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FLEET SURVEY: EUROPE’S F-35s
UK LEADS THE WAY
SEPTEMBER 2016
ISSUE #342
Hawg Heaven!
Officially the World's
NUMBER ONE
Authority on Military Aviation | www.airforcesmonthly.com
A-10s in the Desert
Going
in Hot
Escadrille
Returns
French Air Force
restructures
EXERCISE
REPORT
USMC's
RQ-7B
· Aviadarts
· Isik · Atlas
Future-proofed
Flanker
Ukraine upgrades its fleet
Avengers Arise
VMFA-211 gets F-35s
Russia′s Southern
Military District
Front line with the West
FORCE
REPORT
UK £4.80
www.airforcesmonthly.com
CONTENTS
September Issue 342
42
Leading the Pack
F-35 European overview
News
42
Leading the Pack
All the world’s military
aviation news, by region.
4-5
Headlines
6-21 United Kingdom
Extended Farnborough
news coverage.
24-27 Continental Europe
28-33 North America
34
Latin America
35
Africa
36
Middle East
37
Russia & CIS
38-39 Asia Pacific
40
Australasia/Contracts
Britain’s first F-35B Lightning IIs
will arrive on its shores within
two years. Alan Warnes talks to
the personnel playing a part in
this exciting, although at times
controversial, programme.
AFM
contributors provide an
overview of European nations
that will be operating the
fifth-generation fighter.
Atlas exercise, involving the
Moroccan and Spanish air forces.
involving all the major Russian
Air and Space Force branches.
64
Avengers Arise
Joe Copalman caught up
with VMFA-211, the first US
Marine Corps F-35 squadron
to transition from the Harrier.
78
Future-proofed
Flanker
Vladimir Trendafilovski
scrutinises Ukraine’s modest
Su-27 upgrade programme.
66
Nothing but the Best
54
Return of the
Escadrille – French Air
Force Restructures
FREE DVD
Claim your FREE Airbus A400M
First Years DVD when you take out a
2-year or Direct Debit subscription
to
AirForces
Monthly.
Monthly
See pages
22 and 23
for details.
Sebastien Buyck discusses
the changes to l’Armée de l’Air
organisation and a return to the
traditional escadre formation.
The Turkish Air Force is
producing NATO-standard pilots
to meet its own requirements
and graduating international
students from the Multinational
Military Flight Crew Training
Center. Marcel Bos and
Melchior Timmers report.
80
Hawg Heaven!
56
Unsung Hero
72
EXERCISE REPORT
Işık 2016
The A-10 is due to remain in
service until at least 2022.
With Hawg spirit running free
after the type’s Congressional
reprise, 13 Warthog squadrons
gathered at Davis-Monthan
for Hawgsmoke 2016. Joe
Copalman was there to watch
the old warriors in action.
Joe Copalman reviews US Marine
Corps RQ-7B operations as the
versatile UAV continues to prove
its worth over the battlefield.
Cem Doğut reports on a Turkish-
run international combat
search-and-rescue exercise.
84
FORCE REPORT
Russia’s Southern
Military District
62
EXERCISE REPORT
Atlas 2016
74
EXERCISE REPORT
Aviadarts
Erik Bruijns and Mark de Greeuw
relate all the action from the
2016 edition of the biannual
Andrey Zinchuk and Alexander
Mladenov observe this year’s
Russia-only edition of the
traditional gunnery competition
Alexander Mladenov examines
a territorial joint forces
command on the front line of
rising tensions with the West
in the Black Sea region.
91
Debrief
Reviews of recently published
books on military aviation.
92
Attrition
AFM’s
Dave Allport reports
on the world’s latest
military accidents.
96
Base Watch
A snapshot of recent military
visitors to air bases around
the UK and abroad.
98
Comment
AFM’s
view on military aviation.
66
Nothing but
the Best
Turkish Air Force Training
Cover:
An A-10 pilot performs
a show-of-force pass at the
Barry M Goldwater Range.
Joe Copalman
www.airforcesdaily.com
#342
SEPTEMBER 2016
3
ARTICLE SUMMARY
NEWS
HEADLINES
Failed Coup in Turkey
The world was shocked in mid-July as
elements of the Turkish military turned against
their colleagues and the government in a
dramatic coup attempt.
Arda
Mevlütoğlu
reports on the ongoing situation.
GROUP WITHIN the
Turkish Armed Forces
(TAF) attempted a coup
on the night of July 15. They
used armoured vehicles, fighters
and helicopters to attack and
attempt to control major
installations and facilities. A
team of highly trained rebel
special forces personnel raided
the hotel where the Turkish
president was on holiday, aiming
to capture him dead or alive.
The attempt was foiled thanks
to the overwhelming majority
of the TAF remaining loyal to
the government and a massive
civilian protest, instigated by
the President, who sent out a
rallying call from his smartphone.
Thousands within the military,
government and judiciary were
arrested in the following days. On
July 25 the President announced
a 90-day state of emergency.
The uprising began when
tanks driven by rebels closed
the entrances to the Bosphorus
Bridge. Another early sign of
the coup was Turkish Air Force
(TurAF) F-16s flying at very
low altitudes and high speed
over Ankara and Istanbul at
around 2200hrs local time.
Most of the rebel F-16s took
off from the 4th Main Jet Base
(MJB) at Akıncı, Ankara.
They dropped GBU-10 laser-
guided bombs on several
government facilities, including
A
Above:
Two Turkish Air Force F-16Cs from 141 Filo at Akinci Air Base seen at Konya during an Anatolian Eagle exercise.
Aircraft from 141, 143 and 181 Filos at Akinci were involved in the failed coup.
Alan Warnes
the Turkish Grand National
Assembly building, TurkSAT
(the state satellite operator),
and police special operations
and aviation headquarters.
Four KC-135R Stratotankers
provided support from the
10th Main Tanker Base at
Incirlik. At the police special
operations headquarters, 50
servicemen were killed and an
S-70i Black Hawk helicopter
was destroyed on the ground.
Since their arrest, rebel
pilots have confirmed that
target designation was via
Sniper targeting pods. It
has also emerged that the
rebel F-16s were from 141,
143 and 181 Squadrons.
In addition, AH-1 Cobra and
T129 ATAK helicopters took off
from Army Aviation Command
at Güvercinlik and attacked the
National Intelligence Organisation
headquarters and presidential
palace. One T129 strafed crowds
of protestors. Unconfirmed
reports claim that 145 civilians
were killed during these strikes.
Another unconfirmed report
suggests that a rebel attack
helicopter was downed by a loyal
F-16, and it has been suggested
that rebel attack helicopters
strafed other helicopters on the
ground at Güvercinlik, to prevent
loyal forces from intervening.
A mixed rebel team comprising
personnel from Özel Kuvvetler
Komutanlığı (Special Forces
Command), Sualtı Taarruz
(underwater demolition team)
and Muharebe Arama Kurtarma
(TurAF combat search and rescue
[CSAR]) assaulted the hotel in
Marmaris where President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan was holidaying.
One of the Turkish Air Force F-16s flown from Akinci by the rebels during the
coup is framed by street lights as it streaks over central Ankara at low level
in full afterburner on the night of July 15.
Inserted by AS532 Cougar CSAR
helicopters, the troops exchanged
fire with police special operations
teams at the hotel. After failing
to capture the president and
being left by their helicopters,
which were critically low on fuel,
the team fled to a nearby forest.
They had missed the president
by just 30 minutes. After a two-
week police and gendarmerie
search operation, all the team
members were arrested.
After leaving Marmaris, the
president boarded TurAF
Gulfstream IV TC-ATA at Dalaman
Airport and flew to Istanbul
Atatürk International Airport. It
is unclear whether rebel F-16
pilots over the Bosphorus saw
the aircraft approaching Atatürk;
the Gulfstream pilot apparently
hid his aircraft’s identity, using
the call sign THY8456 to mimic
a Turkish Airlines aircraft.
On the morning of July 16, 111
Squadron F-4E 2020 jets from
1st MJB Eskişehir bombed the
main and secondary runways at
Akıncı 4th MJB. This prevented
the F-16s taking off. It was also
revealed that a mixed fleet of
eight cargo aircraft, including an
A400M, carried weapons and
ammunition to Malatya 7th MJB
from Kayseri 12th Air Transport
Main Base (ATMB). Their crews
were detained at Malatya.
4
SEPTEMBER 2016
#342
www.airforcesmonthly.com
ARTICLE SUMARY
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www.airforcesdaily.com
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E-mail the news team at
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Military Purge
After the coup had been foiled
early on July 16, all aerial activity
over Turkey was halted. The
plotters, and those who failed to
react in a timely manner to their
activities, were arrested. Soon
after, the government began a
massive purge operation, with
at least 3,000 officers and NCOs
dishonourably discharged.
The TurAF command and
control structure has sustained
a major blow from the purge.
Of its 67 generals, 30 were
dismissed. Of the 213 officers
dismissed in total, the majority
were pilots: 23 from the 2nd
MJB at Çiğli, 29 from the 12th
ATMB, 110 from the 4th MJB
and eight from the 8th MJB.
On July 29, Prime Minister
Binali Yıldırım announced that
the 4th MJB would be closed
down. By early August it was
still unclear if the entire base
would be demolished or if
it would be handed over to
Turkish Aerospace Industries,
which has adjacent facilities
and had been using the runway
for flight trials. Yıldırım also
announced that command
of the Army Aviation School
would move to Isparta.
