Korean People's Army Air Force

조선인민군 공군
Founded	20 August 1947
Country	Democratic People's Republic of Korea
Size	110,000 personnel 1,600-1,700 aircraft
Part of	[Ministry of Defence]
Anniversaries	20 August
Engagements	Korean War, Vietnam war
Commanders
Commander-of-KPAF	Colonel General Oh Gum-chol
Insignia
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	SU-7 · SU-17 · Nanchang Q-5 · SU-25
Bomber	Harbin H-5 · Ilyushin Il-28
Fighter	Chengdu F-7B · Shenyang F-5 Shenyang F-6 · MIG-21 · MIG-23 · MIG-29
Trainer	L-39 · MIG-15 · Nanchang CJ-6
Transport	IL-76 · AN-24 · AN-2

Aircraft Inventory

It is very difficult to create a reasonable overview of the North Korea Air Force aircraft inventory. There is only very limited information coming out of North Korea, and there are only very few credible sources of information on this subject on the internet or in the open literature. Since these sources do not completely agree with each other, it is best to take notice of all of them, and to accept a rather large margin of error. Although Google Earth or other satellite photography can be useful, it is best to keep in mind that North Korea has built very extensive underground storage facilities for its aircraft. Also it is very likely to use dummies to deceive aerial and satellite intelligence, and to create a diversion in case of hostilities. Although many of the aircraft in this inventory are obsolete and would not be of much use on a modern battlefield, there are still reasons to believe they are kept in use, and until reliable sources suggest they aren't, they should be taken into account.

Aircraft	Origin	Type	In service (Source 1)	In service (Source 2)	Notes
Harbin H-5 / Ilyushin Il-28	China Soviet Union	bomber	80	80	H-5 is a Chinese copy of Ilyushin Il-28 Beagle, some Soviet manufactured Il-28's are thought to be part of this number.[6]
Shenyang J-5	Soviet Union China	fighter	107	107	Chinese copy of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco
Shenyang J-6	China	fighter	+100	100	Chinese copy of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 Farmer
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PF/PFM	Soviet Union	fighter	120	160
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis	Soviet Union	fighter	30	30	illegally imported from Kazakhstan in 1999
Chengdu F-7B	China	fighter	40	40 according to other sources	based on Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21F Fishbed-B
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21U	Soviet Union	fighter-trainer	?	30
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23ML	Soviet Union	fighter	46	46
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23P	Soviet Union	fighter-bomber	10	0?
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23UB	Soviet Union	fighter-trainer	0	10
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29S	Soviet Union	fighter	35	35	For Defending Pyongyang Aerospace
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29UB-12	Soviet Union	fighter-trainer	5	5	For Defending Pyongyang Aerospace
Sukhoi Su-7BMK	Soviet Union	attack	18	18
Sukhoi Su-22M5	Soviet Union	attack	30	30
Nanchang Q-5	China	attack	40	40
Sukhoi Su-25K	Soviet Union	attack	36	36
Sukhoi Su-25UBK	Soviet Union	attack-trainer	?	4
Aero L-39C	Czechoslovakia	trainer	12	12
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI	Soviet Union	trainer	30	30
Nanchang CJ-6	China	trainer	187	180
Ilyushin Il-76MD	Soviet Union	transport	3	3	in service with Air Koryo
Tupolev Tu-154B-2	Soviet Union	airliner	4	4	in service with Air Koryo
Tupolev Tu-134A-3	Soviet Union	airliner	2	2	in service with Air Koryo
Tupolev Tu-204-300	Russia	airliner	1	1	in service with Air Koryo, 1 more on order
Ilyushin Il-62M	Soviet Union	airliner	4	2	2 more in service with Air Koryo
Ilyushin Il-18	Soviet Union	airliner	2	2	in service with Air Koryo
Antonov An-24	Soviet Union / Ukraine	airliner	6	12	5 more in service with Air Koryo
Antonov An-2	China Poland Soviet Union North Korea	utility transport	~200		fleet grounded due to high fuel costs
Mil Mi-24	Soviet Union	attack	24	20
Mil Mi-26	Soviet Union	transport helicopter	4	0?
Mil Mi-8	Soviet Union	transport helicopter	15	15
Mil Mi-14	Soviet Union	ASW helicopter	10	10
Harbin Z-5	China	utility helicopter	48	48	Chinese copy of Mil Mi-4
Mil Mi-2	Poland	utility helicopter	140	140
MD Helicopters 500D	United States	scout helicopter	87	86	imported from Germany

Total aircraft holdings according to source 1 is approx. 1,500 and total aircraft holdings according to source 2 is approx. 1,200. Some types may no longer remain operational with the KPAF, but likely remain in reserve storage:

Aircraft	Origin	Type	In service	In service 2	Notes
Ilyushin Il-14	Soviet Union	personnel and cargo transport	?	?
Yakovlev Yak-18	Soviet Union	single engine propeller trainer	?	?