1960–1975: French aircraft for a new state

Madagascar’s air arm began with what France left behind. According to Wikipedia, the Malagasy Air Force was founded in 1960 with mainly former French aircraft: Douglas DC-3s, Max Holste MH.1521 Broussard liaison aircraft and Dassault MD 312 Flamant light twins; African Aerospace, writing in 2019, likewise describes a mixed transport fleet transferred by France, including C-47s. It was a transport and liaison service for a large island with few roads. By 1970, Wikipedia says, it had about 400 personnel and operated ten transport aircraft, eleven liaison aircraft, three trainers and ten helicopters. No source checked gives an exact founding date or describes any combat role in this period; the service’s job was moving officials, troops and supplies between the capital and distant provincial towns.

1976–1990: Soviet helicopters and North Korean MiGs

In the 1970s Madagascar turned towards the Soviet bloc, and its air arm followed. Mil Mi-8 helicopters arrived in 1976. In 1979 came the first jets: four MiG-17F fighters from North Korea, according to both Wikipedia and African Aerospace. Two Antonov An-26 transports followed in 1980 and Alouette III helicopters in the early 1980s. In the 1980s the air force received ten MiG-21bis fighters and two MiG-21UM two-seat trainers, Wikipedia says, citing Tom Cooper’s history African MiGs. For a few years Madagascar had a small supersonic fighter force. The sources checked do not record any combat use of these aircraft, nor exact delivery dates for the MiG-21s, nor how many were lost in accidents; those details are left out here.

After the MiGs: an air force that faded

What happened to the MiGs is not well documented in the sources checked. No retirement date was found. defenceWeb’s 2026 profile states simply that the air force "has seen its combat capabilities all but disappear with much of its fleet inoperable", and it lists no combat squadron and no combat aircraft. Spending explains much of it: defenceWeb puts defence spending at about 0.6 per cent of GDP on average over the past decade, about 119.9 million US dollars in 2025, for armed forces of about 13,000 active personnel plus some 10,000 in the gendarmerie. The air force’s share is small: defenceWeb counts about 500 personnel. Wikipedia lists a principal base at Arivonimamo near Antananarivo and secondary airfields at towns such as Antsiranana (Diego Suarez), Mahajanga, Toamasina and Toliara.

2009–2019: Belgian Alouettes and a small rebuild

In 2009 Madagascar bought four former Belgian military SA 318C Alouette II helicopters; two of them later crashed, in 2015 and in 2019, according to African Aerospace. The same report describes the largest re-equipment in years: in June 2019 the air force received a CASA/IPTN CN-235 tactical transport, three AS 350 B2 Ecureuil helicopters previously used in South Africa, an MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 twin-engined helicopter and five Cessna 206s for coastal patrol, with 20 men and women training at a new facility at Arivonimamo. Wikipedia says the CN-235 was resold in 2021, but defenceWeb’s 2026 table still lists one CN235M, so its status is uncertain. Wikipedia also mentions aircraft destroyed at Farafangana during the 2009 political crisis; that claim could not be corroborated and is left out.

2025–2026: a military government and no combat aircraft

Madagascar’s politics have repeatedly run through the CAPSAT unit, an army personnel administration centre that, Al Jazeera notes, had backed the 2009 takeover that first brought Andry Rajoelina to power. After protests over power and water cuts from 25 September 2025, CAPSAT installed General Démosthène Pikulas as military chief on 12 October 2025 and declared that all orders to land, air and naval forces would come from its headquarters. Reuters reported, as cited by Wikipedia, that Rajoelina left on a French military aircraft on 13 October; President Macron did not confirm it. The National Assembly impeached him on 14 October, the African Union suspended Madagascar on 15 October, and Colonel Michael Randrianirina was inaugurated as interim president on 17 October. No air force role in these events is recorded in the sources checked.

Frota atual e encomendas

Cessna, Eurocopter, CASA, Humbert Aviation, IPTN, Kawasaki, Deixe Kunovice, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), Piper, Sud Aviation, Yakovlev

Antiga frota

Mikoyan, Aerospatiale, Antonov, Dassault Aviation, Douglas, Max Holste, Mil