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Honduras Air Force
Unlike most other Central American countries, Honduras
formed
its first modern military structures around the air arm
(see Historical Background
, this ch.). Traditionally, the air
force has
functioned as Honduras's strongest military deterrent.
Personnel
from the Air Force of Honduras (Fuerzas Aéreas de
Honduras) played
key roles in the military coup that overthrew President
Lozano in
1956; and General López Arellano, an air force officer,
played an
important role in Honduran politics during the 1960s and
early
1970s. The air force enhanced its public reputation and
prestige
during the 1969 conflict with El Salvador. Although the
Salvadoran
air force launched a surprise attack on Honduran
airfields, the
Honduran pilots were able to counterattack and to damage
oil
storage tanks at the Salvadoran ports of La Unión and
Acajutla. The
war produced a number of air force heroes, the best known
of whom
is Major Fernando Soto, who shot down three Salvadoran
fighter
aircraft.
The air force had a total troop strength in 1993 of
1,800. This
figure did not include civilian maintenance personnel. The
air
force's offensive capability consists of three combat
squadrons:
one fighter/ground attack with ten F-5Es and two F-5Fs,
one
counterinsurgency with thirteen A-37Bs and some aging
F-86F/Ks, and
one reconnaissance with three RT-33As. The United Statesmanufactured A-37B Dragonfly ground-attack bombers have a
maximum
range of 740 kilometers while carrying a full payload, and
they can
be used in counterinsurgency missions from short,
unimproved
airstrips. The F-5 Tiger II fighters, which also are of
United
States manufacture, are supersonic aircraft, easily
maintained and
capable of using rough airfields. Each F-5 can be armed
with two
20mm cannon, two Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, and up to
3,000
kilograms of bombs, rockets, and air-to-ground missiles,
and can be
used for both ground attack and air interception. Twelve
Super
Mystère B2 fighter-bombers that Honduras acquired from
Israel in
the 1970s are no longer operational. Honduras's small
fighter fleet
is the most sophisticated in Central America and costs
about US$3
million a year to fly and maintain. The air force is also
supplied
with seventeen transport planes, forty-two trainers and
liaison
aircraft, and forty-two helicopters.
Air force headquarters is located at Toncontín
International
Airport near Tegucigalpa, with major bases at San Pedro
Sula, La
Cieba, and San Lorenzo. Beginning in 1983, the air force,
with the
assistance of the United States, undertook a significant
upgrading
of Honduran air facilities. Work was done at the Enrique
Soto Cano
Air Base (formerly Palmerola Air Base) to extend the
runways and to
build additional access ramps, fuel storage facilities,
and
revetments. The base is located near Comayagua. These
improvements
were done according to United States Air Force
specifications,
making the facilities suitable for use by United States
military
aircraft under terms of a 1982 annex to a 1954 military
assistance
agreement
(see United States Military Assistance and Training
, this
ch.). With technical assistance from the United States,
the
Honduran air force also took on the task of providing
critical
logistical, training, and tactical support for the army
and Fusep.
Because of Honduras's rugged topography and the limited
access
by road to vast areas of the country, the air force plays
an
important role in tying the nation together. Numerous
small
airports are located in isolated areas; they are used to
provide
transport services and to facilitate civic action work by
the
military. Military influence extends into the area of
civil
aviation, with former president and air force general
López
Arellano controlling the two major Honduran national
airlines, Air
Service of Honduras (Servicios Aéreos de Honduras,
Sociedad
Anónima--SAHSA) and National Air Transport (Transportes
Aéreos
Nacionales, Sociedad Anónima--TAN).
Data as of December 1993
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