meteorology, dust, heat, radiation, metal, groundwater and other aspects of detection, analysis and recording work, this is also the only air force in the Cuban Air Force that can perform reconnaissance missions, but the outside world analysis of this aircraft has been retired.