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PHANTOMS
PRESENT
POSTCARDS FROM...
STILL SERVING THE US AIR FORCE
CHINA & JAPAN
ISRAEL'S A-4
AYIT
Reaches its 45th
EXERCISE REPORT
Anniversary
VAMPIREX 2012
FORCE REPORT
AFGHANISTAN
AIR FORCE
Starting from Scratch
NUCLEAR
EUROPE
Still a Deadly
Capability
FRENCH &
SPANISH
TIGERS
On the Prowl
TINY
TRAINERS
Denmark's T-17 &
Belgium's SF260
FEBRUARY 2013
UK £4.50
2013
Produced by Key Publishing
and featuring articles written
with and by RAF personnel,
RAF 2013 is a 132-page special
magazine that provides behind
the scenes insight into the aircraft,
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and sniper-armed helicopters.
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CONTENTS
FEBRUARY
CONTENTS
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milnews@keypublishing.com
milnews@keypublishing.com
70
40
Training hard to
fi ght easy
Lewis Gaylard
visited the Royal
Navy’s Commando Helicopter
Force, based at RNAS Yeovilton in
Somerset, to see what the future
holds.
58 Tiny Trainers:
Doing
things the Danish way
Cristian Schrik/Aimhigh.nl
discovers that the Danish air force
has found a new way of educating
tomorrow’s air force with its
diminutive T-17 Supporter.
Israeli service with the air force.
NEWS
5
Headlines
6 - 8
UK
9 - 11
Europe
14 - 17
North America
18 - 19
Latin America
20 - 21
Middle East
24
Russia and CIS
26
Africa
27 - 29
Asia Pacifi c
30 - 31
Australasia
70
French Special Forces
Come of Age
Yves Debay
explains the structure
of the French Special Forces
Command on its 20th anniversary
and nds out how it trains with
army helicopters.
COVER FEATURE
62 Tiny Trainers:
Learning
to fl y the Belgian way
Teaching people to y is
expensive, but as
Manolito
Jaarsma
tells us, there are ways to
make it cheaper– as evidenced by
the Belgian Air Component and its
SIAI Marchetti SF260s.
44
Phantoms West
Gary Wetzel
was lucky enough to
y with the US Air Force Heritage
Flight’s QF-4 Phantoms, which still
perform an important task for the
frontline ghter eets.
76
Nuclear Days
Even though the Cold War has
ended, Europe’s air forces still
have a nuclear capability.
Pieter
Baastiens
assesses the facts.
FREE DVD!
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DVD worth £12.49.
See pages 12 and
13 for more details.
88
Tigerland
Dirk Jan de Ridder
and
Menso van
Westrhenen
report on current
operations by Spain’s only attack
helicopter unit and its future with
the Eurocopter Tigre.
50
95 to ‘The Ton’
The boss of the Royal Air
Force’s 100 Squadron, its largest
operational jet squadron, talks to
AFM’s Editor, Gary Parsons.
66
A Hit at 45
Bob Archer
describes the
McDonnell Douglas A-4 Ayit,
better known as the Skyhawk, as
it reaches its 45th anniversary in
REGULARS
22
Opinion:
A New
Paradigm for Air Power
Dr Dave Sloggett
explores the
implications of the Hamas
rocket attacks on Israel and how
the country defended itself.
72
Exercise Report:
Vampirex 2012
The French army, navy and air
force conducted a joint exercise
in the south-west of France in
mid-November 2012 –
Henri-
Pierre Grolleau
reports.
96
Ops Board
AFM’s
guide to exercises and
airshows in the months to
come.
South Korea, as it undertook a
live-fire exercise.
93
Postcard from…
China
Gordon Arthur
reviews the
ninth China International
Aviation and Aerospace
Exhibition, held at Zhuhai in
November.
