Moody AFB Gets Nod

The Air Force has selected Moody Air Force Base in Georgia to host an A-29 Super Tucano aircraft schoolhouse for Afghan Air Force personnel, the service said on Aug. 22.

The decision comes after a draft environmental analysis, published in July, found that light-attack aircraft training at Moody AFB would have no significant adverse impact.

The training beddown supports the Pentagon's $427 million acquisition of 20 Super Tucano light-attack aircraft for the Afghan Air Force.

Air Education and Training Command considered three possible locations -- Moody, Mountain Home in Idaho and South Carolina's Shaw base. In June, the service announced Moody as the preferred alternative because of airfield, airspace and facility availability.

“Additionally, the overall cost to complete the beddown in the time frame required to initiate the training program made Moody [AFB] the best choice,” Timothy Bridges, the Air Force's deputy assistant secretary for installations, said in an Aug. 22 statement.

With the selection process complete, the Air Force can begin preparing for the arrival of the first aircraft and Afghan students.

In July, service spokeswoman Ann Stefanek told InsideDefense.com that A-29 prime contractor Sierra Nevada Corp. was on track to deliver the first Afghan Super Tucano aircraft in September.

According to a summary of the July draft environmental assessment (EA) document, the schoolhouse would provide training for about30 Afghan pilots and 90 Afghan maintainers through 2018. Once that initial requirement is met, an organic training program will be established in Afghanistan and the training unit at Moody AFB will be inactivated.

Training is due to commence in February 2015. The schoolhouse is expected to eventually support up to 45 students at a time, the EA states. Training will involve simulator and flight training as well as the use of practice ordnance, rockets and .50-caliber practice rounds.

“The AAF needs the A-29 aircraft and trained pilots because the current fleet of AAF air-to-ground aircraft reaches the end of its service life in January 2016,” the document states, referring to the country's Russian Mi-35 helicopter gunships.

In July, the head of Air Force operations in Afghanistan and Afghan Minister-Counsellor Mirwais Nab, who handles military affairs at the Afghan Embassy in Washington, told InsideDefense.com that the Super Tucano program is important because it equips the AAF with a close-air-support capability as Operation Enduring Freedom ends.