Africa-Press – Angola. The head of the Directorate of Patriotic Education of the National Air Force (FAN), Lieutenant General Justino da Glória, said Thursday in the city of Huambo that the Southern Air Region continues to be the mainstay of the military body.
Justino da Glória made this statement, in statements to the press, on the sidelines of the act of presentation to the acting governor of Huambo, Elmano Inácio Francisco, and to other members of the provincial government, of the new commander of the Southern Air Region, Lieutenant General Samuel Victor Chipalavela, guided by the FAN commander, General Virgílio da Cunha Pinto.
The Southern Air Region, based in Huíla, also covers the provinces of Benguela, Bié, Cuando Cubango, Cuanza Sul, Cunene, Huambo and Namibe, while the Northern Air Region, whose command is located in Luanda, comprises the remaining provinces of country.
According to the general officer, the FAN has, since the past, this region as its mainstay to carry out its missions throughout the national territory, judging by its potential in terms of aviation and anti-aircraft.
Among the same potentialities, he highlighted the old helicopter regiment of Huambo, which according to him, was a strategic point for the realization of the challenges of defense of the national airspace.
Regarding the new commander of the region, he said that the central management of the military body expects him to comply with superior guidelines, improve the image of local infrastructures, especially the units that are devoid of acceptable conditions and that he also bets on in staff training.
On the occasion, he considered the moral and combative level of the troop in all FAN units to be high and which guarantees their readiness in complying with the guidelines issued by superiors.
The new commander, on the other hand, promised the scrupulous fulfillment of the tasks framed in the year of preparatory and combat instruction of the military institution.
In turn, the acting governor of Huambo, Elmano Francisco Inácio, reiterated the commitment of the provincial government to continue providing full and unconditional support to the Air Force structures in the southern region of the country.
Lieutenant General, Samuel Victor Chipalavela was appointed last January by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, as Commander in Chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA), replacing Lieutenant General João Baptista Costa.
Born in the province of Huambo, the 59-year-old general officer joined the FAN in 1981.
An aviator pilot and Su-30K instructor, he has already played, among other roles, commander of the Fighter Air Regiment and head of the Division of Aviation of the Southern Air Region and, before his appointment, he served as adviser to the commander of the same region.
The FAN, the third branch of the FAA, founded on January 21, 1976, has the primary mission of guaranteeing the Defense and Surveillance of the National Airspace.
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