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Photo: U.S. Navy Aggressor plane in a cool Soviet-Tiger color scheme. February 24, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.
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Wearing the special paint scheme that celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the VMFT-401 “Snipers”, this Franken-Tiger (761586 / LS-00) plane was photographed by Tony Lovelock at MCAS Yuma, Arizona, on Jan. 26, 2012.

The aircraft, along with the typical Soviet cross, sports a cool tiger rudder.

Noteworthy, along with the new Air Force’s aggressors paint jobs even the Snipers’ one was first reported in Fall 2011.

Noteworthy, the Franken-Tiger is a hybrid plane, made with the cockpit of an F-5F and the rest of the airframe coming from a former Swiss Air Force F-5E. It is used by the U.S. Navy aggressor’s squadron to provide “adversary services” during Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) courses.

All images by Tony Lovelock

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UK about to launch air strikes to take out the Somali pirates once and for all. With some U.S. help. February 24, 2012

Posted by Richard Clements in Military Aviation.
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Although at this time this is just media speculation, there are reports in the UK that British Prime Minister is considering some form of air strikes on radical militants in Somalia along with dealing with the piracy issue.

After some 400 attacks and 100 hijackings in three years on international shipping, David Cameron would be drawing up plans to send one of two helicopter carriers loaded with Apache and Lynx attack helicopters, along with Royal Marines, to take out the Pirate camps once and for all.

Britain could also be working alongside other countries to rid Somalia of the pirate problem along with the radical group al-Shabab whom Cameron alleges has links to al-Qaida and is a direct threat to the UK and other  nations.

The plans may have been given the green light by the Somalians themselves at the international conference that has taken place in London on Feb. 23, as the country’s government would welcome the air strikes so long as civilians were protected. Indeed, one of the problem the international community has to face is that the terrorists are even stopping aid and other forms of assistance reaching Somalia.

The intelligence agencies know where the pirate camps are along with the al-Shabab camps (indeed it can seen marked on Google Earth);  the problem is the closeness to the civilian population and the need to keep casualties to the bare minimum.

According to speculations, French and U.S. forces would be involved in direct military action along with Britain and few other supporting nations. Even if it isn’t widely reported, looks like the US has already made a military strike deep in Somali territory and continues to hit al-Shabab with drone strikes (launched also from Mahe, in the Seychelles), every now and then.

Let’s see what kind of threat a coalition could find in the Horn of Africa. There are intelligence reports that 30 SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles have arrived into one of Somalia’s ports, thought to have been smuggled out of Libya and were once part of Colonel Gaddafi’s huge arsenal. This threat has also been backed up by the announcement of a find of a cache of some 43 anti-aircraft missiles composed of a mix of the older SA-7 and newer more potent SA-24s buried in Algeria, near the Libyan border. Most probably there are others in circulation that are currently unknown.

The operation is likely to be more surgical in nature and possibly amphibious as most of the camps are situated along the coastal region or not that far inland.  Indeed the U.S. Special Forces raid that rescued two western aid workers was only some 30 miles (50km) from the coast. The operation could be run from Camp Lemonnier, in Djibouti, were several special operation planes are based (among them the recently crashed U-28A) and, although it is unlikely, if fast air is required that could come in the form of Harriers from a U.S. “multipurpose amphibious assault ship.”

Officially no decision has been made but as and when further details become clear, The Aviationist will report them.

Richard Clements for TheAviationist.com

Image credit: Crown Copyright

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One year after defecting from Gaddafi’s regime, Libyan Air Force Mirage F1s bid farewell to Malta February 24, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.
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Feb. 21, 2011 – Feb. 22, 2012: one year after defecting to Malta, the two Libyan Mirage F1s returned to Libya.

Wearing the roundel and flag of Free Libya, the two aircraft, that had performed engine runs  in the last weeks, followed by a high speed taxi on RWY 05/23 at Malta International Airport on Monday, departed from runway 31 and performed a flypast to bid farewell to the Maltese Islands before heading south toward Libya.

The pilots that brought the Mirages back home, were Col. Alial-Rabti and Col. Abdullah al-Salheen, the same that had defected from Gaddafi last year.

