also as to why a Twinstar has appeared on the military side, plush travel for the big-wig’s ??
as to the Mil’s perhaps destined for a warmer climate ?? it seem’s the all singing, all dancing western type helo seems affected by a bit of sand !!!!!!!!!!

The Twinstar can be fitted out for surveillance.

http://globaldownlink.com/DiamondTwinStarAircraft.html

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2005/12/20/203695/da42-opale-takes-off.html

TJ

TEEJ

Point 23 of the released statement from the NATO Summit in Bucharest in April this year:

NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO.

http://www.nato.int/docu/pr/2008/p08-049e.html

The Russians, with events like the scuttling of the Georgian Combattante missile boat a couple of days back are now past any semblence of justifying this a peace-keeping support ops in Ossetia. That they are now disarming a neighbouring sovereign state is quite clear and, in my opinion, does warrant some form of response. NATO’s statement above is clear statement of intent and would, IMO, be a sizeable ruler over Russia’s knuckles.

Point noted, but the response won’t be by any direct confrontation. The risk of escalation is far too high. There is also the issue of when Georgia will be granted NATO membership and if every member will agree after recent events. It is obviously being followed very closely by the Kremlin.

The issue of checkpoints could be negotiated away by the establishment of a buffer zone with an international or EUFOR peacekeeping force. Possibly something that the Russians are wanting or seeking to happen? With the buffer zones on the Georgian side secured by a peacekeeping force the Russians can simply withdraw to the disputed regions and it is essentially game set and match for the Russians.

TJ

I think you will find Waddington does not operate on Sundays where as Brize is 24/7. Long way for the crew to get to there aircraft!

Fully aware of that, but the current rumour on the TVOC forums is that she will remain at Brize until the end of September at least. The plan is to operate out of Brize for all her upcoming airshow commitments until then.

TJ

Why Brize Norton? Thought she would be based at Waddington?

Is she hangared cos I couldnt see when we drove past the other day.

I have no idea why she is moving from Waddington to Brize. She was located in 5 Hangar at Waddington.

Flight scheduled for tomorrow. Estimated Time of Departure from Waddington – 1320L. Estimated Time of Arrival Brize Norton – 1500L

TJ

Looks like Turkey waived the Montreux Convention prohibition on armed transit by outsiders.

U.S. vessels have been going into the Black Sea for decades now. Some on Freedom of Navigation exercises, port visits etc. I remember well the 1988 incident involving USS Yorktown and the Russian Navy. Things certainly got a bit heated as the Yorktown sat off the Soviet coast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:USS_Yorktown_collision.jpg

The Russians had been informed that NATO vessels would enter the Black Sea on scheduled exercises. The Russians Defence Ministry announced this last week.

Canadian involvement in Operation Sextant.

http://www.dnd.ca/site/Community/MapleLeaf/article_e.asp?id=4588

http://www.cefcom.forces.gc.ca/site/ops/sextant/index_e.asp

TJ

Will XH558 be at Clacton Airshow tommorow?

No. XH558 is due to leave RAF Waddington on Friday to go down to RAF Brize Norton. The plan is to operate XH558 out of Brize Norton until at least the end of September.

TJ

Yep, these shots have been circulating around the Russian internet since a couple of days already. No one knows for sure when and where they were taken – could be Georgia, could be Kapustin Yar – I’m not an expert for floral identification, but the vegetation is basically the same in both places.
However, I doubt that it pictures anything in Georgia proper – these parts would normally fall on Russian territory when fired at, let’s say, Poti. Corroborated by the crack patterns (high vertical velocity fall, horizontal velocity negligible). I doubt it proves anything.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that they might have been taken by a journalist. I haven’t seen them used or accredited to any photographer or media outlet. As you say it is hard to know for sure.

TJ

No, that is no the case.

It is still the case that “51 missile strikes that left craters less than 100 yards,” an obvious sign that the Russians unsuccessfully targeted the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

This link is from your own blog:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/08/11/cnbp111.xml

You forgot to quote the next paragraph

‘A BP spokesman said that, after thorough checks, the company had “disclosed no bombing in the vicinity of the BTC line”.’

Do you honestly think that the Russians couldn’t destroy the pipeline if they wanted to? They targeted it all those times, as claimed, and still couldn’t hit it? Do you not think that something doesn’t quite add up?

TJ