The Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) still does not have soldiers capable of operating three aircraft donated by the Indian military, Defense Minister Ghassan Maumoon has said.
Ghassan made the remarks at a press conference held at the President's Office yesterday to brief the media about the withdrawal of 76 Indian soldiers stationed in the Maldives to operate the aircraft and their replacement with civilians from India.
Responding to a question from a journalist, Ghassan said there were no Maldivian soldiers with the ability to operate the aircraft despite some soldiers who began training to fly the Dornier and two helicopters under agreements formed by previous governments.
"As it was a training that required passing various stages, our soldiers had not reached completion due to various reasons. Therefore, there aren't any people in our force at the moment who are licensed or fully operational to fly the AHL platforms and Dornier," Ghassan said.
Contrary to Ghassan's remarks, when the current administration's senior officials were in the opposition during the past five years, they criticized the previous government and claimed that there were capable pilots in the MNDF.
Training Maldivians was the main reason for the arrival of Indian soldiers with the helicopters donated during former Presidents Mohamed Nasheed and Abdulla Yameen's governments and the Dornier aircraft brought during former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government.
Despite the failure to complete the training to date, Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer said yesterday that the agreement to replace the Indian soldiers with civilians also included provisions for training local pilots.
