ceive specialized courses before
going to sea. Before 1961 most officers and some of the higher
noncommissioned officer ratings received some training in the Soviet
Union. Without this training or a Chinese substitute for it, there has
probably been some degradation in the technical capabilities of the
officer and noncommissioned officer personnel.

Air Force

The Albanian Air Force is the youngest of the service branches, founded
on April 23, 1951. As is the case with the navy, the air force is also a
part of the People's Army, having organizational and logistic
individuality only insofar as its equipment is different and requires
different techniques and skills in its use. Arif Hasko, chief of the air
force in mid-1970, was also a deputy minister of defense and, as was the
case with his naval counterpart, advised on problems peculiar to his
force and coordinated on matters of general interest to all branches of
the service.

Air defense artillery and missile units are usually included with the
air force and account for about two-thirds of its 5,000 to 7,000
personnel. Air defense units received Soviet equipment between 1948 and
1961, including that required at a few surface-to-air missile sites.
Their Guideline missiles were paraded in Tirana on Army Day of 1964 and
have been shown on occasion since. The original missiles supplied by the
Soviets would have outlived their storage lifetimes by 1970. If a
surface-to-air missile capability did exist at that time, the Chinese
would have supplied the necessary replacements.

Aircraft in 1970 included sixty to seventy fighters and fighter-bombers
and about the same number of transports, trainers, and miscellaneous
noncombat types. All were of Soviet design. Fighter-bombers or ground
attack aircraft were the jet MiG-15s and MiG-17s provided by the Soviet
Union before 1961. Spare parts necessary to keep them operating since
then have been supplied by Communist China. MiG-19s for the air defense
interceptor role have also been furnished by the Chinese.

It is believed that the 1970 force included four ground support
squadrons and probably two interceptor squadrons, with about ten or
twelve aircraft per squadron. Air-to-air missiles are an integral part
of the MiG-19 armament and are presumably being furnished in small
quantities by the Chinese. Transport squadrons contain a few
Soviet-built piston-engined Il-14s and AN-2s, some Soviet-built
helicopters, and possibly a f