| Unit Name: | Bolivian Air Force |
| Native Name: | Spanish; Castilian: Fuerza Aérea Boliviana |
| Type: | Air force |
| Role: | Aerial warfare |
| Command Structure: | Bolivian Armed Forces |
| Nickname: | FAB |
| Commander1: | Zabala Álvarez |
| Commander1 Label: | General of the Air Force |
| Notable Commanders: | Rafael Pabón Bernardino Bilbao Rioja |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Roundel |
| Identification Symbol 2 Label: | Fin flash |
| Aircraft Helicopter: | Helibras HB350 Esquilo |
| Aircraft Trainer: | Hongdu JL-8VB, Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer, Diamond DA40 |
| Aircraft Transport: | Lockheed C-130 Hercules, BAE Systems 146 |
The Bolivian Air Force (Spanish; Castilian: Fuerza Aérea Boliviana or 'FAB') is the air force of Bolivia and branch of the Bolivian Armed Forces.
By 1938 the Bolivian air force consisted of about 60 aircraft (Curtiss Hawk fighters, Curtiss T-32 Condor II and Junkers W 34 bombers, Junkers Ju 86 used as transport craft, and Fokker C.V, Breguet 19 and Vickers Vespa reconnaissance planes), and about 300 staff; the officers were trained in Italy.[1]
In 2017 Bolivia finally retired the Lockheed T-33 marking the end of 44 years of service. Bolivia was the last operator of the T-33.[2]
FAB is organized into air brigades, which is formed by one to three air groups. The air groups are based at La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Puerto Suárez, Tarija, Villamontes, Cobija, Trinidad, Riberalta, Roboré, Uyuni, Oruro, Sucre and Chimoré.
Major commands included the following:
The General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics (Spanish; Castilian: Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil—DGAC) formerly part of the FAB, administers a civil aeronautics school called the National Institute of Civil Aeronautics (Spanish; Castilian: Instituto Nacional de Aeronáutica Civil—INAC), and two commercial air transport services TAM and TAB.
Bolivian Military Airline (Spanish; Castilian: Transporte Aéreo Militar / TAM) is an airline based in La Paz, Bolivia. It is the civilian wing of the 'Fuerza Aérea Boliviana' (the Bolivian Air Force), operating passenger services to remote towns and communities in the North and Northeast of Bolivia. TAM (aka TAM Group 71) has been a part of the FAB since 1945.
A similar airline serving the Beni Department with small planes is Línea Aérea Amaszonas,[4] using smaller planes than TAM.
The Bolivian Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Public Works, Services and Housing announced on 8 December 2016 that TAM would cease transporting civilian passengers and cargo on 16 December 2016. The decision was to allow TAM to reorganize with a status akin to the state-sponsored Boliviana de Aviacion prior to resuming service under civilian regulations.[5]
Although a civil transport airline, Bolivian Air Transport (Spanish; Castilian: Transportes Aéreos Bolivianos / TAB, was created as a subsidiary company of the FAB in 1977. It is subordinate to the Air Transport Management (Spanish; Castilian: Gerencia de Transportes Aéreos) and is headed by an FAB general. TAB, a charter heavy cargo airline, links Bolivia with most countries of the Western Hemisphere; its inventory included a fleet of Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft. TAB's Base of operations was headquartered at El Alto, adjacent to La Paz's El Alto International Airport. TAB also flew to Miami and Houston, with stops in Panama.
| Aircraft | Origin | Type | Variant | In service | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reconnaissance | ||||||
| Learjet 35 | United States | surveillance | 2[6] | |||
| Transport | ||||||
| Falcon 900 | France | 1[7] | ||||
| Falcon 50 | France | 1[8] | ||||
| King Air 90 | United States | transport | 90/200/350 | 5 | ||
| Cessna 402 | United States | utility / trainer | 1 | |||
| Jetstream 31 | United Kingdom | transport | 2 | |||
| C-130 Hercules | United States | transport | C-130B | 4 | ||
| Helicopters | ||||||
| Bell UH-1 | United States | utility | UH-1H | 11 | ||
| Eurocopter AS332 | France | utility / transport | 6 | called "Super Puma" | ||
| Eurocopter AS350 | France | utility | 2 | called "Écureuil"/"Squirrel" | ||
| Eurocopter EC145 | Germany | utility / SAR | 2 | |||
| Aérospatiale SA316 | France | liaison | 1 | |||
| Trainer Aircraft | ||||||
| Zlín Z 42 | Czech Republic | basic trainer | Z 242L | 8 | ||
| Hongdu K-8 | China | jet trainer | 4 | |||
| Pilatus PC-7 | Switzerland | trainer | 2 | |||
| Robinson R44 | United States | rotorcraft trainer | 5 | |||
| UAV | ||||||
| RemoEye-006[9] [10] | Republic of Korea | surveillance | 2 | |||
During a 31 July 2017 ceremony, which was attended by the armed forces' high command, four models of lead-in fighter trainers (LIFT; L-15, M-346, T-50, and Yak-130) were presented with a potential to replace the T-33 and reequip the GAC-31. The FAB's Commander expressed the FAB's preference for the Yak-130.[11]