The Somali Air Force (SAF; Somali: Ciidanka Cirka Soomaaliyeed, Osmanya: ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, CCS; Arabic: ุงูููุงุช ุงูุฌููุฉ ุงูุตูู ุงููุฉ, Al-Qลซwฤt al-Gawwฤซyรค as-แนขลซmฤlฤซyรค) is the air force of Somalia. Called the Somali Aeronautical Corps (SAC) during its pre-independence period (1954โ1960), it was renamed as Somali Air Force (SAF) after Somalia gained independence in 1960. Ali Matan Hashi, Somalia's first pilot and person principally responsible for organizing the SAF, was its founder and served as its the country's first air chief. At one point, the Somali Air Force had the strongest airstrike capability in the Horn of Africa. But by the time President Siad Barre fled Mogadishu in 1991, it had completely collapsed. The SAF headquarters was technically reopened in 2015 and from 2023 new helicopters arrived. It is now carrying out operations against Al-Shabaab, mostly supporting ground forces.
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๐ Somali Air Force in the context of Somali Armed Forces
The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the president as commander-in-chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
In 1990 the Armed Forces were made up of the Army, Air Force, Air Defence Force, and Navy. From the early 1960s to 1977, the periodwhen good relations existed between Somalia and the Soviet Union, the Armed Forces had the largest armored and mechanized force in sub-Saharan Africa. Due to Barre's increasing reliance on his own clan, splitting the Armed Forces along clan lines, and the Somali Rebellion, by 1988 they began to disintegrate. By the time President Siad Barre fled Mogadishu in January 1991, the last cohesive army grouping, the 'Red Berets,' had deteriorated into a clan militia.