1964–1975: an air section for a new state

Togo’s air arm was created in 1964, four years after independence from France, as the Section Air of the armed forces; English Wikipedia says French influence has shaped its choice of aircraft ever since. Its first equipment was the light utility kit France gave its former colonies: Max Holste Broussards, two Douglas DC-3/C-47s, two Cessna 337s, two Alouette II helicopters and two Dornier Do 27s, according to French Wikipedia. A Broussard was destroyed on 7 March 1964, the first loss recorded. The unit became the Escadrille Nationale Togolaise — in 1965 according to French Wikipedia, in 1973 according to English Wikipedia — and the Groupement Aérien Togolais in 1980. It was always small, and its most important passenger was the head of state.

1974: two presidential crashes and a founding myth

Gnassingbé Eyadéma, who took power in January 1967 and ruled until his death on 5 February 2005, made aviation part of his legend. On 24 January 1974 the presidential C-47 crashed near Sarakawa in the north. The official story made him the sole survivor; English Wikipedia, citing later research, says he was not the only survivor and that he misrepresented the accident to look superhuman, and he changed his first name from Étienne to Gnassingbé to mark it. Wikipedia’s accident list, drawn from the Aviation Safety Network, records four dead. Eleven months later, on 26 December 1974, the presidential Gulfstream II was destroyed with three crew killed and three passengers surviving. A Fokker F28, a replacement Gulfstream II and a Puma followed in 1975.

1976–1990: Magisters, Xavantes and Alpha Jets at Niamtougou

The jet era began in the mid-1970s. Five ex-German Fouga Magisters arrived in 1976 or 1977 (the two Wikipedias differ) with two DHC-5D Buffalo transports, and six Brazilian-built EMB-326GB Xavantes came in two lots of three in 1976 and 1978 (English Wikipedia says seven). Five Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet E followed in 1981, and three Socata TB-30 Epsilon trainers in 1986. The jets lived at the fighter base at Niamtougou in the north, the transports at Lomé. The Alpha Jets were not lucky: one crashed on 28 August 1985 and another on 6 October 1989, each killing a pilot according to Wikipedia’s list. The Magisters went back in 1985. None of these aircraft is recorded as flying in combat.

1990–2021: a quiet force and a slow change to helicopters

On 16 April 1997 the Groupement became the air force proper, the Force aérienne togolaise in French Wikipedia’s wording and the Armée de l’Air Togolaise in English Wikipedia’s. Little was bought for two decades. French Wikipedia, citing the analyst Laurent Touchard, puts the strength in the mid-2010s at about 350 people at the Niamtougou fighter base and 286 at the Lomé transport base. The modernisation that came was in helicopters: a 2016 contract for four second-hand French SA342 Gazelles armed with 20 mm cannon, for 20 million euros, produced only three, delivered in 2020 and 2021; two second-hand Mi-8Ts came from a company in the United Arab Emirates in 2019; and Mi-35 and Mi-24V gunships entered service. A TB-30 crashed on 26 September 2017.

2022–2026: drones, losses and the war in the north

Jihadist violence spilling over from Burkina Faso changed the air force’s purpose. The first attack inside Togo, on 11 May 2022 in Kpendjal prefecture, killed eight soldiers. On 9 July 2022 a military air strike in the Savanes region killed seven teenagers and injured two; the army said they had been mistaken for jihadists (Reuters, as cited by Wikipedia). Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones arrived in 2022. Two gunships were then lost in 2024, a Mi-35 on 4 April and a Mi-24V on 6 October; no cause was found in the sources checked. defenceWeb (June 2026) counts about 250 air force personnel, two TB2s, two Mi-35Ms and a handful of other helicopters, with the Alpha Jets and Xavantes in storage, and reports four Embraer A-29 Super Tucanos worth 82 million dollars due at Niamtougou in 2026. Whether they have arrived was not confirmed.