Lebanese Air Force

Combat history

The Lebanese Air Forces have a long history operating Hawker Hunter jets since 1958. During the Six-Day War Two Hawker Hunter strafed Israeli positions in Galilee. One Lebanese Hawker Hunter was shot down by an Israeli Air Force Mirage IIICJ.^[3] This ended the short Lebanese involvement in the air war. The Hawker Hunters have not flown any combat sorties since September 17, 1983. This was at a time when the French and Americans were rebuilding the Lebanese Army. Three F.Mk.70s were made airworthy and resumed combat operations on September 15. Because the main airfield, Rayak Air Base, had been shelled by Syrian forces, the Hunters had to operate from an airfield in Byblos. The Hunters were finally grounded in 1994 after a minor accident with one of the T.66 trainers during landing and the remaining 8 were stored in Rayak. The last loss took place in 1989 near Batroun during routine training, when the undercarriage failed to lower, causing the jet to crash. The pilot ejected safely from the doomed aircraft and landed in the Mediterranean sea, where he was promptly rescued by the Syrian Army, which then handed him over to Suleiman Frangieh, who in turn handed him over to the Lebanese Army at the al-Madfoun crossing.

During operations in the Nahr el-Bared camp in North Lebanon, lacking any airworthy, fixed-wing strike aircraft, the Lebanese Army modified several UH-1H Huey helicopters to permit the carrying of 500 pound Mark 82 and 1000 pound Mark 83 bombs (all unguided iron bombs, also known as dumb bombs) as well as Matra SNEB 68 mm rocket pods (taken from stored Hawker Hunters). Special mounting pads engineered by the Lebanese Army were attached to each Huey on the sides and belly to carry the bombs. The air force, in collaboration with the engineering regiment, developed and used two dumb bomb variants, the 250 kg LAF-GS-ER2 and the 400 kg LAF-GS-ER3.^[4] The Lebanese Army also made extensive use of Aérospatiale Gazelles armed with Euromissile HOT anti-tank guided missiles and machine gun pods.

The Lebanese air force played a decisive role throughout the Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon, conducting surveillance operations and precision attacks against Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant who had invaded the border town of Arsal in 2014 and subsequently kept positions along the outskirts of Arsal and al-Qaa, preventing any further advances.

Current equipment

More information Aircraft, Origin ...

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Variant	In service	Photos	Notes
Combat aircraft
Cessna 208	United States	attack / CAS	AC-208	3[7]		Modified to carry AGM-114 missiles
Embraer EMB 314	Brazil	attack / COIN	A-29B	5[7]		Previously 6, one crashed in 2023.[8]
Helicopters
Bell UH-1	United States	Utility	UH-1H	9[7]		Originally 24; 3 had crashed, with 12 more being retired. Currently being phased out in favor of the Huey II.
Huey II	United States	Utility		14		Includes 3 donated in Jan 2021 and 3 more in Dec 2022. Previously 15; one crashed in 2023.
AB212	Italy	Utility		5
IAR 330	Romania	Utility / transport	IAR 330SM (ex-United Arab Emirates Air Force)[9]	7[7]
MD500 Defender	United States	light attack	MD530F+	5[7]		Previously 6, one crashed in 2022.
Aérospatiale Gazelle	France	scout / anti-armor	SA342L	7[7]
AgustaWestland AW139	Italy	VIP transport		1[10]		Presidential transport.[11]
Trainer aircraft
Bulldog 126	United Kingdom	basic trainer	T.1 (in service since 1975)[5]	3[7]
Robinson R44	United States	Rotorcraft trainer		6[7]
UAV
RQ-11 Raven	United States	surveillance	Hand-launched UAV	13[12]		Previously 16. 12 RQ-11 received in 2009, with six more being received from the Foreign Military Sales program between 2014 and 2020. Three crashed in 2016.
Scan Eagle	United States	surveillance	Sensors: * EO950/MWIR * 775EO Camera with ViDAR (maritime surveillance) - TBD[13]	5[14]		Previously 6, one crashed in 2025.

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Simulators

• UH-1H Flight Simulator^[15]

Former aircraft

The Lebanese Air Force has operated a variety of aircraft over the years, ranging from training aircraft to fighter jets and helicopters. These aircraft were retired during the Lebanese Civil War; the Lebanese military would officially ground planes at some point, now only using them in a limited capacity.^[16][17]

More information Aircraft, Origin ...

Aircraft	Origin	Retired	Photos	Notes
Fighters
Hawker Hunter	United Kingdom	2014[18]		Re-entered service briefly between 2008 and 2010, after which it became inoperable. Two are stored in the Rayak airbase museum.[18]
Dassault Mirage IIIEL	France	1978[11]		Saw limited use as a ceremonial and training jet. Retired in 1978, and sold to Pakistan in 2000.[11]
de Havilland Vampire	United Kingdom	Early 1970s[11]		Progressively retired starting from the late 1960s, with the last two retired in the early 1970s.[11] 1 still present at the Rayak Airbase museum.
Trainer aircraft
Fouga CM.170 Magister	France	Early 1990s[11]		Jet trainer, bought in anticipation of further airfleet purchases in 1966 and 1972, 1 still present at the Rayak Airbase museum.[11]
de Havilland Canada DHC-1	Canada	1974[11]		1 still present at the Rayak Airbase museum .
T6 Texan	United States	1972 [19]		1 still present at the Rayak Airbase museum.
Macchi MB.308	Italy	1966 [20]		Aside from training, it was also used to fight the spread of malaria mosquitoes in the early 1950s.[11]
Percival Prentice	United Kingdom	1952 [21]		Came with the same order than the Percival Proctor, though arrived a few days later.
Percival Proctor	United Kingdom			The first plane to fly under the cedar tree flag.[11]
Bombers
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79	Italy	1959[22]		4 were bought and meant to form a bombing squadron, in reality it was mostly used for transport and training.[11] 1 was given to the Gianni Caproni Museum of Aeronautics in 1993.[22]
Transport aircraft
de Havilland Dove	United Kingdom	Mid-1970s[16]		Used as a navigation trainer, VIP transport, and as a photo-mapping plane. It was considered to re-introduce the plane in 1993, but that idea was ultimately scrapped.[16] 1 still present at Rayak Airbase museum.
Dassault Falcon 20	France	Early 2000s		Used for presidential transport missions.[11]
Helicopters
Sud Aviation Alouette III	France	Late 1980s[23]		Two are displayed at the Rayak Airbase museum.[24]

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