In October 2014, Ewen MacAskill reported in the Guardian: Islamic State training pilots to fly MiG fighter planes, says monitoring group.
Islamic State (Isis) is takings its first steps towards building an air force by training pilots to fly captured fighter planes, according to … the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). … Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based group, said Isis has trainers who had gained experience in the Iraqi air force under former president Saddam Hussein [and that witnesses].
… The monitoring group reported witnesses saying the planes flying low over Aleppo recently appeared to be MiG 21s or MiG 23s and had taken off from and returned to the nearby al-Jarrah base. It added that training courses are taking place at the base.
Though it would take a long time to build the infrastructure and recruit the personnel, a principal concern, needless to say is that:
If the Islamic State were able to train pilots, they could mount 9/11-style suicide attacks on key installations in Damascus or Baghdad.
But the obstacle to the Islamic State building an air force are formidable. To begin with, once satellites pick up its whereabouts, an airfield with fighter jets would be bombed without a second thought because the danger to civilians would be minimal. It’s when the Islamic State’s military most acts like a part of a state that it’s most vulnerable.
Meanwhile — alarmism alert! — how long before North Korea will supply the Islamic State with the technology and know-how to make nuclear weapons?