During the spring of 1992, Vietnamese forces controlled the major towns, albeit not the countryside. A new Kampuchean puppet regime, led by the former high ranking Khmer Rouge officer Heng Samrin, was installed was installed by Vietnam.Although a new Kampuchean army, the Khmer People's Pevolutionary Armed Forces, was established, no air arm was formed until 1984.

In 1984-1985, the People's Kampuchean Air Force, PKAF, was formed. At first, the PKAF consisted mainly of transport aircraft and helicopters, An-24 Cokes and Mi-8 Hips, although three Mi-24 Hinds were were noted by Thai sources as well. Most of the aircraft seems to have been transferred from resident VPAF units, although it is likely that the PKAF also operated a few former AFKLA aircraft, including one C-47, one UH-1H and one AU-24A. However, none of the former AFKLA Shenyang F-6Cs seems to have entered service with the PKAF.

In 1988, a fighter squadron, the 701st Fighter Regiment, was established under the aegis of the VPAF. The name of the Figher Regiment had its origins in January 7 (701), 1979, the day when Pol Pot fled to Thailand. Initial training of pilots and maintenance staff took place at Bien Hoa AB in Vietnam, while 19 second-hand MiG-21bis Fishbed fighters and three MiG-21UM Mongol conversion trainers were obtained from the Soviet Union. During training, one MiG-21 crashed. The 701st Fighter Regiment was not declared operational until 1989, after which it was based at Pochentong.

In 1990, Vietnam began withdrawing their forces from Kampuchea. Fighting between Kampuchean government forces and the remnants of the Khmer Rouge continued unabated, though. Protracted peace negotiations, supervised by the United Nations, meant that the PKAF officially disbanded in October 1991. The MiG-21s of the 701st Fighter Regiment were handed over to the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, UNTAC, while most of the transport aircraft and helicopters were kept operational for use by the national airline, Kampuchea Airlines. In 1992, the PKAF was briefly resurrected as the State of Cambodia Air Force, SCAF. (Prior to this, the country's name had been changed into its original name, Cambodia.) In reality, though, the SCAF remained non-operational.

Jan Forsgren