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Chilean Air Force.
Founded	March 21, 1930
Country	Chile
Part of	Chilean Armed forces
Motto	«quam celerrime ad astra»
Commanders
Current commander	General del Aire (Air General) Ricardo Ortega Perrier
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon
Bomber	Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon
Electronic warfare	707 Cóndor AEW / AWACS
Fighter	Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-5E/F Tiger III
Trainer	T-35 Pillán, Super Tucano
Transport	UH-1H Huey, Bell 412EP, UH-60 Black Hawk, C-130 Hercules

The Chilean Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea de Chile, FACH) is the air force of Chile, a branch of the Chilean military.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Commanders-in-chief 2 Industry 3 Order of Battle (2006-2007) 4 Future Programmes 5 Aircraft Inventory 6 References 7 External links

History

The first step towards the current FACH was taken by Teniente Coronel Pedro Pablo Dartnell when he founded the Servicio de Aviación Militar de Chile (Military Aviation Service of Chile) on December 20, 1910 being trained as a pilot in France. Although a school was included, the first officers were sent to France for their training as well. One of them, Capitán Manuel Ávalos Prado, took command over the Chilean military aviation school that was officially instated 11 February 1913 and remained in command until 1915. The Escuela de Aviación Militar was named in honor of him in 1944 and still carries that name today.

In those early years many aviation milestones were achieved, conquering the height of The Andes was one of the main targets as well as long distance flights. Typical aircraft of that era were Avro 504, Bleriot XI, Bristol M.1C, DH.9, and SE5a. In the following decade the (Airmail Line of Chile) Línea Aeropostal de Chile was created on 5 March 1929 as branch of the military aviation. This postal airline later developed into the airline Línea Aérea Nacional (National Airline) that is still the leading airline in Chile today. Shortly afterwards, on 21 March 1930, the existing aviation elements of the army and navy were amalgamated into a dedicated department: the Subsecretaria de Aviación (Department of the Air Force) effectively creating the current independent Air Force. It was initially named Fuerza Aérea Nacional. The international airport of Chile carries the name of Lan's founding father and first commander of the air force, Arturo Merino Benítez.

The first outlines of the organization of the current air force were visible in 1945 with the inception of Grupo de Transporte No.1 (First Transport Group), later renumbered Grupo 10, with two C-45s and a single T-6 Texan at Los Cerillos. Two years later the first Fuerza Aérea flight to Antarctica was performed. The fifties meant entry into the jet age for the FACh and Grupo 7 was the first unit to receive them in 1954. Chile got its aircraft from both the United States and Europe. The American supply consisted of F-80, T-33, T-34 Mentor, T-37, A-37 and F-5E/F for example, whereas the British supplied Hawker Hunters and the French delivered various helicopters and Mirage 50 aircraft.

Commanders-in-chief

Rank	Name	Took Office	Left Office	Position
Air Commodore	Arturo Merino Benítez	1930	1931	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Adirio Jessen Ahumada	1932	1932	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Ramón Vergara Montero	1932	1932	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Marmaduque Grove Vallejos	1932	1932	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Diego Aracena Aguilar	1932	1939	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Armando Castro López	1939	1943	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Manuel Tovarías Arroyo	1943	1946	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Oscar Herreros Walker	1946	1947	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Aurelio Celedón Palma	1947	1952	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Armando Ortíz Ramírez	1952	1955	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Renato García Vergara	1955	1955	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air Commodore	Diego Barros Ortíz	1955	1961	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Eduardo Jensen Franke	1961	1964	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Máximo Errázuriz Ward	1964	1969	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Carlos Guerraty Villalobos	1969	1970	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	César Ruiz Danyau	1970	1973	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Gustavo Leigh Guzmán	1973	1978	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Fernando Matthei Aubel	1978	1991	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Ramón Vega Hidalgo	1991	1995	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Fernando Rojas Vender	1995	1999	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Patricio Ríos Ponce	1999	2002	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Osvaldo Sarabia Vilches	2002	2006	Air Force Commander-in-chief
Air General	Ricardo Ortega Perrier	2006	Present	Air Force Commander-in-chief

Industry

Chile also maintains its own aviation industry, ENAER. The design of the T-35 Pillan trainer based on the PA-28 Dakota is the best known example, seeing some export success as well. Furthermore, the assembly of the A-36/T-36 Halcon (CASA C-101) was achieved as well. Performing maintenance on most types in the current inventory such as minor modifications on F-5E aircraft for example, the industry is of significant importance to the air force. ENAER is reported to be in talks with Embraer of Brazil to codesign the first indigenous South American military tansport plane.

Order of Battle (2006-2007)

Personnel = 10,600 (including 700 conscripts)

Future Programmes

The delivery of ten new F-16 F-16 C and D model (Block 50) Peace Puma aircraft from the United States to Chile kicks off a promising era of interoperability between the two nations. The 10 aircraft sale, munitions and maintenance -- all part of the “Peace Puma” program -- is worth $900 million^[1].

The U.S. Air Force worked with the Chilean Government, the Chilean Air Force and the defense contractor to broker the aircraft sale as the latest improvement in the long-term relationship between the two nations’ air forces, said Bruce Lemkin, U.S. Air Force deputy undersecretary for international affairs.

Included in the purchase are joint direct attack munitions, or JDAMs, AIM-9 heat-seeking missiles, AGM-65 Mavericks and advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, or AMRAAMs. The FACh F-16s can also operate Israeli made Derby and Python4 air-to-air missiles carried by the Chilean Air Force (FACh) F-5E/D TigerIII fleet.

The U.S. Air Force conducted F-16 flying training with Chilean pilots. In addition, “train-the-trainer” instruction enabled the Chileans to train their own pilots. The U.S. Air Force and contractor also provided maintenance training.

