There's probably no place in Afghanistan that's equipped for civilian flights at the moment. Commercial airliners lack anti-missile defenses, lack bullet proof panels to protect the crews and vital systems, lack self-sealing fuel tanks. It's not because of the airports, it's because of the airplanes.
That said, the US has 200+ C17s, 300+ C130s, 1,000+ transport helicopters. There's no lack of military airplanes. Add to that the French, the British, etc.
@QuixoticSoul Watch the flares being fired by departing airplanes from Kabul. Those are anti-missile defenses.
I believe the announcements about airliners flying out refugees was later modified to say they weren't actually going into Kabul but into other nearby countries.
Pakistan International has been operating there but discontinued as of today. From one of the news sites:
"... Pakistan International Airlines has suspended its flights into the Afghan capital of Kabul, citing a lack of organization and dangerous conditions as the reason behind the temporary stop ...."
My memories suggests that PIA ran a first class operation. Since they routinely fly in that part of the world, maybe their planes include a few extras, or they have special tactics. Or maybe they found an insurance provider to carry the risk.
I read elsewhere that all flight over Afghanistan have been discouraged by various aviation authorities. There's an international organization that serves to (somewhat) cover all aviation matters around the globe. If I remember right its abbreviation is ICAO, they'd be the ones to post NOTAMS (notices to airmen) to warn everyone.
It's been a while since I've paid serious attention to such, but my guess is that portable surface-to-air missiles can probably reach 20,000 feet
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Ahhh ... just found the ICAO NOTAMS on the internet. Maybe 20,000' still isn't high enough.
FIR = Flight Information Region, which means all or most of Afghanistan FIRs are named after the city where the control facility resides. FL 260 means 26,000' more or less.
--------------------------------------------------- "20/08/2021 - Nav Canada issued NOTAM G1396/21 requesting operators avoid FIR Kabul, replacing a previous NOTAM advising operators avoid fights below FL 260"
@QuixoticSoul It's probably worse than I thought ... per another site, and NOTAMS, air traffic control and services have been suspended (probably because the controllers have departed Afghanistan) and all air traffic is being controlled by the US military.
Reports are that anti-aircraft weapons have fallen into the hands of the Taliban, and that was the basis for the 26,000' waning.
Also as many as 300 military aircraft may have fallen into the hands of the Taliban. A frightening thought!
@Heartlander A lot of them ended up in Uzbekistan, and the Taliban won't be able to keep the rest in the air. Not really sweating it tbh, problem for the next war.
@QuixoticSoul I haven't seen anything yet about where they ended up. The report about the 300 aircraft was dated the 17th of August, and the reference said "fallen into enemy hands."
I've personally worked with pilots of different cultures in a previous life and mostly they are just as good as US pilots once you adjust for the cultural difference.
The issues that will hopefully get and keep those planes grounded, at least for a while, will be maintenance and pilferage. If I had to guess, the US was probably using civilian contractors to maintain the aircraft and they didn't do much training.
I would hope that someone in the white house suggest bombing or in some other way sabotage the planes and equipment.
Taliban doesn't have any trained pilots or maintenance staff, no access to training, and no access to parts. They're not going to have much of an airforce for long. They don't especially need one anyhow, and nothing they captured is much of a threat to our air superiority if we choose to come back.
@sunsporter1649 Sporty, Russians and Chinese can't maintain American aircraft either. They might keep the many Mil-derivatives up in the air, for a cost, but that's about it.
For that matter, we can't maintain Russian equipment either - that's why we bought Blackhawks for Afghans in the first place.
@QuixoticSoul Ever heard of the TU-4? And now the ruskies and chicoms have our latest technology, and can engineer around it. Great plan, handing everything over, what youse guys gonna screw up next?
@sunsporter1649 Nothing we gave to the ANA is a surprise for the Russians or the Chinese. Things have evolved since the 1940s, and it would be cheaper for Russians or Chinese to just give Taliban new helicopters than to manufacture pirate spares.
You'll see me proved correct over the next few years, though I doubt you'll have the attention span to keep an eye on this situation.
@QuixoticSoul I assumed that about maintenance, but just like they kept 25 year old automobiles running, so don't count their lack of training out completely.
For the pilots, it doesn't take a lot of training to know how to start the engines, take off, land, and shut it down .... and drop a few bombs between takeoff and landing.
I don't know what kinds of aircraft were left behind. The reports have been pretty skinny about exactly what was left behind.
A big threat is the anti-aircraft and mobile missiles. Those were designed to be rugged and easy to operate.
@QuixoticSoul Oh, so you are tied into the intelligence communities of the chicoms and the ruskies! Why is nobody surprised. Does the name eric swalwell ring a bell?
@Heartlander Nothing especially cutting edge, and I doubt Taliban will even try to keep much of it operational.
If they're smart, they'll put all of their efforts towards that Mil-17 fleet.
And I doubt that we supplied the ANA with much anti-air equipment, since we maintained total air superiority, and ANA's purpose was to fight an enemy without an air force.
@QuixoticSoul All of the above can be used as suicide bombers. Quite a few attack type aircraft there. And they can all be death traps if you don't know how to change the oil.
:) even putting gas in a C-130 or 727 can be a complicated process and you need a lot of support equipment just to do that.
So before the Taliban tries to figure all that out, hopefully it can all be converted into a big heap of shredded aluminum.
