Civil Aviation: U.S. Efforts Improved Afghan Capabilities, but the Afghan Government Did Not Assume Airspace Management as Planned
Abstract
Since 2002, the U.S. government, primarily the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has spent about $562.2 million to support reconstruction of Afghanistans civil aviation system. The Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MOTCA) and the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority oversee the civil aviation system. The Afghan government helped develop a Civil Aviation Roadmap and Aviation Action Plan (AAP), which outlined steps for the United States and others to help increase aviation capacity and facilitate the transfer of airspace and airports to civil control. Under the AAP, DOD and FAA are responsible for assisting MOTCA in building civil aviation capacity, transitioning airspace management services to civilian control, and enhancing civil aviation infrastructure. One key goal for FAA was to develop an aviation training program, including air traffic controller training, so that airspace management services could be transitioned to the Afghans at the end of 2014. The objectives of this audit were to assess the extent to which DOD and FAA (1) helped strengthen Afghanistans capability to operate and maintain its civil aviation system, and (2) transitioned airspace management services to the Afghan government at the end of 2014. WHAT SIGAR RECOMMENDS SIGAR recommends that the Secretary of State ensure, to the extent possible, that the Afghan government awards a new airspace management services contract before the current interim DOD contract expires in September 2015. In commenting on a draft of this report, the Department of State generally agreed with our findings and stated that it is taking actions in line with the recommendation to ensure that the Afghan government concludes an airspace management contract this year.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- AD1140130
Entities
People
- John Sopko
Organizations
- Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction