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CELEBRATING
25 YEARS
OF FIGHTERS
CELEBRATING
O
cially the World's Number One Military Aviation Magazine | www.airforcesmonthly.com
O
cially the World's Number One Military Aviation Magazine | www.airforcesmonthly.com
O
cially the World's Number One Military Aviation Magazine | www.airforcesmonthly.com
UK’s New
25TH
AFM PREDICTS THE
CONSEQUENCES
Frontiers
OF SDSR 2015
ANNIVERSARY
ISSUE
1988-2013
CAT'S
OUT OF
THE BAG
UK'S WILDCAT IS
READY TO SERVE
14 SQN
14 SQN
OUT OF THE
SHADOWS
SHADOWS
A SCOTTISH AIR FORCE?
AFM INVESTIGATES THE OPTIONS
NORTH
LOW FLY
FORCE REPORT
BANGLADESH
FRANCE
KOREA
REVISITED
DOWN IN FRENCH
VALLEYS WITH
MIRAGES & RAFALES
STILL BEHIND THE
IRON CURTAIN: IS IT A
CREDIBLE THREAT?
The current status of the
Bangladesh Air Force
For daily news stories visit
www.airforcesdaily.com
e-mail the news team at:
milnews@keypublishing.com
CONTENTS
APRIL
CONTENTS
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CONTENTS
CONTENTS
66
WIN
WADDINGTON AIRSHOW
2013
FAMILY PASSES
SEE PAGE 45 FOR DETAILS
OPEN TO UK RESIDENTS ONLY
34
Out of the Shadows
Tim Ripley
pieces together the
story of the secretive Beechcraft
Shadow R1 in service with the
RAF’s 14 Squadron.
50
25 Years of
AirForces
Monthly!
We take a quick jaunt down
memory lane, highlighting key
aviation issues over the last
quarter of a century.
stark choices facing Britain’s
Government in the Strategic
Defence and Security Review
scheduled for 2015.
NEWS
5 - 7
Headlines
8 - 9
UK
10
Europe Special:
German F-4s get
ready to bow-out
11 - 13
Europe
16 - 17
North America
18
Latin America extra:
Chile's Centenary
Celebrations
20 - 21
Latin America
22
42
Northern Exposure?
Twenty- ve years ago the notion
of a Scottish Air Force would
have been met with derision.
However, a referendum on Scottish
independence is due to be held in
Scotland next year.
Stephen Taylor
looks at the effect a ‘break-up of
Britain’ might have on the Royal Air
Force and how a post-independence
Scottish Air Force might look.
COVER FEATURE - UK
54
Low Fly, French Style
Philip Stevens
travelled to France
to learn about French low- ying
tactics and training.
38
Di cult Choices
In the rst
AFM
25 years ago, we
looked at the Royal Air Force as it
celebrated its 70th anniversary.
Andrew Brookes
examines the
COVER FEATURE - USA
66
Force Extenders
Martin Scharenborg and Ramon
Wenink/Global Aviation Review
Press
report on the work of the
US Air Force’s 908th Expeditionary
Air Refueling Squadron (EARS) in
South-West Asia.
FREE DVD!
Subscribe to AirForces
Monthly and claim
your FREE F-16
Cockpit or Indian
Military Spectacular
DVD worth £12.49.
See pages 14 and
15 for details.
Africa
23
Africa Special:
Op Serval Update
46
Born to be Wild
The redoubtable Lynx has been
in production for an impressive
35 years.
Joe Coles
asks whether
its latest incarnation, the
AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat,
will last as long.
24
Middle East
26
Asia Pacifi c
28
Australasia
72
Sweden’s Helicopters
Alan Warnes
examines how
Sweden now has one of the most
modern helicopter forces in Europe.
REGULARS
4
Editorial
64
Gallery
AFM’s
readers' opportunity to
showcase their latest images,
plus the winner of our regular
monthly Facebook competition.
86
Force Report:
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea Air
Force
Sérgio Santana
has extensively
researched the air arm of this
secretive pariah state.
conducted joint exercises.
25
Opinion:
Fact or
Fiction?
Joe Coles
describes
Iran’s ‘new stealth fighter!’
98
And Finally…
Future
War in Art: South Africa
2027
Tim O’Brien GAvA
imagines
operations in South Africa in
the not-so-distant future.
