Description

UAE Air Force 1230 C-17 Model

Fly with the UAE Air Force in this handcrafted C-17 Model.  Each piece is carved from wood and painted to provide a one of kind piece. Our pieces seek to recreate memories of these glorious aircraft.

Length – 18 inches

The United Arab Emirates Air Force (UAEAF) (Arabic: القوات الجوية والدفاع الجوي الاماراتي‎, romanized: al-Quwwāt al-Jawiyah wa al-Defa’ al-Jawiy al-ʾImārāty) is the air force of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), part of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. Its predecessor was established in 1968, when the Emirates were still under British rule. Since then, it has undergone a continual reorganisation and expansion in terms of both capability and numbers of aircraft. Currently, the UAEAF has around 4,000 personnel and operates approximately 538 fixed wing and rotorcraft.

History
The UAEAF’s history starts in May 1968, with the formation of an Air Wing of the Abu Dhabi Defence Force (ADDF) under British rule. Its key roles being to provide both a transport service and a ground attack support capability for ADDF land forces.[2] Major investment in the early 1970s assured an expansion in terms of capabilities, quality and quantity of aircraft.[3] It also led to the renaming of the Air Wing to the ADDF Air Force in 1972. Training and instruction was provided by the Pakistan Air Force. During the 1973 Arab-Israel War (6-25 October 1973), the ADDF Air Force’s Caribous served as air ambulances in Jordan.[4]

The Emirate of Dubai maintained its own air component, the Dubai Defence Force Air Wing, until 1999, when the two were effectively merged to become what is now the United Arab Emirates Air Force. Although the integration of the two independent forces has been complete, a small degree of autonomy exists at the operational command level, with the Western Air Command being headquartered in Abu Dhabi and the Central Air Command in Dubai.[3]

Since the 1980s, a combination of regional instability and high oil prices has resulted in an ambitious modernisation of the UAEAF, with the goal of attaining a level of capability matching the highest NATO standards.[3]

In the 1991 Gulf War, the UAE helped other countries by carrying out airstrikes against Iraqi forces.

In 2014, the UAE Air Force along with the Egyptian Air Force carried out airstrikes in Libya against Islamist factions in Tripoli.[5][6][7]

In September 2014, UAE Air Force aircraft joined in US-led air strikes against terrorist targets in Syria and Iraq that later became known as Operation Inherent Resolve. These operations were suspended after a Jordanian pilot was captured by Islamic State militants in late December 2014; pending improvements in US search and rescue capabilities in the region.

In 2015, UAE Air Force dropped bombs on ISIS targets in Syria. One of them was Major Mariyam Al Mansouri, the first female UAE Air Force pilot.[8]

The UAE military is also part of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen.