Aviation News Mega-Thread

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Update navigation systems Austrian Hercules transport aircraft

The Austrian government awarded Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group a multi-million euro contract to update the navigation systems on its fleet of three Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte (OL, Austrian Air Force) C-130K Hercules transporters.

The three former Royal Air Force aircraft already received a Night Vision System upgrade modification of the Flight Management System back in 2017, but will now receive an extensive update to the Electronic Flight Instrument System displays, Standby Instruments and Flight Management Systems. The trio was acquired from the UK MoD in 2003 and since then, Marshall has been supporting these Hercules' with maintenance, engineering and logistics support.

The aircraft involved are 8T-CA (construction number 4198 and ex RAF XV181), 8T-CB (c/n 4256 ex XV291) and 8T-CC (c/n 4257, ex XV292) are operated by the Lufttransportstaffel (LuTSta) at Linz/Hörsching. A fourth Hercules, 8X-CZ (4261, ex XV295) was bought for spares only and is stored at Linz/Hörsching inside a hangar. The first Austrian C-130K that will get the new update will arrive mid-2020 at Marshall’s Cambridge facility.

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Order for six JGSDF UH-2 multi-role medium helicopters

On 3 June 2020, the Japan Ministry of Defence’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) awarded contracts worth a combined total of USD 131.6 million (JPY14.3 billion) to Subaru Corporation for the production and delivery of six UH-2 multirole medium helicopters to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).

The prototype, called UH-X (serial 45001/JG-5001), made its maiden flight in December 2018 (*). After carrying out a series of subsequent flight tests, Subaru handed over the UH-X to the Japanese MoD at the company’s Utsunomiya plant in Tochigi Prefecture in February 2019. It was flown to Akeno on 6 March 2019 for testing by ATLA before its handover to the JGSDF. The future UH-1J replacement will be inducted into the JGSDF as the UH-2.

The MoD plans to replace the JGSDF's fleet of 127 UH-1Js with about 150 UH-2s over the next two decades, 34 of which will be acquired under the country’s 2019–23 Mid-Term Defence Program (MTDP), which was approved in December 2018.

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Last EAC00.314 Alpha Jet flight

Today, Friday 5 June 2020, saw the final Alpha Jet flight of the Armee de l'Air (AdlA, French Air Force) Ecole de l'Aviation de Chasse 314 (EAC00.314) "Christian Martell" at Base Aerienne 705 Tours/Val de Loire (BA705). The Fighter Aviation School has been present at Tours since 1961 and will now be transferred to Base Aerienne 709 Cognac/Châteaubernard where it will continue training fighter pilots and navigators on the Pilatus PC-21.

The final Alpha Jet flight saw a group of five aircaft (one photo ship) overflying the Loire Valley, from Saumur to Château de Chenonceau via Villandry and symbolically at midday sharp, the Town Hall of Tours. The Fighter Aviation School saw nearly 4,900 fighter pilots and 300 officer navigators receive their wings in 59 years of presence in Tours.

The airbase will remain operational until 30 June 2021, but will definitely miss the daily sorties of training airmen. Some Rafales will have a temporary detachment at Tours, starting mid-June 2020.

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More information on Russian delivery of MiG-29s to Syria and its link with Libya

On 3 June 2020, the Russian embassy in Damascus reported that its government handed over MiG-29s to the al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Arabiya As'souriya (SyAAF, Syrian Arab Air Force). The announcement came only a few days after the US military accused Moscow of using Syria to transfer warplanes to Libya. The transfer was done during a ceremony at the Russian airbase in Syria, Hmeymim. The Embassy reported that the MiGs were handed over to the Syrian military "within the framework of defense cooperation". The SyAAF reported that they have already started flying the new aircraft on 1 June 2020 as part of the acceptance procedure. The number of aircraft remains unknown but at least six seem to be delivered in the first batch according to several social media reports while the number of aircraft of the second batch remains unclear.

The SyAAF operated the MiG-29A and MiG-29UB since 1989. They received up to 24 Fulcrums and are said to have some sixteen aircraft operational at this moment. At least a dozen were modified to MiG-29SM in the 2011/2012 time-frame. The aircraft, all assigned to the 17th Air Brigade that operates the 699th Fighter Squadron from Saiqal (also known as Seen Air Base), are war-torn and new aircraft are most welcome. The MiG-29s that are said to be handed-over in June 2020 are most probably surplus Russian Air Force aircraft and are most probably the 9.13 versions of the Fulcrum.

If this is true, the MiG-29s are probably part of a batch of twelve to fourteen unmarked aircraft that flew in via Astrakhan air base (Russia) and Hamadan (Iran) to Hmeymim mid-May 2020. Some of these aircraft, at least four (plus four Su-24M Fencers), continued their flight to Libya in support of the Libyan military opposition leader and warlord Khalifa Haftar. It is still not clear if these MiGs are now assigned to Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), or that they are flying missions under command of Wagner Group, a Russian Private Military Company (PMC) that is fighting alongside Haftar against the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya. The aircraft continued their way - unmarked - to Libya to disguise their identity. Rumours say that these aircraft are flown by Syrian and Belarusian mercenaries.