“These are state-of-the-art aircraft and will provide great capability for Chile, and will also provide interoperability with us. These are the same airplanes the U.S. Air Force flies,” he said. “These F-16s will become the centerpiece of a 30-year or more relationship between the U.S. Air Force and the Chilean Air Force.”

The long-term relationship comes not only from operating common hardware, but also from the experiences of Airmen working together throughout their careers, Mr. Lemkin said.

“We will be training together, operating together, flying together and learning from one another,” Mr. Lemkin said. “There is no substitute for the relationship that results when a captain from the Chilean Air Force is in F-16 training with a captain from the U.S. Air Force, and 20 years later they are both generals. That becomes the most essential element of an air force to air force relationship -- the human element.”

Together with the purchase of brand new F-16s, the Air Force has recently purchased 18 refurbished (MLU program) F-16 block 20 (11 F-16As and 7/F-16Bs) from the Royal Netherlands Air Force. These aircraft have been recently upgraded to F-16MLU standard and have more in common in equipment and capabilities to the F-16C Block 50s than the original F-16A/B block 15 stock from where they come. These aircraft replaced the aging Mirage 5 Elkan (Mirsip). A further batch of F-16MLU aircraft from the same source may follow in the near future, making The Netherlands the primary supplier of the Chilean Armed Forces (202 Leopard 1V tanks, 2 "L" Class anti-aircraft frigates, 2 "M" Class multipurpose frigates and the aforementioned fighters).

Chile has issued an RFP for 5.5 tonne, twin engined new generation helicopter and HAL is participating in the competition with its HAL Dhruv helicopter. HAL had conducted live demonstration of Dhruv equipped with advanced cockpit, electronic warfare suite and surveillance pod in Chile. Four Dhruv choppers were involved in a wide range of applications for evaluation with the demonstration clocking a total 107 hours. It flew to highest altitudes, hot and desert conditions, carried out ship deck landing at Valparaiso, search and rescue at 12,500 ft above mean sea level at a temperature of two degrees Celsius of Iquique as well as long distance ferry flights between Santiago to Arica and back, covering 3600 km. All the requirements for the Chilean Air Force was met by Dhruv helicopter. Finally the contract for 12 new Bell 412 helicopter was awarded to Bell Helicopter Textron Inc.^[2][3]

Aircraft Inventory

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service[4]	Notes
Beechcraft 99	United States	transport/patrol	99A	6	modified locally to Petrel ELINT standard
Beechcraft King Air	United States	utility	B100 200 300	1 1 1	used by local Civil Aviation Directorate
Bell UH-1H Iroquois	United States	utility helicopter	UH-1H	10	4 additional units purchased second-hand and refurbished in USA
Bell 206B JetRanger	United States	utility helicopter	206B	3
Bell 412	United States	transport helicopter	412EP	4	12 additional new aircraft purchased in Nov 2007
Boeing 707	United States	airborne early warning tanker	IAI Phalcon (707-385C) 707-330B	1 1	Israeli AWACS modification modified airliner.
Boeing 737	United States	transport VIP Transport	737-330QC 737-58N	1 1
Boeing 767	United States	Estrategic Transport	767-3Y0ER	1	Purchased August 25, 2008[1]
CASA C-101 Aviojet	Spain  Chile	trainer attack	T-36 Halcon (C-101BB-02) A-36 Halcon	7 17	12 delivered; 8 locally built by ENAER 23 delivered; 22 locally built by ENAER
CASA C-212 Aviocar	Spain	tactical transport	C-212-200 C-212-300	2 4
Cessna 206 Skywagon	United States	utility		2
Cessna O-2 Skymaster	United States	liaison	O-2A	2
Cessna A-37 Dragonfly	United States	attack reconnaissance	A-37B	14	34 purchased in 1973. 10 additional OA-37 on loan from USAF returned to USA in 2005.
Cessna Citation	United States	VIP transport IFR trainer	CitationJet CJ1	4
Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano	Brazil	trainer		12	Third quarter of 2009[5]
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter	Canada	utility transport	DHC-6-100 DHC-6-300	4 9
ENAER T-35 Pillán	Chile	trainer	T-35A T-35B	19 14
MBB Bo 105	Germany	utility helicopter		1	5 sold to civilian market. Now used for EMS service in Chile
Extra 300	Germany	aerobatic	300L	6	Squad Acrobat. 5 planes for aerial acrobatics and one more for training pilots acrobatics.
Gulfstream IV	United States	VIP transport		4
Learjet 35	United States	VIP transport Aerial Photography	35A	2
Lockheed C-130 Hercules	United States	tactical transport	C-130B C-130H	3 2	only 2 C-130H and 1 C-130B currently operational
Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon	United States	fighter fighter lead-in trainer	F-16 Block 50 44	18 in the past and recently 16 F-16 MLU were sold by Netherlands Air Force
MBB/Kawasaki BK 117	Germany  Japan	utility helicopter	BK 117B-1	1
Northrop F-5E/F Tiger III	United States	fighter lead-in trainer	F-5E F-5F	14 2	upgraded in Israel (retired in near future)
Piper PA-28 Dakota	United States	utility	PA-28-236	10
Pitts Special	United States	aerobatic	S-2S	1
Sikorsky S-70A Black Hawk	United States	transport helicopter	S-70A	1

Note: the cargo 707 has retired of service and the Fach cancelled the ordes for the A310 MRTT

References

External links

• Fuerza Aérea de Chile website (Spanish)
• Ranks of Fuerza Aérea de Chile website (Spanish)

	CHILEAN ARMED FORCES
Ejército de Chile (Army)   Armada de Chile (Navy)   Fuerza Aérea de Chile (Air Force)   Carabineros de Chile (Military Police)

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