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DISASTER RELIEF - UK HELICOPTERS TO THE RESCUE
MARCH 2016
ISSUE #336
Officially the World's
NUMBER ONE
Authority on Military Aviation | www.airforcesmonthly.com
Cherry Point's last EA-6Bs
Prowler
Sundown
Destination
DAESH
The Bombs and
the Bombers
Terrorist Hunters
Libya's MiG-21s
Struggling
to Survive
Polish Navy
Force Report
Tornados over
New Mexico
German Fighter-
Bombers in action
Bahrain Show
Indian Tejas
RBAF Fighter
News
Large US
presence
US, French and UK
Fighters in USA
Best of the Bunch
EXERCISE
REPORT
UK £4.80
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CONTENTS
March Issue 336
Destination
Daesh
38
News
All the world’s military
aviation news, by region.
4-5
Headlines
6-7
United Kingdom
8-11
Continental Europe
12-15 North America
16
Latin America
17
Africa
18-19 Russia
22-25 Middle East
26-28 Asia Pacific
29
Australasia/Contracts
38
Destination Daesh
Lon Nordeen examines the weapons
deployed in two current conflicts:
the American-led Operation
Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Russia’s
military intervention in Syria.
Mexico, the home of German Air
Force Tornado aircrew training.
80
FORCE REPORT
Polish Naval Aviation
66
Armada Argos
44
Uruguay’s Dragonflies
30
Disaster Relief: UK
Helicopter Response
Cessna’s veteran A-37B Dragonfly is
Uruguay’s primary combat aircraft
after almost 40 years in service.
Budget restrictions mean it will
continue to defend the country’s
airspace for the foreseeable future,
as Santiago Rivas explains.
The Spanish Navy trains its future
helicopter pilots on a small fleet
of extensively upgraded Hughes
H369s, as Patrick Roegies, Paul
Gross and Hans Looijmans explain.
Marcin Przeworski looks as
the parlous state of the Polish
Naval Aviation Brigade, which
functions through a small fleet
of largely obsolete helicopters
fixed-wing patrol aircraft.
68
EXERCISE REPORT
Trilateral Exercise Initiative
86
The Iron State
Tim Ripley looks at how military
and civilian helicopters are used
in disaster relief and emergency
operations in Britain.
50
Prowler Sundown
36
Back to the Future
Martin Scharenborg and
Ramon Wenink/Global Aviation
Review Press report from MCAS
Cherry Point on the last units
to fly the EA-6B Prowler.
France, the UK and the USA brought
their premier fighters to Langley AFB
for a rare opportunity to test inter-
operability between fourth and fifth
generation combat aircraft. Frédéric
Lert was there to witness the event.
Ofer Zidon provides an overview
of Israel’s sophisticated array
of anti-missile defences.
90
Attrition
AFM’s
Dave Allport reports on the
world’s latest military accidents.
72
The Terrorist Hunters
94
Debrief
In 2016, EH 1/44 ‘Solenzara’
based in Corsica will trade in its
last two Super Pumas for Pumas.
This signals the end of the Super
Puma’s SAR career with the Armée
de l’Air, as Frédéric Lert reports.
56
US Show of Force
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The US Department of Defense
sent some interesting aircraft
to this year’s biennial Bahrain
International Air Show. Several
were taking a break from Operation
Inherent Resolve missions against
Daesh, as Alan Warnes reports.
The survivors of Libya’s once
large MiG-21 fleet are engaged
in combat on multiple fronts
against various enemies in the
country’s bitter and complex civil
war, as Babak Taghvaee reports.
Reviews of recently published
books on military aviation.
96
Base Watch
A snapshot of recent military
visitors to air bases around
the UK and abroad.
78
EXERCISE REPORT
Wallaby 2015
98 Comment
58
Tornados over
New Mexico
Arnaud Boxman and Kees van
der Mark visit Holloman AFB New
Between September and
November, the Republic of
Singapore Air Force took to
the skies Down Under for
Exercise Wallaby 2015. Chen
Chuanren visited Queensland
to find out more.
AFM’s
view on military
aviation operations.
