Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, border patrols, identification flights, and providing support to ground forces, as well as assisting civil operations during national emergencies.

In 1985 the Aérospatiale Alouette III was withdrawn from use and put on display at Ambouli Air Base as Djibouti's airport is called.

Djiboutian airmen were sent abroad to train in countries such as France, the United States, Soviet Union, Egypt and Morocco.

As of 2018, the Air Force had a strength of 360 personnel, and operated a small number of transport aircraft and helicopters.

[1] Djibouti owns unmanned aerial vehicles, including attack, surveillance, and reconnaissance.