https://www.janes.com/article/85058/afg ... d-confirmsAfghanistan is operating Pilatus PC-12 turboprop special mission aircraft it ordered six years ago, the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) inadvertently confirmed in an unrelated tweet on 6 December.
An image of a PC-12 in national markings was posted on the MoD's official Twitter account in relation to airstrikes conducted in the Uruzgan province of the country. Afghanistan ordered 18 "uniquely modified" PC-12s in 2012, with a further contract for five signals intelligence (SIGINT)-configured aircraft following in 2015. While the contract notifications were posted at the time by the US Department of Defense (DoD), until now there had been no official announcement as to the aircraft having been received into service.
According to Jane's C4ISR & Mission Systems: Air , Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) delivered the first aircraft to Kabul in 2013 under civil registrations. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) had reportedly received 13 aircraft by late March 2015, with at least nine further aircraft understood to have been delivered since then. If correct, Afghanistan has received 22 of the 23 aircraft it ordered.
The US 438th Air Expeditionary Wing that oversees Afghanistan's aviation forces had not responded to a request for clarification and comment by the time of publication, while SNC has previously declined to discuss the Afghan contract.
Afghan SpecOps gets PC-12NG Transport Planes
https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/af ... nes-07577/
Contracts
No: 822-12
October 16, 2012
http://archive.defense.gov/Contracts/Co ... actID=4898AIR FORCE
Sierra Nevada Corp., Sparks, Nev., (FA8620-13-C-4007) is being awarded a $218,000,000 firm fixed price contract for 18 uniquely modified Pilatus PC-12/47E aircraft. The location of the performance is Sparks, Nev. Work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2015. The contracting activity is 645 AESG/WIJK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Contract involves foreign military sales to Afghan National Army Special Operations Forces.