Interestingly, the radio callsign used by the Mirage flight was both “Eagle Formation” and “Libyan Air Force 217″ with the latter paying tribute to the day the revolution started: Feb. 17 (2-17).

Thanks again to Brendon Attard for the images in this post.

Never seen before F-35′s centerline gun pod unveiled February 23, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in F-35.
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This image was posted on the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) few hours after I published the F-35 progress report with all the 2012′s updates.

On Feb. 22, six days after the first F-35A CTOL (Conventional Take Off and Landing) had flown with external stores, even the STOVL (Short Take Off and Vertical Landing) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, flew for the first time with external weapons.

Noteworthy, along with the AIM-9X carried by the CTOL, the F-35B carried a never seen before (at least in photo) white 25 mm gun pod on the centerline.

Its particular shape was probably designed to fit in the triangular space between the fuselage weapons doors.

Image credit: Lockheed Martin

F-35 progress report. The year so far in review. February 23, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in F-35.
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Update Feb. 23 22.47 GMT

Lockheed Martin has just released a media update that provides some interesting figures about the F-35 System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flight test plan. The press release traces the history of the JSF program since the beginning of 2012. However, I’ve modified it a little bit to add some interesting information about the program: either officially released news by partner countries authorities or details reported by media all around the world.

  • On Jan. 9, AF-4, an F-35A Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL) test aircraft, reached the highest altitude to date in an F-35; 43,000 feet Mean Sea Level (MSL).
  • Demonstrating the ongoing maturation of the F-35 integrated sensor suite, AF-3, an F-35A CTOL test jet, completed the first low Distributed Aperture System (DAS) approach on Jan. 17.
  • With the ferry flight of BF-7, an F-35B STOVL, Eglin AFB, Fla., became home of the largest F-35 fleet in the DOD on Jan. 19. BF-7 was the 23rd F-35 Lightning II delivered to the DOD.
  • The F-35 SDD fleet including AA-1, the original test aircraft, crossed the 2,500 flight hour threshold on Jan. 25.
  • During a Media Briefing in Rome, Italy, Tom Burbage, Executive VP of Lockheed Martin and General Manager of F-35 Program Integration, said that the F-35C (Carrier Variant) was fixed with a new tailhook system that will be tested beginning next April, making arrested landing on aircraft carriers possible after the series of failed tests. “We will solve all issues” he said.
  • On Jan. 30 the Associated Press reported that Australia is reviewing its purchaase schedule for 12 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
  • A BAC1-11 configured with the F-35′s AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and the AN/AAQ-37 infrared distributed aperture system (DAS) has taken part to the Bold Alligator 2012 exercise.
  • On Feb. 7 a UK Ministry of Defence spokeswoman announced that Britain will not make final decisions on the overall number of F-35 before the next planned Strategic Defence Review (in 2015).
  • On Feb. 15, Italian Minister of Defense announced Italy’s plan to purchase 90 F-35s. The aircraft will be delivered to four Italian Air Force squadrons at Amendola and Ghedi, and one Navy squadron at Grottaglie (equipped with F-35B that will also operate from Cavour aircraft carrier).
  • On Feb. 17 the Government of the Netherlands announced that the first F-35 designated for the RNlAF had its jet engine installed. The Netherlands has ordered two JSFs as test aircraft.
  • On Feb. 19 the Canadian Press reported that Canadian Defense experts are considering a further upgrade to the aging RCAF F-18s (CF-188s in the local designation) to fill the gap until the delivery of the first F-35s, expected in 2016.
  • On Feb. 21 Royal Air Force test pilot Squadron Leader Jim Schofield flew CF-2, the Carrier Variant of the F-35 that will be known as Joint Combat Aircraft in UK.
  • On Feb. 22, six days after the first F-35A CTOL (Conventional Take Off and Landing) had flown with external stores, even the STOVL (Short Take Off and Vertical Landing) variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, flew for the first time with external weapons.Noteworthy, along with the AIM-9X carried by the CTOL, the F-35B carried a never seen before white 25 mm gun pod on the centerline.
  • On Feb. 23 Turkey confirmed its plan to buy 100 F-35s for 16 billion USD. “In the first stage, orders will be given for two F-35 planes. Turkey plans in total to buy 100 F-35 warplanes” the Minister of Defense said.