The reported transfer of MiG-29s to Syria could also be a cover up / information cover for the Russian assistance to Libya. Moscow has denied the Russian state is responsible for any deployments of the Wagner group and denied sending aircraft to Libya. Haftar and its LNA has denied any link to the MiG-29s, although it says it has refurbished some old Libyan aircraft that were used for the first time on 3 June during an attack at Gharyan, just south of the Libyan capital Tripoli. Libya is involved in a civil war since its longtime dictator, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, died in 2011. The conflict has drawn in multiple actors, with Russia, France, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates backing LNA while Turkey, Qatar as well as the U.S. and other Western countries support the GNA.

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https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing ... 15.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/helicopter ... 14.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/air-transp ... 13.article
https://www.flightglobal.com/flight-int ... 91.article

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https://theaviationgeekclub.com/video-s ... er-hornet/

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Earlier this morning, two The Boeing Company B747-400s of Lufthansa arrived at Twente Airport for storage. Four more are planned to follow in the coming weeks. Despite earlier rumours, the planes are not scheduled to be scrapped.

First one to land was Queen of the Skies D-ABVO, which arrived non-stop as DLH9923 from Beijing. The Jumbo was there for heavy maintenance.

The second B747-400 to arrive D-ABTL, which arrived as DLH9888, after a short flight from Frankfurt.

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Elephant walk Finnish Air Force Hornets

On 4 June 2020, the Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) performed two elephant walks of sixteen Hornets each at Kuopio/Rissala and Rovaniemi, home base for HävLLv 31 respectively HävLLv 11.

After the walk, all 32 Hornets took to the air overflying various locations between Helsinki in the south and Ivalo in the north of the country, divided in eight groups of four Hornets.

The elephant walk demonstrated the Air Force's readiness to defend the whole of Finland in honor of the Defense Forces' flag day. The Finnish Air Force made a video of one of the groups overflying the south of Finland.

Video Ilmavoimat - Flygvapnet - Finnish Air Force: https://www.facebook.com/Ilmavoimat/vid ... 063041527/

#avgeek Avgeekery.com #aviation Ilmavoimat - Flygvapnet - Finnish Air Force #FinnishAirForce #KuopioRissala #Rovaniemi #HävLLv31 #HävLLv11 #Hornet #FA18C

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Serbian Police to receive their fourth Airbus H145M

The last of four Airbus H145Ms for the Serbian Police (Policija Air Support Unit) will be delivered in the second week of June 2020. Currently, the helicopter is still at the Airbus helicopter factory in Donauwörth (Germany) and registered D-HADP. When delivered, the H145M will be registered YU-MUP (construction number 20317).

The initial order was for six H145Ms for the Air Force and three for the Police. But after signing the contract, this was changed on request by the Serbia government to five and four respectively. As a result the H145M (c/n 20259) that was already under construction in the air force configuration would not be taken up, and instead Airbus built a new H145M for the Police (c/n 20317). H145M with c/n 20259 became the Airbus company demonstrator and was registered D-HCBS.

Delivery of the last Police H145M (D-HADP) is about nine months later than the other three H145Ms that are already in use with the Serbian Police. All Police H145Ms are based at Beograd/Nikola Tesla.

The registrations of the four helicopters are:
YU-ICE c/n 20235 (ex D-HADR)
YU-MED c/n 20233 (ex D-HADO)
YU-MUP c/n 20317 (ex D-HADP)
YU-SAR c/n 20245 (ex D-HCBV)

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Ukrainian state company Ukrspetsexport wins Pakistan Il-78 overhaul and upgrade contract

Ukrspetsexport is the winner of a multimillion-dollar tender for the overhaul and upgrade of the پاک فضائیہ (Pakistan Fiza'ya, Pakistan Air Force) Il-78MP refueling aircraft. The work will be done by the Mykolaiv Aircraft Repair Plant. The company also received confirmation of the intentions of Pakistan to conclude the next package of contracts for the overhaul of two more refueling aircraft based on the results of the first contract. The deal is worth over USD 30 million.

The Pakistani Il-78s are former Ukrainian aircraft, so they will return to the nest they originally came from. Pakistan operates four Il-78MPs with the 10(MRTT) Squadron "Buffaloes" at Nur Khan/Islamabad International Airport. Reading the above, we assume that the first part of the contract will see the upgrade of two aircraft, but this has to be confirmed.

UPDATE: in total three aircraft will be upgrade in Ukraine. The other has been upgraded in Russia.