Provided with combat aircraft and 'volunteer' personnel from the former Soviet-bloc nations before the collapse of European communism, the Angolan air force managed to operate some 155 combat aircraft with a manpower strength of only 2,000. With that support now gone, the future of the Angolan air force is in doubt. The Marxist government faces the threat of internal disintegration from the relentless attacks of the Western-backed UNITA guerrillas. Added to the government's woes are South African air and surface incursions in the course of that country's prosecution of its war against the SWAPO guerrilla movement. On paper, Angola has a blend of forces centered on three air-defense and four fighter/ground-attack squadons, but these numbers are sure to dwindle as the country continues to be wracked by civil war. Pilot training standards, always low in the past, will surely drop further.
