Every war the Guinean Air Force has fought
Guinea’s fighters were never committed in combat: in 1970 they were dispersed rather than flown against the Portuguese raid, and in 1971 two MiGs made a low pass over Freetown. Its only sustained air action came in 2000–2001, when Human Rights Watch found that Guinean helicopter and artillery attacks on rebel-held areas of northern Sierra Leone killed at least 42 civilians, including 11 children. Guinea’s air support to the LURD insurgency in Liberia is reported as Wikipedia gives it, as an allegation, and casualty figures for Operation Green Sea vary widely between sources. 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 Operation Green Sea in 1970 to the border war with the RUF in 2000–2003.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Operation Green Seathe Portuguese raid on ConakryGuinean Air Force | 1970 | Portugal and Guinean opposition fighters | MiG-17F | 0 | ||
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Target of the raid; the fighters were dispersed rather than committed. On the night of 21–22 November 1970 about 200 armed Guinean dissidents, in uniforms like the Guinean Army’s and led by Portuguese officers, landed at Conakry with about 220 Portuguese soldiers. Wikipedia gives the aims as the overthrow of Ahmed Sékou Touré, the capture of the PAIGC leader Amílcar Cabral, the rescue of Portuguese prisoners of war and the destruction of the naval and air assets of the PAIGC and its Guinean supporters. Wikipedia’s MiG-17 article says the Portuguese wanted to destroy Guinea’s MiG-17s on the ground, because tests had shown their Fiat G.91s were outclassed by the MiG, but the Guineans had moved the aircraft to Labé two days earlier. The main attacking force reached the airport and ignored it. The prisoners were freed and the raiders withdrew; the political aims failed. Outcome The raiders freed Portuguese prisoners and withdrew; Touré’s government survived and Cabral was not captured. The MiG dispersal to Labé rests on the Wikipedia MiG-17 article and its cited reference, which was not checked directly. Casualty figures vary widely between sources.
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| Guinean deployment to Sierra Leonethe MiGs over FreetownGuinean Armed Forces | 1971–1974 | MiG-17F | 0 | |||
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Show of force in support of the Sierra Leone government after a March 1971 coup attempt. In March 1971 President Touré sent about 200 Guinean soldiers to Freetown to support the government of Sierra Leone, and, according to Wikipedia, two Guinean MiGs made a low flyover of Freetown while the Guinean military was placed on alert. The troops remained until 1974. It is the only recorded foreign deployment of Guinean combat jets. Outcome About 200 Guinean soldiers stayed in Freetown from March 1971 to 1974. The flyover is recorded only in the Wikipedia article on Guinea’s armed forces; its exact date was not confirmed.
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| Guinea’s border war with the RUFhelicopter gunship strikes in Sierra Leone and the LURD yearsGuinean Air Force | 2000–2003 | Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Guinean dissidents | Mi-24 Hind | |||
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Helicopter gunship attacks on rebel-held areas across the border; alleged air support to the LURD insurgency in Liberia. From September 2000 the RUF and Guinean dissidents raided into Guinea from Sierra Leone and Liberia. Guinea replied with artillery and helicopter gunships against rebel-held areas of Sierra Leone’s Kambia, Bombali and Koinadugu districts. Human Rights Watch reported in its World Report 2002 that these indiscriminate attacks killed at least 42 civilians, including 11 children, in at least 13 attacks between September 2000 and April 2001, and that local human rights groups denounced an attack on civilians by a Guinean helicopter gunship. Wikipedia’s account of the Sierra Leone war describes the cross-border bombing raids as very effective in routing the rebels, and mentions Guinean air support during the British intervention. In Liberia, Guinea became the main source of military and financial support for the LURD insurgency (1999–2003), and Wikipedia’s Mi-24 article says Guinea was alleged to have provided air support to LURD in northern Liberia in 2001–2003. No Guinean government response to the HRW findings was found in the sources reached. Outcome The RUF was driven back from the border; the Sierra Leone war was declared over on 18 January 2002 and the Liberian war ended in August 2003. The LURD air support is an allegation as reported by Wikipedia; the UN Panel of Experts reports on Liberia were not checked. Numbers of sorties and of Guinean gunships used were not found.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- Human Rights Watch: World Report 2002, Sierra LeoneAt least 42 civilians, including 11 children, killed in at least 13 Guinean helicopter and artillery attacks, September 2000 – April 2001.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Back to the Guinean Air Force.