28
Deployments and
Contracts
76
Force Report:
Bangladesh Air Force
Dr Séan Wilson/Prime Images,
assisted by Paul Mulligan, visits
Bangladesh and interviews the
outgoing Chief of the Air Staff,
Air Marshal S M Ziaur Rahman,
shortly before he left.
96
Exercise Report:
Down in the Desert –
Italian Style
Yissachar Ruas
reports for
AFM
on ‘Ovda 2013’, where Israeli
and Italian air forces have
29
Attrition
Find us on
Facebook
53
Ops Board
AFM’s
guide to exercises and
airshows coming up soon.
facebook.com/AirForcesMonthly
www.airforcesdaily.com
#301 APRIL 2013
3
Nothing Ever Changes?
OUR CARTOON above may be
tongue-in-cheek, but it does
strike a chord when reviewing
the latest – rather sobering –
report on the F-35 programme,
issued on March 6 from the
Director, Operational Test and
Evaluation, J Michael Gilmore.
It smacks of a project that is
too complex, too costly and
too ambitious – the aeroplane
is “immature” and in no way
ready for training of front-
line pilots. But the aggressive
programme to achieve an initial
operating capability before 2016
is starting to hurt – production
of the aircraft continues while
more problems are found during
testing and development.
Student pilots are saying that
rearward visibility out of the
cockpit is “deficient”, something
only a radical redesign could
properly address. The report
says more problems are being
found than are being solved,
something that doesn’t bode well
for any chance of operational
capability within the next four
years.
But let’s not dwell on F-35 –
reviewing past issues of AFM
for this month’s centrespread
reminded us how far we’ve come
in 25 years. From birth at just 64
pages thick, through to today’s
regular 100-page full-colour tome.
Although air forces have changed
almost beyond recognition, there
is one thing that remains the
same – the passion of aviation
enthusiasts and photographers
around the world. If there’s a
sniff of something interesting
happening anywhere, they will
be out in force regardless of rain,
wind, snow or fog, laughing and
joking at the insanity of it all.
Long may it continue.
Cartoon by Tim O’Brien, GAvA
UK cover: Typhoon by John Dibbs
US cover: A-10 by Global Aviation Review Press
GARY PARSONS, EDITOR
GARY PARSONS, EDITOR
Copies of
AirForces Monthly
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AirForces Monthly
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Lincolnshire.
AirForces Monthly
(ISSN
0955 7091) is published monthly by Key
Publishing Ltd and distributed in the USA
by Mail Right Int., 1637 Stelton Road B4,
Piscataway, NJ 08854. The entire contents
of
AirForces Monthly
is a copyright of Key
Publishing Ltd and cannot be reproduced in
any form without permission.
The Editor is happy to receive contributions
to
AirForces Monthly
. Please note that all
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Editor:
Gary Parsons
Assistant Editor:
Jerry Gunner
MILITARY NEWS TEAM:
World Air Forces Correspondent:
Alan Warnes
Military News Editor:
Dave Allport
Military News Analyst:
Steve Rush
Editor’s Secretary:
Julie Lawson
Group Art Editor:
Steve Donovan
Assistant Group Art Editor:
Lee Howson
Production Editor:
Sue Blunt
Sub editor:
Norman Wells
Advertising Manager:
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Janet Watkins
Marketing Manager:
Martin Steele
Mail Order Subscription Manager:
Roz Condé
Group Editor-in-Chief:
Paul Hamblin
Commercial Director:
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Executive Chairman:
Richard Cox
Managing Director & Publisher:
Adrian Cox
4
#301 APRIL 2013
www.airforcesmonthly.com
For daily news stories visit
www.airforcesdaily.com
e-mail the news team
at: milnews@keypublishing.com
NEWS
HEADLINES
Italian/Indian Corruption Allegations
Above:
AW101 ZR342/IND05 (to be ZW-4305) seen testing at Newquay Airport (formerly RAF St Mawgan) in Cornwall last October.
Greg Caygill
INDIAN AUTHORITIES announced
on February 13 it is investigating
allegations that approximately
Rs 362 crore (roughly €50 million)
had been paid in bribes in a
defence contract. The sum
amounts to about 10% of the total
value of a deal that led to the
sale of 12 AgustaWestland Merlin
641 helicopters to India for use
as VVIP transports by the Indian
Air Force’s (IAF) Communications
Squadron. Three of the Merlins
have already been delivered.
