The Mexican Air Force (in Spanish: Fuerza Aérea Mexicana) is the aviation branch of the Mexican defense forces and depends on the National Defense Secretariat. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it has 11,770 men, 107 combat aircraft and 71 armed helicopters. [1] As of 2005, its national commander is Gen. Manuel Víctor Estrada Ricardez.
The official predecessor of the Mexican Air force was the Army's Auxiliary Aerial Militia Squadron (in Spanish: Escuadrilla Aérea de la Milicia Auxiliar del Ejército) was created during the Mexican Revolution on April 1913 by the Secretary of War and Navy General Manuel Mondragón, who authorized the pilots Miguel Lebrija and Juan Guillermo Villasana the bombing of targets on Campo de Balbuena, in Mexico City. On February 5 1915 the leader of the Mexican Constitutionalist Army, Venustiano Carranza, founded the Arma de Aviación Militar (in English: Military Air Weapon), this would become the current Air force. Its first commander was Lt. Alberto Salinas Carranza.
The Escuadrón 201, a P-47 fighter squadron of the FAEM or Fuerza Aerea Expedicionaria Mexicana (in English: Mexican Expeditionary Air Force), served in the Pacific against Japan during World War II.
Structure
A national commander under the orders of the Secretary of National Defense is in charge of the Mexican Air Force. The second in command is the Air Force Chief of Staff, who supervise a Deputy Chief of Operations and a Deputy Chief of Management. The Air Force divides the Mexican territory in four regions: Northwestern (Mexicali, Baja California), Northeastern (Chihuahua, Chihuahua), Central (Mexico City) and Southeastern (Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas); each region is commanded by a general. The regional headquarters are in charge of 18 air bases across the country:
| 1 | Santa Lucía, Estado de Mexico | 10 | Culiacán, Sinaloa |
| 2 | Ixtepec, Oaxaca | 11 | Santa Gertrudis, Chihuahua, Chihuahua |
| 3 | El Ciprés, Baja California | 12 | Tijuana, Baja California |
| 4 | Cozumel, Quintana Roo | 13 | Chihuahua, Chihuahua |
| 5 | Zapopan, Jalisco | 14 | Escobedo, Nuevo León |
| 6 | Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas | 15 | San Juan Bautista la Raya, Oaxaca |
| 7 | Pie de la Cuesta, Guerrero | 16 | Ciudad Pemex, Tabasco |
| 8 | Mérida, Yucatán | 17 | Copalar, Chiapas |
| 9 | La Paz, Baja California Sur | 18 | Hermosillo, Sonora |
Fleet
- Combat aircraft
- 10 Northrop F-5E/F
- 18 T-33A
- Trainers
- 4 to 20 Pilatus PC-9
- 60 Pilatus PC-7
- 20 Beech 23 Musketeer
- 42 Beech F-33
- Transport aircraft
- 11 Hercules C-130A/B/C/H
- 6 An-32
- 2 Beech King Air C90
- Attack helicopters
- 4 AS-3322-J Super Puma
- 6 SA-330J Puma
- 17 Bell 206B
- 24 Bell 212 Huey
- 10 Alouette III
- Transport helicopters
- 6 UH-60 Blackhawk
- 12 Mil Mi-8
- 2 Eurocopter Puma
- 1 Agusta A109
- 1 Mil Mi-26
- 60 Mil Mi-17
- 4 CH-53 2000
External links
- History of the Mexican Air Force (in Spanish).
- Planes and helicopters of the Mexican Air Force (in Spanish).