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Peru Air Force
The FAP had a total personnel strength of about 15,000
in
1990, including some 7,000 conscripts, with 116 combat
aircraft
and 24 armed helicopters. This compared with some 10,000
air
force personnel in 1980 and 138 combat aircraft. Of Peru's
three
services, only the FAP had made a significant commitment
to
include women volunteers in regular enlisted service. As
of May
1986, there were 2,100 women in the ranks, including 20
senior
airwomen, 60 airwomen first class, 300 airwomen, and 1,720
airwomen basic. Basic training courses were the same as
those
provided to men. Most women served in administrative
positions,
including secretarial, teletype, nursing, meteorology, and
supply
assistance.
Like the Peruvian navy, the FAP underwent a substantial
modernization during the 1968-80 military government that
continued into the elected civilian administrations of the
1980s.
Unlike the navy, however, much of the modernization
involved the
acquisition of Soviet equipment, the extension of a
long-standing
air force policy of diversifying material sources rather
than
relying primarily on a single country.
In addition, the FAP made substantial purchases of
planes and
helicopters from other countries. Although this remarkable
diversity posed major logistical and maintenance
challenges, by
the late 1980s Peru had the third largest air force in
Latin
America and the most advanced equipment of them all (see
table 26, Appendix).
The FAP entered into an agreement with Italy's
Aermacchi
(Aeronàutica Macchi--Macchi Aviation Company) in 1980 to
assemble
in Peru sixty-six MB-339 AB trainers and MB-339K light
attack
planes, with the wings, rear fuselage, and tail unit
manufactured
in Peru. Construction began in November 1981 of an
Aeronautics
Industry Public Enterprise (Empresa Pública de la
Industria
Aeronáutica--Indaer-Perú) factory at Collique with
Aermacchi
assistance, but financial problems forced its cancellation
in
late 1984.
The FAP commander, with headquarters in Lima, was
responsible
to the minister of defense and oversaw a service divided,
as of
1990, into some nine groups and twenty-two squadrons
across
Peru's three air defense zones. The FAP's principal bases
were at
Iquitos in the north jungle; Talara, Piura, Chiclayo, and
Trujillo on the north coast; Huánuco in the central
highlands and
Lima/Callao, Las Palmas, and Pisco on the central coast;
and La
Joya and Arequipa in the south. Secondary bases included
Cajamarca in the north highlands; Ancón and Limatambo on
the
central coast; San Ramón, Ayacucho, and Cusco in the
central and
south-central highlands; and Puerto Maldonado in the south
jungle.
The six groups with combat equipment were distributed
among
the major bases: Attack Group 7 (three squadrons of
Cessnas) at
Piura and Chiclayo; Bomber Group 9 (two squadrons of
Canberras)
at Pisco; Fighter Group 11 (including one squadron of
Fitter-Js)
at La Joya; Fighter Group 12 (two squadrons of Fitter-Fs)
at
Talara; and Fighter Group 13 (two squadrons of Mirages) at
Chiclayo, with deployments to La Joya and elsewhere. The
other
combat group was Helicopter Group 3, which was based at
Callao
but deployed at various bases throughout the country,
including
an attack squadron, which as of 1990 was probably assigned
to the
army for counterinsurgency duty.
FAP responsibilities during the 1980s also included
increasing activities to support the government's effort
to
reduce drug trafficking, particularly illegal flights to
Colombia
from clandestine air strips in the north central region of
the
Upper Huallaga Valley. In addition, the FAP continued to
fulfill
its long-standing mission of providing air links to remote
parts
of Peru that lacked roads, particularly the eastern jungle
areas.
Transportation Group 42, based in Iquitos, operated the
National
Jungle Air Transport (Transportes Aéreos Nacionales
Selváticos--
TANS) service with C-47s, DHC-6s, and PC-6s. Transport
Group 8
was based at Lima's Jorge Chávez International Airport to
perform
similar duties, as well as to service some of the
military's own
air supply and training needs, with L-100-20 Hercules,
DHC-5s,
AN-26s, AN-32s, Beech 99s, Queen Air 80s, and King Air
90s. The
president's fleet, including a Fokker F28 and Falcon 20F,
was
also a part of Transportation Group 8. Some of the
helicopter
squadrons were deployed at various bases to assist in such
nonmilitary missions as the support of oil exploration
activities, medivac, and sea-air rescue; others
concentrated on
military support activities, particularly against
guerrilla
operations. Peru's location astride the Andes and its
multiple
ranges, with a jungle area comprising over half the
national
territory and a heavily populated coast largely cut off
from the
rest of the country, required a substantial air force
presence.
The national airline, Air Transport Company of Peru
(Empresa de
Transporte Aéreo del Perú--Aeroperú), was considered an
auxiliary
of FAP.
Data as of September 1992
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