The General Staff revealed
that the rebels used 35
fixed-wing aircraft, 24 of
them fighters and 37 rotary-
wing machines, including
eight attack helicopters.
As well as the military purge,
the government is scouring the
civilian bureaucratic agencies,
clearing out the followers
of the Gülen Movement, a
religious group led by Fethullah
Gülen, a cleric living in the US
under self-imposed exile. The
Turkish Government blames
him for ordering the coup and
has issued a warrant for his
arrest. It is pressurising the US
to extradite him to Turkey.
Under the measures
implemented since the failed
coup, a comprehensive
reform of the TAF is being
implemented. The General
Staff has been placed under
presidential control, while army,
air force and navy command
falls under the Ministry of
National Defence. Gendarmerie
General Command and
Coast Guard Command are
now under full control of the
Ministry of the Interior.
US Air Force Declares IOC for F-35A
Above:
Patriotically displaying a US flag in the cockpit, one of the three USAF F-35As from the 56th Fighter Wing’s 62nd
Fighter Squadron 'Spikes’ which deployed recently to the UK prepares to refuel from a 349th Air Mobility Wing KC-10A
Extender on July 13 while returning home to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona. The type achieved IOC on August 2, when the
34th FS at Hill AFB, Utah, was declared combat ready.
USAF/Staff Sgt Madelyn Brown
GENERAL HERBERT ‘Hawk’
Carlisle, commander of Air
Combat Command, declared
the F-35A Lightning II ‘combat
ready’ in an announcement on
August 2. This was followed
by a formal ceremony at Hill
Air Force Base, Utah, to mark
the aircraft achieving Initial
Operational Capability (IOC).
The 34th Fighter Squadron
of the 388th Fighter Wing,
based at Hill Air Force Base,
Utah, is the US Air Force’s first
operational F-35A squadron,
having met all the established
criteria for IOC. This included
a successful June deployment
to Mountain Home AFB, Idaho
and a series of eight-aircraft
sorties carried out in mid-July.
The 34th FS airmen will fly and
maintain the F-35A alongside
Air Force Reservists from Hill’s
419th Fighter Wing. In order to
achieve IOC, it was necessary to
complete several modifications
to the unit’s aircraft – see
Ogden ALC Completes Mods
on 12th F-35A,
p33.
Carlisle lauded the aircraft’s
performance, noting that the
aircraft had met all key criteria
for reaching initial operational
capability. This included
airmen trained, manned and
equipped to conduct basic close
air support, interdiction and
limited suppression/destruction
of enemy air defences in a
contested environment with
an operational squadron of
12-24 aircraft; the ability to
deploy and conduct operational
missions using programme
of record weapons and
missions systems; and having
all necessary logistics and
operational elements in place.
It is planned for the F-35A
to achieve full operational
capability (FOC) in 2021. The
USMC had declared IOC with
the F-35B on July 31 last year.
US Air Strikes on Daesh in Libya
AIR STRIKES by the US military
against Daesh targets have
been extended to operations
in Libya. The first such
missions took place on August
1, following a request from the
Libyan Government of National
Accord (GNA). Daesh targets
in Sirte were hit to support
GNA-affiliated forces seeking
to defeat Daesh in its primary
stronghold in Libya. President
Barack Obama authorized the
strikes after a recommendation
from Defense Secretary Ash
Carter and the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine
Corps General Joe Dunford.
The first strike on August 1 hit
a T-72 tank, two military support
vehicles, an enemy fighting
position, a T-55 tank and two
pieces of heavy engineering
equipment. Aircraft involved
in the operation included
AV-8B Harrier IIs assigned
to Marine Medium Tiltrotor
Squadron 264 (Reinforced)
flying off the amphibious
assault ship USS
Wasp
(LHD 1)
in the Mediterranean Sea. Two
VMM-264 AH-1W Super Cobras
and one USAF MQ-9A Reaper
also reportedly took part.
Further air strikes the next
day hit a rocket launcher, an
excavator and a pick-up truck
with a mounted recoilless
rifle. On August 3 another
pick-up truck with a mounted
recoilless rifle was hit.
The new mission against Daesh
in Libya has been designated
Operation Odyssey Lightning
and had involved nine air strikes
over its first three days. It had
begun with Operation Odyssey
Resolve, which involved ISR
operations and then Operation
Junction Serpent, which provided
targeting information. Pentagon
Press Secretary Peter Cook said
at a news briefing on August 1
that additional US strikes would
continue to strike Daesh in and
around Sirte to enable the GNA to
give a decisive, strategic advance.
www.airforcesdaily.com
#342
SEPTEMBER 2016
5

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