THE CUBAN AIR CAMPAIGN IN ANGOLA 1988-1989
Keywords:
Guerra Aérea, Guerra Fria em África, Fuerza Aérea Cubana, Força Aérea Angolana, South African Air Force.Abstract
In mid 1988, FAPLA launched a major offensive to destabilize UNITA in the border region between Angola and Namibia, supported by Russian advisors and military equipment. When the operation Saudando Outubro was launched, FAPLA were not able to achieve success, leading to its collapse and a counter offensive by UNITA supported by the SADF. Since 1975, Cuba always kept military advisors in the country and intervened in 1988 in defense of the Cuito Cuanavale region, by the time that the offensive to expel SADF and UNITA from Southern Angola started. In this campaign, the Cuban and Angolan aviation’s action was decisive for South Africa’s defeat. The present article intends to analyze how the process of the conquest of Cuban and Angolan air supremacy against the South African air force took place. It is understood that the DAAFAR, by denying SAAF’s action, deprived the latter of the historic air superiority enjoyed for years, and that the action of Cuban air power combined with Angola was a decisive condition for the success of the ground offensive by Angolan and Cuban armies on the border with Namibia.
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