Mongolian Air Force

Mongolian Air Force Монгол Улсын Агаарын Довтолгооноос Хамгаалах Цэргийн Хүчин
Soyombo - traditional Mongolian ornament. Used in yellow as an aircraft marking.
Active	May 25, 1925 – present
Country	Mongolia
Branch	Mongolian Armed Forces
Type	Air Force
Role	Reconnaissance, close air support
Size	800 personnel
Engagements	Battles of Khalkhin Gol Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Soviet invasion of Manchuria Battle of Baitag Bogd
Insignia
Roundel

The Mongolian Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Mongolian Armed Forces.

On May 25, 1925 a Junkers F.13 entered service as the first aircraft in Mongolian civil and military aviation. By 1935 Soviet aircraft were based in the country. In May 1937 the air force was renamed the Mongolian People's Republic Air Corps. During 1939–1945 the Soviets delivered Polikarpov I-15s, Polikarpov I-16s, Yak-9s and Ilyushin Il-2s. By 1966 the first SA-2 SAM units entered service, and the air force was renamed the Air Force of the Mongolian People's Republic. The MiG-15UTI and MiG-17 the first combat jet aircraft in the Mongolian inventory, entered service in 1970 and by the mid-1970s was joined by MiG-21s, Mi-8s and Ka-26s.

Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha, the first Mongolian to fly into space, was born on 05 December 1947, in the Gurvan-Bulak settlement of Bulgan Province, into the family of a cattle-breeder. He graduated from a military school of aircraft technicians in the Soviet Union. In 1972 he was enrolled at the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy. After graduating from the Academy, he worked as an aircraft equipment engineer in an air squadron of the Mongolian People's Army. In 1978, Jugderdemidiyn Gurragchaa started training at Gagarin cosmonauts' training center and completed a course of training under the Intercosmos program. His flight with Vladimir Dzhanibekov on Soyuz 39 as a Research Cosmonaut, launched 22 March 1981, lasted 7 days, 20 hours, 42 minutes, 3 seconds. He was later Deputy Chief of central board of defense, Chief of a scientific institute in Ulan Bator; and eventually Mongolian Sectretary of Defence.

The Civil Air Transport Administration, responsible for Mongolian Airlines (MIAT), was thought to be affiliated with the air force. All airline pilots had military ranks, and they flew Soviet-built transport aircraft on crop dusting, forest and steppe fire patrol, and air ambulance missions. They also provided mail and passenger service on 38,400 kilometers of domestic routes as well as on international routes to Irkutsk and Beijing, the latter inaugurated in 1986.