Steve TouchdownHello,
Slovakia delivered 11 Su-22 aircraft to Angola, 6 Su-22M4 in 1999 and 4 Su-22M4 and 1 Su-22UM3K in 2001.
C/n
36715
36716
36817
36818
36919
36920
40614
40716
40717
40818
17532372307But which aircraft was delivered in 1999 and 2001?
And which MiG-21MF was delivered to the Ukraine in 2000?
Rgd,
Jeroen Nijmeijer
Holland
Good questions, Jeroen. Unfortunately, despite a good amount of digging around for the article I did for March’s AFM, I wasn’t able to find a definitive answer.
I assume you are going by the UN register declarations for the supply of Fitters to Angola? I know they are split into two separate batches for the purposes of the register, but have you been able to get confirmation their supply occurred the same way? The only reason I have a slight doubt about that being the case is that none of the Fitters sold to Angola were at Malacky-Kuchyna on a base visit that took place on 30th August, 2000. It’s possible that they could have been at Trencin with LOT by then (for preparation/overhaul before shipment?) but the officer escorting the tour confirmed that some Fitters had only recently left to be transported by sea from Gdynia, Poland.
The “Fitters-to-Angola” conundrum has always been a bit muddy: it wasn’t until we saw the Su-22UM3K 7208 at Malacky-Kuchyna in August 2002 that it was realised this one hadn’t gone to Angola, as had previously been widely reported. Where this example spent 2000 and 2001 I have no idea: during base visits in September 2001 it wasn’t at LOT or Malacky.
I’m also not sure of the ID of the MiG-21MF that was supposedly transferred to Ukraine (and beyond?) in 2001. There are actually a handful of late-build MiG-21MF that “disappeared” from Sliac around 1998: have you any idea what happened to any of those at all? Whether it’s purely coincidence or not I’m not sure, but the UN register still shows sales of L-29 Delfins from Slovakia to Angola for that time period: but all of those have been seen in Slovakia long after that reported transfer.
Best regards
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve TouchdownReality Check Required
Russian Fuel and Funding Issues Outlined
Two recently-aired news excerpts on Russian TV have highlighted the problems caused by funding and fuel shortages and the effect these have on the Air Force’s flying hours.
A broadcast from an unnamed airfield in the Moscow Air Force and Defense District (thought to be Bezhetsk – Dorokhovo, home to the 611th IAP’s regiment of Su-27 Flankers), included a telling interview with Lieutenant-Colonel Sergey Shebanin, one of the unit’s senior pilots. Shebanin confirmed that, whilst simulator time for the regiment’s pilots was plentiful, he had only amassed 20 hours flying time in Flankers during the course of 2004. Although Shebanin asserted this was “below average” when compared to the rest of his regiment’s aircrew, he also stated that none had reached the specified minimum time of 50 hours per annum. To put this into context, 50 hours represents around 40 per cent of what a fighter pilot would regularly attain per annum during the Soviet era.
The major reason cited for the lack of flying time was shortage of fuel for the regiment, and this situation has been further exacerbated due to theft of fuel, according to other contemporary media reports. In a speech on 21 January the Russian Prosecutor General, Vladimir Ustinov, detailed the fact that over 7,000 tonnes of aviation fuel had been stolen or “gone missing” during the previous year: enough, it was said, for a MiG-29 regiment to carry out over four months’ of exercises and allow their pilots to fly almost 60 hours apiece.
Although any degree of corruption and theft present an all too obvious hurdle, by far the biggest problem affecting air force serviceability and fuel allowances remains lack of budgetary funding. Amongst recent media commentaries regarding progress of the PAK-FA programme, mention has been made of funds being diverted away to pay for high-priority issues such as the maintenance of the current inventory and the fielding of the Su-27SM.
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve Touchdown1) PNC-268 another Turbo Thrush operating with the Policia Nacional Colombia. This may not be a T65 example but possibly an earlier T41 or T34. The provenence/background of this particular machine is unknown to me: it could be an example bought and operated solely by the Colombians but it may possibly be one of the earliest DoS/DEA-operated examples.
2) Air Tractor AT-802 N8513Q from the DoSAW programme (see US and Colombian flags on the tail) which wears the Policia Nacional Colombia identity PNC-4003 when operating in its spraying role.
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve TouchdownSome more shots, this time of a Policia Nacional Colombia marked T65 dating from Feb 2002.
Serial: PNC-3077 DoSAW Code: T-11 MSN: T65-007DC FAA Reg’n: N3101D
This particular a/c crashed at Bogota Airport on 15-Sep-95 but was subsequently repaired in the US and returned to service “down South”.
Incidentally, there will be an update to our original article and an overview of all Policia Nacional Colombia aircraft (ie not just the DoSAW-operated examples) in an upcoming issue of ‘Scramble’, probably June or July’s.
Best regards
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve TouchdownMike,
I hadn’t overlooked your PM: just hadn’t had the chance to dig out the CD-ROM that had the Myanmar Thrush a/c shots on! I know these are awfully small, but they’re the only shots of these that I have ever seen, either in print or on the ‘net. I’ve attached three of them to this message anyway.
Along with Jurgen van Toor and Wim Sonneveld I co-wrote a 14 page article on DoSAW operations that appeared in issue 300 of ‘Scramble’ magazine, Mike. It’s worth getting hold of a copy if you’re interested in oddities like the T65 and Air Tractor AT-802, Mike, as it includes several excellent pictures, albeit in black and white.
Thanks for posting your two photos, Tulio: good to see a LAAHS regular over on this board too 🙂 I don’t suppose you have any identities for the Thrushes in that shot at all do you? A couple of the early examples that the DoSAW operated in the late 1980s/early 90s have “disappeared” so confirming any sightings would help to determine when this actually happened.
Best regards
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve TouchdownYour point about US legalities in no way alters my point, that is a failing on the part of the US authorities not the people who lifted the suspects.
Either directly (as was shown in almost all of the cases in the documentary I mentioned), or indirectly (as with Uzbekistan who seem to have creatively conjured-up their own “terrorist” problem to win influence), the suspects were all detained at the behest of the US authorities. That included a Syrian-born Canadian citizen detained at JFK and flown by the “Special Removal Unit” to Damascus for the security services to torture for around a year.
Getting back to AI, Mike, you said:
Amnesty campaigned for the unconditional release of all the prisoners held in Camp X-Ray(some of whom were already known to be terrorists)
Yet Amnesty’s stance is quite clearly NOT what you’re asserting it to be:
US authorities must bring all detainees to trial, in full accordance with international law and standards, or else release them immediately and unconditionally.
I would respectfully suggest that ignoring the first half of that sentence to make your point is just a little disingenuous, to say the least.
I completely agree with GA on this: I too have no problem with leaving properly convicted terrorists to rot in jail for all their days. I don’t see who is arguing against that here to be honest.
Categorising people in Afghanistan fighting in what they perceive as a war and plucking suspects from around the world on the basis of “intelligence” gained through interrogation up to and including torture, however, is not the same as “terrorism” IMHO.
Steve
Steve TouchdownHehe….cant let that go flex..cool piccies 😎
Angolan Gov registered Super Puma
It belongs to CHC Helicopters but is leased to SonAngol oil company and operated from Luanda, Spurg: check out the “S” logo on the fwd fuselage. I saw it 2 or 3 times myself in June 2003 at Marignane and it threw me the first time: thought it was some exotic military or gov’t owned too! c/n is 2590 but that’s all I had written by it in my log as it’s “civil”.
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve TouchdownAmnesty campaigned for the unconditional release of all the prisoners held in Camp X-Ray(some of whom were already known to be terrorists)
I love the way that misconceptions get bandied-about on here as “facts” to support people’s opinions.
US authorities must bring all detainees to trial, in full accordance with international law and standards, or else release them immediately and unconditionally.
Personally speaking I don’t find AI’s stance over GTMO even slightly controversial.
Anybody else catch the C4 documentary about the US “Special Removal Unit” last night? Amazing how the White House publically rants and raves about torture and human rights abuses in countries like Syria yet are only too happy to deliver “suspects” straight to their security services for “interrogation”. :rolleyes:
Steve TouchdownDoes US army fly these choppers or contract pilots ?
The Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Office of Aviation (INL/A) is primarily responsible to support the U.S Embassy Country Team and NAS Islamabad to assist the Government of Pakistan (GOP) in the Border Security Project. Under the auspices of the US Country Team, the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) is primarily responsible to assist host nation government to gain and maintain control of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border through the surveillance and interdiction of terrorists, narcotics, arms and other unlawful cross-border activities. INL/A supports this mission with the Huey IIs and C-208 Cessna Caravans.
This mission is performed in concert with the Ministry of the Interior Air Wing. Host nation personnel are used to operate and maintain the aircraft, with Contractor personnel performing services such as logistical support, flight standardization, maintenance oversight and training.
The Contractor is an extension of the USG and is there to provide oversight and ensure compliance with directives. The GOP provides the workforce and the Contractor ensures proper procedures and quality control processes are followed. If the Contractor has any difficulties with the GOP, the issue is passed to the govern-ment representatives to resolve. The Contractor is responsible for maintaining a logistical supply system. The Contractor also has training and monitoring functions, which requires the Contractor to ensure that the GOP personnel are qualified to perform their duties.
The current contractor is DynCorp.
Steve TouchdownLet me rephrase it… they aren’t manufacturing them for anyone at the moment… odds are the people who work in that factory are probably driving taxis to pay the bills. Who knows what sort of state the production tooling is in.
Not the easiest thing to 100% confirm to everybody’s satisfaction but, as far as I’m aware, the two-seat (presumably Su-25UBK still) Frogfoot a/c that the IRGC have been receiving are coming from Ulan-Ude as “new builds”. I’ve seen more than one report that suggests the order could be as large as 30+.
Anyone care to comment or add more detail?
Best regards
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve TouchdownI agree. Thats definately a huey. Still an interesting Pic though. Does anybody know how many are actually involved in within the program? :diablo:
The latest figures that I’m aware of for the Pakistan programme are that it now involves ten Huey II choppers and three Cessna 208B Caravan II aircraft.
The five initial Huey II choppers delivered were:
Pakistan (Ministry of Interior)
68-15463/HY-07 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
68-16131/HY-08 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
66-16944/HY-09 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
68-16054/HY-10 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
68-16264/HY-11 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
and the three Cessna 208B Caravan II:
N1243E/CV-04 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
N1243G/CV-05 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
N1243Y/CV-06 DoSAW Pakistan Quetta
Since the initial deliveries were made another two batches of Huey II choppers have been supplied: the first consignment was of three, the second a pair. The one in the Balochistan shot presumably came from the second batch given the ’33’ carried on the tail: this would make it ‘HY-33’ (ie the 33rd Huey II in the DoSAW fleet) but I’m not aware of its full (former) US Army identity yet.
Best regards
Steve Rush ~ Touchdown-News
Steve Touchdownmav, after some much-welcomed input from Arthur, it became apparent the chopper in that shot is a Pakistan Ministry of Interior/US Department of State Air Wing operated Huey II (ie an upgraded, re-engined UH-1H). It’s part of the programme based in Quetta.
The colour scheme and cheatline are a bit of a clue: you’ll see Peruvian National Police choppers in an identical “look”!
Best regards
Steve
Steve Touchdown“Those with the darkest fears became the most powerful”
This is hardly “breaking news” is it! More like forum members catching up with current affairs via Woman’s Hour by the sounds of it!
Didn’t internment and Long Kesh count then? Was that because they weren’t on the “mainland”?
Maybe the even bigger issue, if One should decide to ponder on it, is if the “threat” exists in reality at all.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/3755686.stm was a series of three excellent programmes well-worth catching if you get the chance.
I thought the anti-terrorism act of 2000 already allowed detention without trial (subject to certain checks/criteria)? Isn’t that why the student pilot of Tunisian (?) origin spent several months behind bars?
Steve
Steve TouchdownSteve TouchdownI don’t want to appear to be a party-pooper or anything along those lines but, IIRC, the small shot (that appeared originally on BHTI’s site) apparently isn’t of a Pakistan 412EP, just some kind of put together image for a press release.
Best regards
Steve ~ Touchdown-News
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