98
And Finally…
RIAT 2013 – An Insider’s
View
Tom Gibbons,
the new head
of the Royal International Air
Tattoo’s (RIAT) air operations
team, reflects on 2012 and what
this July’s event will bring to
RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
32
Attrition
Military aviation accidents.
80
Force Report:
Afghan
National Army Air Force
Alan Warnes
looks at the air
force’s evolution since the US-led
coalition began the modernisation
process five years ago.
35
Deployments and
Contracts
94
Postcard from…
Japan
Dr Andreas Zeitler
reports on
Nyutabaru’s weather-cancelled
airshow.
38
Deployment Report:
Four goes to Finland
Flt Lt Stefan Brown
from the
RAF’s IV(R) Squadron, based
at RAF Valley in Anglesey,
describes the unit’s first
overseas foray when it visited
the Finnish Air Force.
92
Exercise Report:
Apache Live Fire in South
Korea
Gordon Arthur
reports on the
‘Death Dealers’, the US Army’s
solitary Apache battalion in
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95
Feedback/Gallery
Messages and images from
AFM's Facebook page
in a one-
off special.
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#299 FEBRUARY 2013
3
Left:
It looks like the VC10 will
be service beyond April – in late
December the organisers of the
Royal International Air Tattoo in
July confi rmed one would be present
at the airshow.
Geoff Lee/Planefocus
Below:
QF-4 cover image by Gary
Wetzel; 100 Sqn Hawk by Geo Lee/
Planefocus and J-10 by Gordon
Arthur.
New Year, New Challenges
With just hours to spare, on
January 1 US Congress came
up with a deal that averted
sequestration (see January’s
AFM
). This isn’t the end of the
story however, as all that has
been agreed is a two-month
deferment so that more talking
can be done – the Democrat-led
Senate is still at odds with the
Republican-dominated House
of Representatives over taxes
and budget cuts. One thing
that has finally been resolved
is the $633 billion 2013 Defense
Authorization Act, which should
have come into effect on October
1 last year – President Obama
finally signed it off on January 2,
paving the way for 2014 budgets
to be set, normally required by
early February… Approval of the
Act now means that planned
aircraft disposals and squadron
disbandments will definitely
happen, so by September it will
be goodbye to the A-10s of the
52nd Fighter Wing in Germany
and the C-27Js operated by the
Air National Guard.
Eurofighter had a good winter,
much better than the last
one when it missed out on
three fighter competitions. It
finally nailed the Oman order
– although a small one at just
12 aircraft, Typhoon is now
establishing itself as the fighter
of choice in the Middle East and
it should open the door for a
much bigger deal with the United
Arab Emirates, which seems to
be back-tracking from its original
intention to buy Dassault’s
Rafale. As the contract may be
for as many as 60 aircraft, it may
just be the cake under the Oman
order’s icing.
Meanwhile China has been
busy, building a brand-new
transport aircraft behind closed
doors after unveiling the J-31
and J-20 fighters in the past
year. With production of its own
variant of the Tupolev Tu-22M3
Backfire
strategic bomber, the
H-10, also believed to be under
way, the country seems to be in
overdrive in strengthening its
military capabilities. Maybe it’s
not the best of time for the US to
be facing drastic defence cuts as
the balance of power in the Far
East shifts uneasily for Obama.
Lastly, just to prove
AFM
has
its finger on the pulse, it is
rumoured that the RAF has
postponed the retirement of its
last six VC10 tankers from April
until September – maybe the
powers-that-be read our
Opinion
piece in last November’s issue!
