Defense Minister René Francis Merino Monroy delivered two Cirrus SR22T aircraft to the Air Force at the facilities of the First Brigade, located in the municipality of Ilopango, east of San Salvador.

The minister explained that the acquisition of these ships is part of the modernization of the Armed Forces to train new pilots, but also to combat organized crime activities.

«There were limitations for the training of basic pilots, both in fixed and rotary wings, we have been solving the problem of the latter and on previous occasions I have delivered the necessary aircraft for the training of pilots and with that overcome those deficiencies» , explained Merino Monroy.
The official provided details of the operation of the ships, saying that they have “different capacities, since they can not only be used for pilot training, but also allow the Air Force to carry out other missions” such as the search and rescue of people.

He added that the technology that these aircraft have allows them to be used for reconnaissance and to develop missions to combat drug trafficking activities.

In addition, each ship has a six-hour flight autonomy, which allows greater safety for the crew since, in the event of being inverted by turbulence, a pilot is activated that makes it stabilize again, and as a novelty, it includes a parachute that will allow them to descend in a safe way.

The official referred to the results obtained during the Territorial Control Plan, affirming that one of the biggest problems that they have been overcoming is the fight against gangs.

“Each year we have been obtaining better results; when November ended, we had the good news for the Salvadoran people that it had become the safest month in the entire history of the country,” he commented.

The minister said that only in November there were 14 homicides throughout the month; he classified it as important since in previous governments the daily number of murders was up to 30 per day, mainly.