Fuerza Aérea Mexicana

Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (FAM)
Lineup	February 5, 1915
Country	Mexico
Type	Armed forces ( air forces )
insignia
Aircraft cockade
National emblem ( vertical stabilizer )

The Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (FAM) are the air forces of the United Mexican States and the second of three branches of the armed forces of Mexico . It is led by General Leonardo Gonzáles García and is one of the smaller air forces in Latin America with 11,770 members in relation to the population of the country; their equipment - especially their fighter jets - are out of date.

history

Sonoras came into combat in 1913.

The origins of Mexican military aviation go back to the beginning of the 20th century. The first flight in Mexico took place in 1910 and just two years later five officers were sent to the USA for training . Just one year later, during the course of the revolution , Mexican pilots flew their first reconnaissance flights and bombing raids.

On February 5, 1915, the Air Force was founded as part of the army, its first in command was Alberto Leopoldo Salinas Carranza, and at the end of the year the first flight school was opened.

The armed force was built up with the experience gained during the operations; first a reconnaissance, bomber and fighter squadron was set up. In the 1920s, planes were used in various civil unrest and uprisings, but during this time many exploratory and long-haul flights were carried out until the following decades.

P-47 Thunderbolt from Escuadrón 201

Mexico's Air Force began assisting the United States in World War II in 1944 . The training on P-47 took place in nearby Texas and in the spring of 1945 the expeditionary force moved to the Philippine theater of war on Clark Field . The squadron, Escuadrón 201 , was deployed over Luzon and what is now Taiwan . In almost 100 missions, almost 800 enemy flights were carried out.

In 1994, helicopters of the air forces helped put down the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas and today the FAM is not only deployed domestically in non-armed forces , such as natural disasters, but also supports the fight against drug cartels . The large number of helicopters today compared to fast jets (see below) is a direct consequence of the fully utilized helicopter component in the Zapatista survey.

organization

The air force is commanded in the Ministry of Defense by the air force commander, who reports to the chief of the general staff. Two deputy chiefs of staff for operational command and management report to him.

The organization in the area consists of four regions with local headquarters in Mexicali (region northwest), Chihuahua (northeast), Mexico City (central) and southeast ( Tuxtla Gutiérrez ), each of which is led by a general. These regional headquarters are responsible for the total of 18 air bases, see below for details.

Other offices include some smaller airfields, Estaciones Aéreas Militares , training facilities, maintenance operations, depots and the meteorological service.

equipment

F-5 over the Popocatepetl volcano

EMB-145 (early warning version), Santa Lucía

As of the end of 2010

• Warplanes
  • 8 Northrop F-5E "Tiger II" , fighter / fighter-bomber (retired in 2017)
  • 60 Pilatus PC-7 , advanced trainer and light ground attack aircraft
• Reconnaissance aircraft
  • 1 Embraer R-99A (EMB-145SA AEW & C) , early warning aircraft
  • 2 Embraer P-99 (EMB-145MP) , maritime reconnaissance aircraft
  • 4 Fairchild Metro III , reconnaissance aircraft
• Transport aircraft
  • 1 Boeing 787-8 , VIP transport (government aircraft)
  • 6 Boeing 727 , transport aircraft
  • 10 IAI Arava 101/102/201
  • 7 Lockheed C-130E / K / L-100 Hercules , tactical transport aircraft
  • 5 Airbus Military C-295M , light transport aircraft (8 ordered in total)
  • 2 Alenia C-27J Spartan , light transport aircraft (4 ordered in July 2011, additions September 2011 to 2012)
  • 1 Douglas DC-9 , transport aircraft
  • 5 Beechcraft King Air 90 , liaison aircraft
  • 4 Pilatus PC-6 , short take-off multi-purpose aircraft
  • 4 Aero Turbo Commander , liaison aircraft
• Combat and transport helicopters
  • 2 Aérospatiale AS532 Cougar , medium-weight transport helicopter
  • 3 Eurocopter EC725 Cougar , multi-purpose helicopters (12 ordered, delivery from July 2011)
  • 55 Bell 206 , liaison helicopter
  • 28 Bell 212/412 , transport helicopter (1 additional ordered)
  • 4 Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion , medium-weight transport helicopter
  • 22 MD 530 , light attack and reconnaissance helicopter
  • 30 Mil Mi-8/17 , transport helicopter
  • 1 Mil Mi-26 , heavy transport and multipurpose helicopter
  • 6 Sikorsky S-70A , transport helicopter
  • 7 Aérospatiale SA330 Puma , transport helicopter
• Training aircraft and helicopters
  • 2 F-5F, two-seat combat aircraft
  • 46 Aermacchi SF-260 , basic trainer
  • 28 Pilatus PC-7, advanced trainer (to be replaced by T-6C +)
  • 2 Pilatus PC-9 , advanced trainer
  • 0 Beechcraft T-6 C +, advanced trainer (48, coming in since early 2012)

bases

The FAM has numbered its military airfields , Base Aéreas Militar (BAM). Similar to some bases of the US Air Force , they bear the names of former military personnel and often use the same railways as the civil airport of the respective location.

• BAM No. 1 , Santa Lucía, Estado de México , Centro
• BAM No. 2, Ixtepec, Oaxaca , Sureste - Escuadrón Aéreo 402 with T-6C +
• BAM No. 3, Ensenada, Baja California , Northwest - Escuadrón Aéreo 203 with T-6C +
• BAM No. 4 , Cozumel , Quintana Roo , Sureste - Escuadrón Aéreo 201 with T-6C + (from 2017)
• BAM No. 5, Zapopan , Jalisco , Centro
• BAM No. 6, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas , Sureste
• BAM No. 7, Pie de la Cuesta, Guerrero , Centro
• BAM No. 8, Mérida , Yucatán , Sureste
• BAM No. 9, La Paz , Baja California Sur , Northwest
• BAM No. 10, Culiacan , Sinaloa , Noroeste
• BAM No. 11, Santa Gertrudis, Chihuahua , Noreste - Escuela Militar de Aplicación Aero-táctica de Fuerza Aérea (EMAATFA) with T-6C +
• BAM No. 12 , Tijuana , Baja California, Noroeste
• BAM No. 13, Chihuahua , Chihuahua, Noreste
• BAM No. 14, Apodaca, Nuevo León , Noreste
• BAM No. 15 , Oaxaca , Oaxaca, Sureste
• BAM No. 16, Ciudad Pemex, Tabasco , Sureste
• BAM No. 17, Comitán , Chiapas, Sureste
• BAM No. 18 , Hermosillo , Sonora , Northwest - u. a. Escuadrón Aéreo 204 with T-6C +

Web links

Commons : Fuerza Aérea Mexicana  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the Mexican Ministry of Defense

Individual evidence

1. ↑ XC-MEX Fuerza Aérea Mexicana (Mexican Air Force) Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner - cn 40695 / 6. (No longer available online.) In: www.planespotters.net. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016 ; Retrieved April 12, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.