Afghan Air Force - Still Not Big Enough

General Karimi, Afghan Army Chief of Staff, says that the ANSF needs more air support - Currently there are only four Mi-35 Attack Helicopters operating (flying) in the Afghan Air Force (AAF) - two for the northern regions and two for the southern regions. The AAF recently received six MD-530 helicopters armed with weaponry but they are still in the fielding phase - not yet committed to the fight. In addition some Mi-17s, a transport helicopter not really suited to ground attack, are armed with machine guns. The fielding of the twenty A-29 Super Tucanos is still many months away. So for fire support the ANA must depend on their D-30 122mm Howitzers and the limited air support that Resolute Support headquarters can provide. One aspect of the current fighting is that the Taliban can now mass for large-scale attacks against small outposts and combat bases. In previous fighting seasons these large formations of 200 plus insurgent fighters would have been pounded by Coalition air strikes. Not so much now.