SANA'A: For over a couple of months, Yemen's Air Force has been demonstrating in the streets of the capital, Sana'a, demanding newly elected President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi demote its decades' long commander, General Mohamed Saleh al-Ahmar, ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh's half-brother. Interestingly, Yemen has so far mainly relied on its American allies to pound from the air al-Qaeda militants, raising serious question marks over its air strike abilities and on-going allegations of counter-terrorism funds embezzlement brought up by soldiers and high-ranking officers. It all started in January, when a meeting turned sour after an officer accused General al-Ahmar publicly of corruption, demanding that he immediately present his resignation from his post at al-Dalaimi airbase. After a few heated words, a shoe was thrown, prompting an uprising in the base as soldiers and officers alike rallied behind the rebel Lieutenant. Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh, Saleh's eldest son and Head of the Republican Guards immediately sent his troops to quell the rebellion, fearing that the move would be replicated across other bases if he did not strike hard and instill fear. Despite his intervention several hundred troops took their protests to the streets, choosing then Vice President Abdu Rabbo Mansour Hadi's residence for their sit in. Pilots told Bikyamasr.com that they were calling on the government to put an end to corruption and thievery, urging Hadi to give Yemen's army its pride back as decades of negligence and rights abuses had destroyed what was once the pride and joy of a nation. “We are here to end the corruption and get rid of the family leader,” says Staff Lt. Col. Abdullah Al Yemeni, a flight engineer on strike, who received US training at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. “He has made the Yemeni Air Force into something like a farm or a company,” the officer continues. With thousands of other officers striking alongside Al Yemeni, the protest has brought the Air Force to a near standstill at a time when Yemen is a central theater of operations in the ongoing US war against Al Qaeda and its affiliates. The result, despite several hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance from the US to Yemen over the past four years, is that a key tool in the global war against Islamic terrorists is essentially grounded. Indeed, the strike comes at a critical time: unrest in Yemen's south, home to Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) continues to grow, as evidenced by the attack this month. Nor is this just an internal problem for Yemen, according to senior US officials. As Yemen has its back against the wall, losing its war against al-Qaeda, with the group announcing more gains over its territories everyday, the country is solely relying on its armed forces to keep the terror threat at bay, with tens of thousands of Yemenis wondering where the American funds against terror could have gone since the army appears so ill-equipped. Although the Air Force was directly targeted by the US to receive millions of dollars in equipment and funding, pilots and engineers are depicting a grim reality, with half of Yemen's war planes being grounded because of repairs that cannot be completed. For security reasons, Yemeni officers decline to state the exact number of aircraft in their inventory. But according to local reports, the Air Force has perhaps several hundred aircrafts, many in no condition to fly. One squadron of F-5s is in particularly bad shape, according to pilots and engineers. “Most of the aircraft are grounded,” says Captain Aseem Al Hasani. To keep even a handful of F-5s in the air, for example, mechanics have had to cannibalize engine parts, leaving several F-5s sitting on the ground without engines. But even the F-5s that are flying are in questionable condition. “[Mohamed] Saleh said, ‘fly until you destroy all parts of the aircraft',” says Al Hasani. A particular complaint from F-5 pilots is that the cartridges that power their ejection seats have expired. Al Hasani recalls a colleague who died in an F-5 crash 13 years ago; the aircraft suffered mechanical problems, and when the pilot attempted to eject, nothing happened. “It's the last chance for your life,” stresses Al Hasani. “You have to be able to exit.” More troubling yet, pilots and engineers confirmed that General al-Ahmar had ordered pilots to fly planes while knowing it was unsafe, dismissing whoever refused to sign off the release forms. “He destroyed all of the technical achievements of the Yemeni Air Force,” says Gen. Abdul Aziz Al Muhaya, deputy commander of al-Dalaimi. Counterfeit parts have also made their way into the supply chain because, pilots and mechanics allege, the commander uses family-owned companies to buy parts off the black market at cut-rate prices. Indeed, the state of the Yemeni Air Force is at odds with the amount of assistance provided by Washington in the past few years, including foreign military financing funds for the two C-130Hs, delivery of four Bell UH-1Hs in January 2011, and support and spare parts for the Mi-17s and F-5s. Another $82.8 million was designated for the Air Force to support its helicopters in counterterrorism operations, according to the Pentagon. Several generals allege that Saleh's regime was re-routing counter-terrorism funds to prop up its own ability to assert its power over Yemen, neglecting to fight al-Qaeda. The Yemeni government currently denies all wrongdoing, saying that President Hadi is currently undergoing the task of restructuring the armed forces, with officials maintaining that all issues or grievances would be addressed in good time. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/qcFc6 Tags: Aid, Air Force, featured, Shambles, US, Yemen Section: Editor's choice, Features, Latest News, Yemen