GARY PARSONS, EDITOR
GARY PARSONS, EDITOR
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AirForces Monthly
(ISSN
0955 7091) is published monthly by Key
Publishing Ltd and distributed in the USA
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AirForces Monthly
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Editor:
Gary Parsons
Assistant Editor:
Jerry Gunner
MILITARY NEWS TEAM:
World Air Forces Correspondent:
Alan Warnes
Military News Editor:
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4
#299 FEBRUARY 2013
www.airforcesmonthly.com
For daily news stories visit
www.airforcesmonthly.com
e-mail the news team
at: milnews@keypublishing.com
NEWS
HEADLINES
China's New Transport Aircraft Emerges
China’s Ministry of National Defense confi rmed on December 28 the country is
developing an indigenous transport aircraft, believed to be in the Ilyushin Il-
78 C a n d i d class of airlifter. Designated the Y-20, the aircraft has been spotted
outside the Xi’an Aircraft Industrial Corporation factory in Yanliang District,
Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, undertaking taxi trials.
Bai Wei
Oman Finalises
Typhoon Deal
A LONG-EXPECTED contract for
12 Eurofighter Typhoons has
now been finalised with the
Sultanate of Oman, BAE Systems
confirmed on December 21. The
deal, worth £2.5 billion, also
includes purchase of eight Hawk
Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT)
aircraft.
As well as supplying aircraft,
BAE Systems will provide
in-service support to the Royal
Air Force of Oman’s (RAFO’s)
operational tasks. Deliveries are
scheduled to commence in 2017
and the aircraft are expected
to replace the RAFO’s fleet of
12 SEPECAT Jaguars acquired
between 1977 and 1986. It
is believed the aircraft will be
drawn from Tranche 3A and will
consist of nine single-seat and
three twin-seat aircraft.
It was originally thought the
aircraft would come from the
UK’s production allocation,
but Chris Boardman, managing
director of BAE Systems Military
Air and Information, is reported
to have said that the order is
additional to RAF commitments
and that there is no ‘netting off’
or reduction to UK purchases.
The order for Hawk AJTs follows
a similar order from Saudi Arabia
in May 2012 and takes the total
number of Hawk aircraft sold, or
on order, to 998.
Afghan C-27A Fleet is Suddenly Withdrawn
THE US Air Force (USAF) has
decided to dispose of the 16 Alenia
C-27A transport aircraft that
have so far been delivered for use
by the Afghan National Army
Air Force (ANAAF), abandoning
a programme of considerable
investment and refurbishment in
the fleet.
The air force notified Alenia
Aermacchi North America on
December 18 that its contract
to maintain and support a total
of 20 refurbished aircraft would
not be renewed when it expires
in March, USAF spokesman Ed
Gulick, told the
Wall Street Journal
( WSJ).
He added: “This decision
comes after failed attempts
by the contractor to generate
a sufficient number of fully
mission-capable aircraft that
would provide an effective
airlift capability for the A[NA]
AF.” In response to the
December 18 notification, an
Alenia representative told the
WSJ
: “We have not received any
information that a decision
has been made… It’s all a bit
surprising that this decision
is being made now when the
[remediation] plan is being fully
implemented.”
To date, the programme has
cost around $596 million, which
includes buying and refurbishing
20 ex-Italian Air Force G222
transporters and maintaining
them. On May 27, 2012, a
statement from the Office of
the President of Afghanistan
revealed concerns over the slow
pace of revival of the country’s
air force. A briefing presented
by the Afghan MoD noted that
of the 15 C-27As then delivered,
all were grounded due to their
“old age and lack of spare parts”,
despite the fact that the first two
of the newly refurbished aircraft
had only been delivered to Kabul
in November 2009.
Operational safety concerns
led to the C-27A being grounded
in mid-December 2011. A USAF
plan to get the aircraft back in
the air was under way, and by
December 2012 ten were flying
again.
It is believed that the C-27A
fleet had amassed more than
5,000 hours in Afghan service,
although US personnel who
had worked on the aircraft,
operated by the 373rd
Transport Kanak based at Kabul
International Airport, claimed
the performance of the type was
inadequate for the hot and high
conditions of Afghanistan.
An Afghan National Army Air
Force C-27A.
Neil Dunridge
www.airforcesdaily.com
#299 FEBRUARY 2013
5
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