Somali Air Force The Somali Air Force ( SAF ) ( , , " Al - Qūwāt al - Gawwīyä as - Ṣūmāl " ) is the air force of Somalia . The Somali Aeronautical Corps ( SAC ) was the name of the Somali Air Force during the pre - independence ( 1954 – 1960 ) period . After 1960 , when Somalia gained independence , the name changed to the " Somali Air Force " . The SAF at one point had the strongest airstrike capability in the Horn of Africa . Following the outbreak of the civil war in the early 1990s , the air force disbanded . A reconstituted Somali central government later relaunched the SAF in the 2010s . Pre - Independence ( 1954 - 1960 ) . Following an agreement signed between the Somali and Italian governments in 1962 , Somali airmen began a training regimen in Italy with the assistance of Italian technical staff and pilots . Over the same period , fifty Somali cadets also commenced training in Russia as jet aircraft pilots , later to be joined by more than two hundred of the nation ’ s elite NCOs and officers for general military training . Most of these trained Somali military officials then returned to Somalia with the skills and knowledge that they had acquired abroad . Post - Independence ( 1960 – 1969 ) . The Somali Air Force was established before Somalia ' s independence , and was at first equipped with a small number of Western aircraft , including Beech 18 s and C - 47 Dakota s for transport tasks , a few Piaggio P . 148 trainers , P - 51D Mustang s used as fighter s , and a pair of Bell 47 Sioux helicopters . On October 15 , 1969 , while paying a visit to the northern town of Las Anod , Somalia ' s then President Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards . His assassination was quickly followed by a military coup d ' état on October 21 , 1969 ( the day after his funeral ) , in which the Somali Army seized power without encountering armed opposition — essentially a bloodless takeover . The putsch was spearheaded by Major General Mohamed Siad Barre , who at the time commanded the army . Barre then proclaimed Somalia to be a socialist state , and rapid modernization programs soon followed suit . Numerous Somali airmen were subsequently sent to train abroad in countries such as the United States , Italy , the Soviet Union , and the United Kingdom . After their training , many of these men went on to become the nation ' s leading instructors and fighter pilot s . The Somali Air Force was at this time considered to be among the very best air forces on the continent . Asli Hassan Abade was the first female pilot in the Somali Air Force . She had been training on single prop aircraft , and later earned a scholarship to study at the United States Air Force Academy . Historical aircraft . On July 30 , 1960 , the following was the SAF ' s aircraft according to the administration of Air Defense in Mogadishu : Ogaden War ( 1977 – 1978 ) . In July 1977 , the Ogaden War broke out after Barre ' s government sought to incorporate the predominantly Somali - inhabited Ogaden region into a Pan - Somali Greater Somalia . The Somali national army invaded the Ogaden and was successful at first , capturing most of the territory . The invasion reached an abrupt end with the Soviet Union ' s sudden shift of support to Ethiopia , followed by almost the entire communist world siding with the latter . The Soviets halted their previous supplies to Barre ' s regime and increased the distribution of aid , weapons , and training to Ethiopia ' s newly - communist Derg regime . They also brought in around 15 , 000 Cuban troops to assist the Ethiopian military . By 1978 , the Somali troops were ultimately pushed out of the Ogaden . Equipment . The following was the Somali Air Force ' s major equipment in 1981 : Disbandment . With the fall of Siad Barre ' s regime in 1991 and the start of the civil war , funding for any government activity , including the SAF , ended immediately . The remains of the SAF were subsequently photographed in a derelict state at Mogadishu Airport in 1993 by U . S troops in Mogadishu . Relaunch . In the early 2010s , the Somali Air Force was re - established by Somalia ' s central government . On October 29 , 2012 , 40 senior SAF and Somali National Army officers participated in the three - day Improving Understanding and Compliance with International Humanitarian Law ( IHL ) workshop in Djibouti . Organized by AMISOM as part of the Somali Armed Forces ' National Security Stabilization Plan ( NSSP ) , an initiative designed to strengthen and professionalize the national security forces , the program offered a refresher course on the essentials of IHL . Officials from Somalia ' s Ministry of Defence also took part , with the Djibouti Chief of Defence Forces opening the workshop .