Aircraft
U.S. Congress Advised Against Afghan Aircraft Buys
An Afghan Special Mission Wing flight crew prepares for a training mission aboard a Mil Mi-17 in Kabul last October. (Photo: SIGAR)
An Afghan Special Mission Wing flight crew prepares for a training mission aboard a Mil Mi-17 in Kabul last October. (Photo: SIGAR)

An inspector appointed by the U.S. Congress recommended that $772 million in contracts awarded by the Pentagon for 30 new aircraft to support an Afghan special aviation unit be suspended because the unit is unprepared. The Afghan Special Mission Wing (SMW) “lacks the capacity, both in personnel numbers and expertise, to operate and maintain its current and planned fleets,” the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) stated in a June audit report.