Air Force
After achieving independence in 1960 the Faidem's (Force Aerienne Islamique de Mauritanie) was supplied equipment by France, such as C-47s and MH.1521 Broussards, which was later replaced by the Britten-Norman BN-2A Defender between 1976–78 and had operated as a transport and observation squadron in the Western Sahara War. During the same time two Cessna 337s and two DHC-5 Buffalo STOL transports were supplied in 1977-78 with one DHC-5 crashing almost immediately and the other being returned to De Havilland Canada in 1979. After the Polisario Front shot down one Defender and damaged two in 1978 the Mauritanian government ordered six IA-85 Pucaras for ground attack duties from Argentina; this order was later cancelled after a Mauritanian military coup.
More recent procurements have been from China in the form of the Harbin Y-12 II turboprop transports were delivered in September 1995, one crashed in April 1996. A second one crashed on July 12, 2012. The Xian Y7-100C (a copy of the AN-24 transport) was delivered from October 1997, which crashed in May 1998.
| Aircraft | Type | Versions | In service | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embraer EMB 312 Tucano | Training | EMB-312F | 4 | Ex-French with French electronics. One lost. |
| Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano | COIN | A-29B | 1 | Delivered in 2012. |
| Basler BT-67 | Transport | BT-67 | Unknown (1?) | |
| Cessna 337 | Light transport | FTB-337 | 2 | |
| Marchetti SF-260E | Basic training | SF260E | 4 | |
| Harbin Y-12 | Transport | Y-12 | Unknown (0?) | One was destroyed in an accident in April 1996 and a second on July 12, 2012. |
| Harbin Z-9 | Utility helicopter | Z-9 | 2 | |
| EADS CASA C-212 Aviocar | Transport & patrol | C-212-200 | 1 | One will be delivered in 2008 from Spain. |
Read more about this topic: Military Of Mauritania
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