Cover: An EA-6B of VAMQT-1
flies over the Atlantic Ocean
on a training sortie. Martin
Scharenborg and Ramon Wenink/
Global Aviation Review Press
Tornados over
New Mexico
58
www.airforcesdaily.com
#336 MARCH 2016
3
NEWS
HEADLINES
First Transatlantic Flight for F-35
A
N ITALIAN Air Force (AMI)
F-35A Lightning II has become
the first of the type to complete a
transatlantic flight. The aircraft,
MM7332 ‘32-01’ (AL-1), the first
Italian-assembled example,
departed from Cameri, Italy,
where the Final Assembly and
Check-Out facility is located,
on February 3, using callsign
‘IAM0150’. It routed initially to
Lajes Field in the Azores for a
technical stop and was scheduled
to complete its journey to the US
the following day, but remained
at Lajes longer than planned due
to bad weather over the Atlantic.
On February 5, the aircraft
completed the remaining
seven-hour leg of its eleven
flight hour journey to Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
Accompanying it were two
Eurofighter F-2000 Typhoons,
MM55095 ‘4-23’ (callsign
‘IAM0409’) and MM55130
‘4-33’ (‘IAM0410’); two KC-767A
tankers, MM62228 ‘14-03’
(‘IAM1411’) and MM62227
‘14-02’ (‘IAM1412’); plus two
C-130J Hercules, MM62180
‘46-45’ (‘IAM4675’) and
MM62186 ‘46-51’ (‘IAM4676’).
The Hercules provided logistics
support and would have been
available for oceanic search and
rescue had the need arisen. One
of the Eurofighters was an air
spare and did not go beyond
Lajes. The other, one KC-767A
and one C-130J flew from Lajes
Above:
Italian Air Force (AMI) F-35A MM7332 ’32-01’ flies in formation with two Eurofighter Typhoons and a Boeing
KC-767A from the AMI during its ferry flight from Italy to the USA.
AMI
to Pease AFB, New Hampshire,
before going on to Nellis AFB,
Nevada, where the Typhoon
was to join others participating
in a Red Flag exercise.
The F-35 required seven aerial
refuellings during the crossing,
three between Cameri and Lajes,
then another four between Lajes
and Pax River. Major Gianmarco
from the AMI’s flight test unit, the
Reparto Sperimeti Volo (RSV)
at Pratica di Mare, was the pilot
for the mission. He said the
aircraft performed well during
both legs of the flight, despite
turbulence and headwinds of
up to 120kts, commenting that
most of the refuelling had taken
place in bad weather, but the
F-35 had remained extremely
stable and achieved a 100%
success rate during tanking.
Planning for the ferry flight
began in July 2015, when an AMI
team deployed with one KC-767A
to Edwards AFB, California.
Together with USAF, Boeing and
Lockheed Martin teams, test
flights were undertaken using a
US JSF to certify the tanker for
F-35A in-flight refuelling. Then,
from September-December, two
Italian test pilots from the RSV
attended course TX1B at Luke
AFB, Arizona, to complete their
conversion to the type. One of
these was Major Gianmarco,
a former Tornado pilot, who
had logged 50 hours on the
type by the time his training
was complete. In Italy, during
January 2016, trials before the
transatlantic flight included
several in-flight refuelling
missions with the first Italian
F-35A, totalling 15 hours, to
check that everything was as
expected, and get the pilots and
the tanker crews used to the
new procedures. These sorties
included flight lengths similar to
those required for the ferry flight.
MM7332 will stay at Pax River for
three months of electromagnetic
environmental effects tests in
Naval Air Systems Command’s
Integrated Battlespace
Simulation and Test facility.
In May it will move to Luke
AFB, where it will be assigned
to the USAF’s 56th Fighter Wing
as part of the International
Training Center for the type.
Italy will deliver its first five
F-35As (AL-1 to AL-5) to Luke
over the course of this year and
from the sixth (AL-6) they will
go to Amendola, in southern
Italy, to begin re-equipping
32° Stormo.
Riccardo Niccoli
and Nick Peterman
Above:
The Italian Air Force F-35A lands at NAS Patuxent River after its historic transatlantic flight.
Lockheed Martin/Andy Wolfe
4
MARCH 2016 #336
www.airforcesmonthly.com
Visit
www.airforcesdaily.com
for daily
news stories. E-mail the news team
at
milnews@keypublishing.com
Fixed-Wing MFTS £1.1bn Contract Signed
CONTRACTS HAVE finally been
awarded for the remaining
fixed-wing elements of the UK
Ministry of Defence’s Military
Flying Training System (MFTS)
programme. The deals, worth
£1.1bn (US$1.58bn), were
announced by the UK Ministry
of Defence on February 2.
