in flight
Colonial times The first use of counter-insurgency aircraft was in the 1920s and 1930s during some of the
colonial wars, in nations like
Ethiopia and
Iraq. The benefits offered by even a single aircraft in tasks such as reconnaissance or strafing small groups of individuals proved immeasurable. As the British found in Iraq in the 1920s and from some encounters within the frontiers of
Pashtunistan, aircraft stripped away many of the advantages that traditional insurgents had held. It also offered a way of inflicting direct and cost-effective retaliation on the communities that supported the guerrilla. Britain was the first to use
Counter-Insurgency (COIN) aircraft as one of
Royal Air Force missions was policing British Empire by air. This solution was cheaper and quicker than using British Army troops to deal with trouble spots. No special plane was developed. Regular military aircraft were used. It was not unusual for many air forces to field dual role planes: bomber and transport.
Post colonial wars The British Empire faced guerrillas in Africa, Malaya and the Middle East. Royal Air Force had a wide range of capable aircraft available to be used, making the development of new COIN aircraft types unnecessary. Interest in the export market did result in a few COIN aircraft like the
Strikemaster. By the late 1950s, French air operations in the
Algerian War was decidedly counter-insurgent in nature, with helicopters such as the
Piasecki H-21 being used not only to carry infantry, but also
machine guns and rocket launchers on an ad hoc basis, to reach
FLN guerilla positions on otherwise inaccessible mountain ridges and peaks. France created
Potez 75 ground support and counter-insurgency aircraft. It proved its worth in a combat evaluation in Algerian War and Potez received orders for 100 from the French Army, but the Potez 75 didn't survive budget cuts. and the AC-130 Spectre/Spooky, were vulnerable, and meant to operate only after achieving
air superiority. Smaller gunship designs such as the
Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker and the
Helio AU-24 Stallion were also designed by the United States during the Vietnam War. These aircraft were meant to be cheap and easy to fly and maintain, and were to be given to friendly governments in Southeast Asia to assist with counter-insurgency operations, eventually seeing service with the
Khmer National Air Force,
Royal Thai Air Force, and
Republic of Vietnam Air Force as well as limited use by the United States Air Force. ==See also==