Every war the Lao People’s Liberation Army Air Force has fought
Most of this record belongs to the Royal Lao Air Force, the service’s royalist predecessor, in a war against the Pathet Lao and North Vietnam fought largely in secret because the 1962 Geneva agreement had banned foreign troops, and alongside a much larger US bombing campaign. Much of it rests on the RLAF history drawn from Conboy, which is named where it is used. In the 1987–1988 border war with Thailand no source reached confirms that Lao aircraft flew combat missions. 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 Kong Le crisis of 1960 to the border war with Thailand in 1987–1988.
| Anlaşmazlık | Yıllar | Aykırı | Ana uçak | Çıkışlar | Uçak kayboldu | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Laotian Civil War (the “Secret War”)RLAF close air support 1964–1975Royal Lao Air Force | 1960–1975 | Pathet Lao and North Vietnam | T-28 Trojan, AC-47 Spooky, C-47ve 2 tane daha | — | — | |
|
Close air support and interdiction with T-28s and AC-47 gunships for the Royal Lao Army and Vang Pao’s Hmong forces, alongside a much larger US bombing campaign. Laos was formally neutral after the Geneva agreement of 23 July 1962, so the war over it was fought without acknowledgement. The RLAF was the only air force that could legally bomb inside the country, and the United States built it up for that purpose: Project Waterpump at Udorn from March 1964 trained Lao pilots on the T-28, and until 1970 American volunteers and Thai pilots filled the cockpits Lao trainees could not. The first strikes on the Plain of Jars were flown on 17 May 1964; in October Thao Ma led T-28s from Savannakhet against the Mu Gia Pass on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Hmong pilots trained for Vang Pao flew from Long Tieng, and AC-47 gunships flew at night from September 1969. At its peak in January 1973 the RLAF had about 180 aircraft. Its end came from logistics rather than defeat in the air: after the 1973 ceasefire and the departure of Air America in 1974 there was no fuel and no spares, and on 14 April 1975 nine T-28s flew the last combat sortie against a Pathet Lao column moving on Vientiane. Sonuç The RLAF wasted away after US support ended in 1973–1974; the royal government fell and the Lao PDR was proclaimed on 2 December 1975. Sortie figures come from the Royal Lao Air Force history on Wikipedia, which draws on Kenneth Conboy’s works; no official Lao or US total of RLAF losses was found. The same article gives the 1973 armistice as 22 January while the Waterpump article dates the ceasefire 21 February 1973. A claimed 1961 air-to-air kill of a Soviet Il-4 by an RLAF pilot was left out because it could not be corroborated.
|
||||||
| The Kong Le crisis and the Soviet airliftthe Neutralist air armNeutralist Laotian Air Force and Royal Lao Air Force | 1960–1962 | — | C-47, L-20 Beaver, Li-2ve 2 tane daha | 1,000 | — | |
|
Kong Le’s Neutralists formed their own small air arm with captured transports, supplied by a Soviet airlift; the RLAF received its first strike aircraft. In August 1960 the paratroop captain Kong Le seized Vientiane against the Phoumi Nosavan faction. When he withdrew he took two C-47s and two L-20 Beavers from Aviation Laotienne — just renamed the Royal Lao Air Force — and asked North Vietnam and the Soviet Union for help. From December 1960 Soviet transports flew in supplies, in what Wikipedia calls the largest Soviet airlift since the Second World War, and three Li-2s were given to the Neutralists. The royal government answered with American aid: six AT-6s in January 1961, then T-28s. The crisis ended in negotiation rather than victory, and the Neutralist aircraft returned to the RLAF in 1963. On 12 December 2022 Laos and Russia unveiled a memorial in Xieng Khouang to the Soviet airmen who died in Laos. Sonuç Armistice of 10 May 1962 and the Geneva agreement of 23 July 1962; the Neutralist air arm rejoined the RLAF in spring 1963. The 20,000-missions figure is the one quoted at the 2022 memorial ceremony and covers 1960–1973; it is not independently confirmed.
|
||||||
| Thao Ma’s air force coupsthe 1966 and 1973 bombings of VientianeRoyal Lao Air Force (rebel faction) | 1966–1973 | Royal Lao government and army | T-28 Trojan | — | — | |
|
RLAF T-28s under their former commander attacked the General Staff and government targets in the capital. Thao Ma, a paratrooper trained in France and Morocco, led the RLAF’s strike force and built its T-28 arm. After an unsuccessful rebellion on 4 June 1966 he moved his headquarters from Savannakhet to Luang Prabang, and on 22 October 1966 he launched eight T-28s against generals’ houses, the General Staff and two munitions depots in Vientiane. The US ambassador intervened, and Thao Ma and ten pilots flew into exile in Thailand. On 20 August 1973, after the ceasefire, he returned with about 60 truckloads of troops, took Wattay and bombed the government headquarters with six other pilots. A Royal Lao Army counter-attack recaptured the airfield; he was shot down on landing, survived, and was executed. Sonuç Both coups failed. In 1966 Thao Ma and ten pilots flew into exile in Thailand; in 1973 he was killed. Details come from the Royal Lao Air Force history on Wikipedia (Conboy); casualty figures for 1973 were not found.
|
||||||
| The Thai–Lao border warBan Rom Klao and Hill 1428Lao People’s Liberation Army Air Force (role unconfirmed) | 1987–1988 | Thailand | — | — | — | |
|
Ground war over a disputed border village; no source reached confirms that Lao aircraft flew combat missions. The dispute went back to an ambiguous 1907 French demarcation, under which both countries claimed a different tributary of the Hueang river as the border. Thai forces occupied Ban Rom Klao on 15 December 1987 and Laos counter-attacked; Thailand used F-5 fighters against Lao positions and said by mid-January it held 70 per cent of the ground around Hill 1428. The fighting ended with a ceasefire on 19 February 1988 and a mutual withdrawal. Whether the Lao air force, then equipped with MiG-21s, flew any combat mission is not documented in the sources reached; it is listed here because the war is the only one Laos has fought since 1975. Sonuç Ceasefire on 19 February 1988, restoring the status quo, with both sides withdrawing 3 km. The Lao air role is unconfirmed; the Thai aircraft losses of February 1988 are not attributed to any cause in the source reached, and nothing here should be read as a Lao air-to-air claim.
|
||||||
Bu aramayla eşleşen hiçbir sonuç bulunamadı.
Her rakam kontrol edildi.
- Laotian Times: Laos, Russia Unveil Monument to Soviet Pilots Downed in Laos (12 December 2022)Memorial in Xieng Khouang; about 20,000 Soviet missions and more than 30 dead in 1960–1973 (as stated at the ceremony).
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Lao People’s Liberation Army Air Force.