Cumulative flight test activity totals for 2012 through Feb. 20 are provided below:

  • F-35A CTOL jets have flown 46 times.
  • F-35B STOVL aircraft have completed 45 flights.
  • F-35C Carrier Variant (CV) jets have flown 23 times.

From the start of flight testing in December 2006, F-35s have flown 1,704 times, including the production-model flights and AA-1, the original flight test aircraft.

Image credit: Locheed Martin

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It’s better to replenish the stock before going to war with Iran (or Syria). U.S Air Force Orders 5,000 JDAM bomb kits. February 23, 2012

Posted by Richard Clements in Military Aviation.
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Along with the update of the GBU-57A/B bomb just financed by the Congress, the U.S. Air Force will  get additional JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits to replenish its stock.

The most recent one, worth 126 million USD for a further 5,000 JDAM kits to be delivered by 2014, is the third such order in a little over 12 months: in January 2011 the service ordered some 3,500 kits and then in March 2011 it ordered a further 4,000 units worth a combined value of $180 million.

Therefore, while studying new tactics to destroy Tehran’s underground bunkers with the Massive Ordnance Pentrators, the Air Force recharge its weapons for the hundreds other targets it would find in Iran (and elsewhere) with a whole bunch of modular kits used to transform 500, 1,000 and 2,000-lb dumb bombs into precision guided ones.

During the Libya Air War, some air forces suffered bomb shortage after dropping few hundred PGMs in the first three months of the war, that’s why the U.S. have started replenishing their own stock: it’s better to be prepared (to lend some bombs to the European allies too), should the need for an air campaign in Iran (or Syria) arise.

Written with The Aviationist’s Editor David Cenciotti

Image: U.S. Air Force

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Canopy fogging caused F-16 runway overrun at Oshkosh February 23, 2012

Posted by Richard Clements in Airshow, Aviation Safety.
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An Alabama Air National Guard pilot had a close call when his F-16 developed a problem with the onboard environmental control system which leads to his cockpit canopy fogging up. The pilot was landing after taking part in an airshow at Wittman Airport, Oshkosh, Wis., when the ventilation system failed and condensation formed during the final approach.

With his vision obscured, the pilot from the 187th Fighter Wing at Dannelly Field Alabama  tried to de-mist the canopy, most likely in a similar manner to a car’s windshield but was ultimately unsuccessful. So he managed to land the F-16 on the runway but veered off onto soft ground that snapped the front landing gear and the airframe then dug into the grass causing some $5 million worth of damage.

Being distracted by the fogging probelm the pilot failed to apply the air brake that would have effectively reduced the fast touch-down speed and stop the aircraft in the available remaining runway.

Investigators said in their report that the aircraft had been maintained correctly therefore the root cause was a random component failure.

The lack of casualties and the non fatal damage to the aircraft shows how much skill the pilot had: in spite of his inability to evaluate the remaining runway and his vision obscured by the fogged canopy, he decided to ride the stricken Falcon in rather than risk hundreds of casualties on the ground by ejecting.

Richard Clements for The Aviationist

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F-18 shows “God’s light” deploying flares at airshow February 22, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.
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The following video shows a Finnish Air Force F-18 and The Midnight Hawks deploying flares into the clouds during the Kauhava Midnight Sun Airshow in Finland.

The light of the “F-18 bonfire” seems to radiate from a single point in the sky creating the same optical effect that rays of sunlight create when streaming through gaps in clouds: the so-called Light of God.

The Midnight Sun Airshow is a traditional  airshow held each year at the end of June. It starts at 7 PM and lasts close to midnight .

LiveLeak.com – F-18 Hornet bonfire, posted with vodpod

via Tgcom.it

Photo: Venezuelan Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MkII backseater view February 22, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in Military Aviation.
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I’ve found this awesome picture almost by accident.

