MD Helicopters has delivered the first six armed MD530F Cayuse Warrior armed scout helicopters to the Afghan air force.
Dating from an October 2014 order, the initial batch will be joined by a further six examples by midyear.
The service’s inventory will eventually rise to 17 of the single-engined MD530Fs, says MD Helicopters, with the final deliveries due in early 2016.
The order was initially described as being for training helicopters, but the Afghan air force disclosed in January that they had instead opted for an armed variant. An initial 36 aircraft are covered by options, according to Flightglobal’s Ascend Fleets database.
In addition, Ascend records Kabul’s active rotorcraft fleet as including Russian-built Mil Mi-8/17s and Mi-35s, alongside Bell Helicopter UH-1Hs.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
