One of the first picture of the new Bolivian Air Force K-8

Cheers!

Wow- fantastic! Thanks! I had no idea they had ordered K-8s.

Well, TAZZ, I guess that explains why finding any pictures has been a real challenge! 😀

What about the years since 2000? Any possibility that they could indeed have acquired some aircraft? But, when you think about it, their only real threat in the region is a country essentially without a central government whose air force is primarily a load of useless hulks, so why waste the money on an air force?

I too trust wiki about as far as I could throw it, but I have come across other sources that indicate they have an air force. I guess they also got their info from wiki. Who knows- maybe the Somaliland government did too!

Somalia

MiG-17 and MiG-21MF from Aircraft Ill. 1993 May

Chris

Chris, are these from Somalia, or Somaliland? Somaliland is a separate entity, with its own air force and markings. Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia.

Free Libya!

http://smallairforces.blogspot.com/

Your highness, given your apparent wizardry, might you be able to conjure up the following?

– Bhutan Do-228 or Mi-8

– Somaliland Mig-17 or MiG-21

I would be thrilled if you did!

NATO Air Strikes: Libyan Rebels Complain

Full article

NATO’s kill chain is out of control. It seems the JTACs embedded with the rebels provide strike coordinates to NATO, but NATO takes up to 8 hours before those coordinates are attacked. By that time, Qadaffi’s forces have moved.

USAF/USN spent a lot of treasure learning how to tighten the timing on the kill chain down to a handfull of minutes (instead of a handfull of hours). I guess that learning never flowed to NATO. :rolleyes:

Imagine if the Soviets had actually attacked. They’d have gotten to Brest before the first NATO aircraft had gotten off the ground.

12 UAE fighters ( 6 F-16s + 6 Mirage 2000s ) arrived to Decimomannu on the island of Sardinia Sunday

One of six UAE F16 fighter jets lands at Decimomannu airport near Cagliari on the Italian island of Sardinia

That bird looks a bit light to me. Too bad they didn’t bolt a few more pylons onto it, you know, for an extra tank or two.:eek:

The Old Libyan Flag

Not an observation directly related to air power in this conflict, but one that has puzzled me nonetheless. I have noticed the old Libyan flag, indeed many of them, in almost every picture and video taken of the rebel faction. Most of them certainly don’t look cobbled together; in contrast, they appear professionally made. I wonder where they all came from? Ghadafi certainly must have banned them, and very brutally punished anybody possessing one. They were symbols of defiance to his rule. Seems to me like a lot of Libyans had them stashed away, though, waiting for a time just like this, in spite of the potential consequences.

Why would you put helicopters at risk with so many manpads around:confused:
The AC-130 might be a next step, but IMHO, for attack choppers it’s still too early to step in.

Does anybody have info about Libyan air defense installations?

How many SAM sites have been hit?

And how many SAM sites still represent a threat to the Coalition/NATO jets?

I think you are right about it being premature for helicopters, but an AC-130 would be very effective, especially because of its ability to remain over the battlefield for extended periods of time.