Afghan Military to Receive A-29 Super Tucanos in December

The first of 20 A-29 Super Tucano for the Afghan Military, are expected to arrive in December.
The U.S. Air Force's program to provide A-29s to the Afghan military has been caught up in long-running contract disputes and delays in the training of Afghan Air Force air and ground crews, leaving the Afghan military overly-reliant on the U.S. for close air support in combat..
The first of the 20 A-29s should begin arriving in December. A few more will arrive next year but the majority of the order won't be fielded until 2017 and 2018 under the current schedule.
The Afghans also have a few MD530 "Little Bird" helicopters which can provide some close air support, but the MD530s are also caught up in a contract dispute.
military