On February 11 Italian
authorities arrested the
Chairman and Chief Executive
of AgustaWestland’s parent
company, Milan-based
Finmeccanica SpA, Giuseppe
Orsi. The head of the company’s
helicopter unit, Bruno Spagnolini,
is under house arrest as part of
the same investigation. Orsi has
told Italian judges he is unaware
of any wrongdoing, but has
resigned from the company’s
board. On February 13 things got
worse for Finmeccanica and the
Italian Government, which owns
30% of the company’s shares. The
Indian government announced
that is it had stopped payments
on the contract while its Central
Bureau of Investigations looks
into the allegations and added
that it might even cancel the
contract altogether if they are
proved to be true.
the Merlins, unlike the other two
types, could not comply with that
requirement.
largest British trade delegation
ever to visit the sub-continent.
Cameron discussed the matter
with India’s Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and pledged
his government’s full support
in investigating the allegations,
saying: “We will respond to any
request for information. I am glad
that the Italian authorities are
looking into this issue in detail.”
Former Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi weighed
into the debate with a more
pragmatic, but perhaps not very
helpful viewpoint. Speaking
whilst campaigning for a fourth
term in office he said: “Bribes are
a phenomenon that exists and
it’s useless to deny the existence
of these necessary situations
when you are negotiating with
third world countries and
regimes.”
In a televised interview on state
broadcaster RAI3, Berlusconi
said: “These are not crimes.
We’re talking about paying a
commission to someone in that
country. Why, because those are
the rules in that country.”
Politicians’ perspectives
The scandal has highlighted
different perspectives on
corruption, bungs, sweeteners
or whatever else one wants to
call paying money to obtain
a contract or service. The
authorities in India know a lot
about corruption and they claim
that a lot is being done to tackle
the institutional bribe-taking and
-giving that has long blighted
the nation. A K Antony, India’s
Defence Minister said: “Nobody
will be spared, if a company
violates the conditions, they are
liable for criminal action.” He
went on to say that the New
Delhi government will blacklist
and take legal action against any
company found to have paid a
bribe.
The revelations came at an
inconvenient time for British
Prime Minister David Cameron
who, at the time the scandal
broke, was in India with the
Crux of the matter
The most serious part of the
scandal concerns allegations
that certain very high-ranking
officials in the IAF took money
from intermediaries hired
by Finmeccanica to alter the
specification for the new VVIP
helicopter to make the Merlin
eligible. AgustaWestland’s bid
was up against two other main
contenders in Sikorsky Aircraft’s
S-92 and the Russian built Mil-
17
Hip
. Italian media reports
claim that arrest warrants issued
for Orsi and others allege that
the specification for the new
helicopter had the operating
altitude requirement reduced
from 6,000m (19,685ft) to 5,000m
(16,404ft). This was, the same
sources allege, crucial because
Saab Gripen E/F Sales in Jeopardy as Swiss Buy Stalls
ON MARCH 5 the Council of
States (CoS) in the Swiss Federal
Assembly (Swiss parliament)
failed to fully approve the
acquisition of 22 new Saab
Gripen E/F fighters for the Swiss
Air Force (SAF – Schweizer
Luftwaffe). A vote in the CoS
was expected to ratify the
government’s proposal to buy the
jets to replace the SAF’s ageing
Northrop F-5E/F Tiger IIs.
The Green, Green Liberals and
Swiss People’s parties, that
between them have nine members
in the 46-seat CoS, were known
to be opposed to the acquisition
on cost grounds, but were
unexpectedly joined by members
from other parties in voting ‘no’.
The purchase was approved by
23 to 19 votes, but this failed
to achieve the legal requirement
for a consensus and therefore
invoked a ‘spending brake’,
which prevents large sums of
money being spent. This comes
into force in the case of a one-
off expenditure of 20 million
Swiss francs (€16 million) or, for
recurring expenditure, 2 million
Swiss francs.
Defence Minister Ueli Maurer
admitted that he was “very
surprised” by the outcome and
confirmed, “at the moment it’s a
‘no’ to the Gripen”. The matter
will now be referred back to
the upper house of parliament,
the Senate, which approved it
previously and it will then go
back to the CoS. Those in favour
of the deal expect to prevail on
that occasion as two staunch
supporters were absent when the
March 5 ballot was taken.
This is not only a problem for
Switzerland – in an effort to
drive down costs, Sweden has
predicated its buy of the fighters
for the Swedish Air Force (Svenska
Flygvapnet) on Switzerland going
through with its purchase. Should
Switzerland pull out of the deal,
the Swedes may have to re-think
their plans too.
www.airforcesdaily.com
#301 APRIL 2013
5
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