Every war and emergency the Nepalese Army Air Service has flown in
The air service has fought one war, the civil war against the Maoist insurgency, in which the army was deployed from November 2001. The war killed more than 17,000 people; figures quoted by Wikipedia attribute over 8,200 killings in 1996–2005 to government forces and over 4,000 to the Maoists, and both sides were accused of extrajudicial killings and disappearances. Its other entry is the relief operation after the earthquake of 25 April 2015, Operation Sankat Mochan. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Maoist civil war of 1996–2006 to the earthquake of 2015.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Nepalese Civil Warthe Maoist insurgencyRoyal Nepal Army air wing | 1996–2006 | Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) | Mi-17, HAL Lancer, HAL Dhruvand 2 more | |||
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From November 2001 flew troop transport, supply, casualty evacuation and, with armed helicopters, fire support for the army. The Maoist insurgency began on 13 February 1996, and for more than five years the police fought it alone. The army, then the Royal Nepal Army, was deployed only after the state of emergency of November 2001. Its air wing was tiny, and the war made it grow: Wikipedia’s article on the service says the conflict drove the expansion of an armed helicopter capability and that the United Kingdom gave two Islanders and two Mi-17s free of charge, while India supplied helicopters including the armed Lancer and sold Nepal its first two export Dhruvs, ordered in early 2004. Private helicopters were hired to move troops. Figures quoted by Wikipedia attribute more than 8,200 killings in 1996–2005 to government forces and more than 4,000 to the Maoists, and human-rights reporting accused both sides of extrajudicial killings, disappearances and other abuses; the Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappearances received 3,093 complaints. After King Gyanendra assumed direct rule in February 2005, Britain and India suspended material support and China supplied arms that November. The Comprehensive Peace Accord of 21 November 2006 ended the fighting. Outcome Comprehensive Peace Accord of 21 November 2006; the monarchy was abolished in 2008. The role of aircraft in specific engagements, and any civilian casualties caused from the air, could not be established from sources reachable for this research; no claim is made either way. The dates and numbers of foreign-supplied helicopters rest on Wikipedia.
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| Operation Sankat Mochanthe 2015 earthquake reliefNepalese Army Air Service | 2015 | Mi-17, Mi-17V5, Ecureuiland 2 more | 0 | |||
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Rescue, casualty evacuation and relief flights alongside Indian, US and other foreign military aircraft. The earthquake of 25 April 2015, magnitude 7.8–7.9, killed 8,962 people in Nepal and injured 21,952. The army named its response Operation Sankat Mochan and, according to Wikipedia, sent about 90 per cent of its soldiers into the affected areas. The air service’s few helicopters were overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster, and foreign militaries flew most of the airlift: India’s Operation Maitri began the next day with Il-76, C-130J and C-17 transports, Dhruvs and up to eight Mi-17s, and the United States deployed about 900 Marines, eight C-130s, helicopters and four MV-22 Ospreys. On 12 May a US Marine UH-1Y Venom crashed near Charikot while delivering supplies; six Marines and two Nepali soldiers were killed. Nepal’s own air arm was reinforced during the crisis: two new Mi-17V5s arrived by An-124 in June and, after their induction at Mid Air Base on 22 June 2015, went straight to relief flying in Dhading. Outcome The immediate relief phase ended by mid-2015; two new Mi-17V5s joined the effort from June. Numbers of people rescued or evacuated by Nepali Army aircraft were not found in reachable sources.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Nepali Army: home page (nepalarmy.mil.np), as served to the research fetchTwo Mi-17V5 inducted by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala at Mid Air Base, Gauchar, on 22 June 2015; Operation Sankat Mochan after the 25 April 2015 earthquake. The aviation pages of the site refuse automated reading.
- Aviation Nepal: Two Mi-17s of Nepal Army have commenced operation (22 June 2015)Two new Mi-17s inaugurated by Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and flown to Dhading for earthquake relief.
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Nepalese Army Air Service.