The new aircraft will comprise
23 Grob G120TPs, ten Beechcraft
T-6C Texan IIs and five Embraer
Phenom100s that will be used
for elementary, basic and
multi-engine flying training,
respectively. Embraer said its
contract also includes options
for follow-on aircraft. The Grob
will be called the Prefect in UK
service, resurrecting a name
previously used by the Air Cadets’
Slingsby Type 30B Prefect TX1
primary training glider. The three
new types will be delivered in
phases over the next three years.
Aircrew from across the RAF,
Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps
will be taught in these aircraft,
while also using ground-based
training devices, including
simulators and classroom
learning. The MFTS will train
230 students per year with 133
instructors - 62 of the latter will
be from Ascent Flying Training
and 71 from the military. Ascent,
a joint venture between Babcock
Above:
An impression of an
Embraer
Phenom 100 in Royal Air Force colours.
Embraer
International and Lockheed
Martin, is the UK MOD’s Training
System Partner on MFTS and
is overseeing the programme.
Affinity Flying Training Services,
a joint venture between Israel’s
Elbit Systems and US-based
KBR, will procure, operate and
maintain the aircraft and related
infrastructure through to May
2033. Ascent had announced
selection of Affinity as the
preferred Aircraft Service Provider
for the fixed-wing element of the
programme on October 24, 2014.
The MOD says that multi-engine
pilot training will be in place from
mid-2018, while the basic flying
training element will be fully up
and running by early 2019. The
Prefects will replace the Grob
G115 Tutor T1s based at RAF
Barkston Heath and RAF Cranwell,
Lincolnshire. The Texans will
replace the Short Tucano T1s,
currently at RAF Linton-on-Ouse,
North Yorkshire, although the
new aircraft will operate from
RAF Valley, Anglesey, putting
the future of Linton in doubt.
The Phenoms will replace King
Air 200/350s at Cranwell.
Other elements of the MFTS
already in place include RAF Hawk
T2s being used as advanced jet
trainers at RAF Valley and Royal
Navy King Air 350 Avenger T1s
undertaking observer training at
Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose,
Cornwall. Only the future rotary-
wing training element remains
to be finalised. The rotary-wing
element will replace the Bell 412
Griffin HT1s and Eurocopter
Squirrel HT1/2s operated by the
Defence Helicopter Flying School
at RAF Shawbury, Shropshire.
Industry sources suggest a
decision on the winning bidder,
a choice between Airbus
Helicopters and Cobham, could
be made within the next few
months. The types on offer
have not been revealed by the
two shortlisted contenders.
Previous media reports suggest
Airbus is proposing the EC125
and EC145 while Cobham may
have offered the AW109 and
AW139. A target date of April
2018 has been set by the MOD for
achieving ‘initial course capability’
for this element of MFTS.
HAL Unveils HTT-40 Trainer
Front Cover
Picture January
2016 Issue
THE JANUARY front cover of
AFM
was incorrectly credited
to Joe Copalman. The pair of
AV-8B Harrier IIs from VMA-223
‘Bulldogs’ was taken by Jamie
DeBoer.
AFM
would like to
apologise for this error.
The first prototype HAL HTT-40 basic trainer during its roll out in
Bangalore on February 2. The Indian Air Force is to buy 68 of the type,
supplementing the PC-7 Mk IIs.
HAL
MBDA Delivers ASRAAMs for UK F-35B Integration
MBDA HAS commenced deliveries
of a quantity of Advanced Short
Range Air-to-Air Missiles (ASRAAM)
for forthcoming integration of this
infra-red air dominance missile
onto the UK’s F-35B. The company
announced on February 8 that the
first missile was delivered to the
US during January in conjunction
with BAE Systems (the UK’s F-35
weapon integration lead). ASRAAM
will be the first UK missile to arm
the F-35 and its integration within
the F-35 System Development and
Demonstration (SDD) phase of the
programme will give the Royal Air
Force and the Royal Navy’s F-35s
a highly capable, passive, within
visual range air-to-air capability.
These test missiles will be used
during 2016 for a series of flight
trials and air-launched firings
that are a key step towards the
Initial Operating Capability of
the aircraft by the UK. The trials
will include environmental data
gathering, safe separation from
the aircraft, weapon integration
with the F-35’s on-board systems
and lastly, weapon firing trials
involving the engagement of
targets. These integration activities
will take place at both the Naval
Air Station Patuxent River,
Maryland and Edwards Air Force
Base, California, in the USA.
www.airforcesdaily.com
#336 MARCH 2016
5

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