It was published on One Big Photo, a website that makes high resolution photographs of various subjects available to everyone. Usually, aircraft pictures you can find on photo/wallpaper sites are only spectacular images already published on several aviation-related websites.

The F-15E with lightning strike in the background photo, published also on Gizmodo, is an expample of those very well known images that arrive on photo websites months after being released by the U.S. Air Force.

However, the image taken by Sergio j. Padrón from the backseat of a Venezuelan Air Force Su-30MkII flying the slot position of a four-ship formation is not only extremely beautiful and interesting, but also rarer, although it was taken (according to the author’s Flickr profile) in December 2009.

Image credit: Sergio j. Padrón via One Big Photo

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U.S. drones and spyplanes involved in information gathering missions over Syria. As in Libya one year ago. More or less… February 21, 2012

Posted by David Cenciotti in Drones, Syria.
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More or less one year ago, we were observing an increasing activity of U.S., British, French and Italian military spy planes perfoming information gathering missions along the northern border of the Tripoli FIR (Flight Information Region).

Quite silently, those SIGINT (SIGnal INTelligence) platforms flew in the Maltese airspace to eavesdrop into Libyan communications and signals and to collect the information needed to build up the so-called EOB (Electronic Order of Battle) of the Libyan forces, that would be used to have a better understanding of the situation in Libya, to know where forces were located and to build up a priority target list for the subsequent air campaign.

Presumed to remain (almost) secret, those flights were actually “advertised” by LiveATC.net, whose Maltese feeder  (shut down during the war) made the radio communications between Malta Area Control Center and the various EP-3s, RC-135 Rivet Joint, C-160G, British Nimrods R1s etc. transiting the local airspace before operating in “due regard”, public.

Although nowadays we can’t listen to the radio comms of the military traffic in that area as we did in February 2011 and we don’t have the same “evidences” we had one year ago, we can be quite confident that similar activities are being conducted in or around Syria from bases in Italy, Turkey or Cyprus (RAF Akrotiri airbase).

Along with the satellite image released by the US Embassy in Damascus some American defense officials told the NBC that “A good number of American drones are operating in the skies of Syria, monitoring the Syrian military’s attacks against opposition forces and innocent civilians alike”.

The Pentagon was quick to point out that these drones were providing surveillance not for a future military intervention but to gain evidence from both a visual and communications perspective to “make a case for a widespread international response”.

However, the confirmation that U.S. robots are flying inside the Syrian territory does pose the question: what type of drone are being used?

Most media outlets are using stock images of Predator or Reaper drones, but those unstealthy ‘bots would be vulnerable to the Syria SAM (Surface to Air Missile) network, believed to be among Middle East’s most robust ones. Both MQ-1 and 9 are Medium Altitude drones that could be operating in Syria only if flying outside the range of active SAM rings.

Hence, its conceivable that most ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions in the area are being flown by High Altitude platforms, as Air Force’s Global Hawks or U-2s (or even stealthy RQ-170s, as the one captured in Iran).

Even if Sigonella in Sicily, hosts the U.S. RQ-4Bs belonging to the 9th Operations Group/Detachment 4th, Incirlik in southern Turkey, being next to the border, seems to be more suitable for spy missions in Syria. Missions that these days could be aimed at assessing the type of activities conducted by the destroyer Shahid Qandi and the supply vessel Kharg, the two Iranian warships that have docked at the Syrian port of Tartus after passing through the Suez canal.

In fact Egyptian sources as well as members of the Syrian opposition claimed that the two vessels have been jamming satellite telephone communications of the Syrian opposition forces.

According to the same Egyptian sources, Assad’s forces have been finding it more difficult to monitor the oppositors’ communication due to their encrypted nature and someone believes that the Iranian Navy is helping him disrupting these encrypted communications.

A bit far fetched, considered that a land based systems would be less visible than two closely watched warships, but not completely impossible.

Worth a mention: an Israeli drone was spotted overflying clashes in Homs.

Anyway, the scenario is similar to the Libya of the end of February 2011. With the only difference that one year ago, the spyplanes did not fly into the “enemy” airspace.

Richard Clements has contributed to this article.

Image credit: U.S. Air Force

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