BRITISH-CROATIAN ‘FLYING SABRE 18’ EXERCISE
T
HE JOINT BRITISH
CROATIAN ‘Flying Sabre
18’ exercise was held in
Croatia from July 16-20. It
was part of the country’s
e ort to maintain and
enhance the level of co-operation
and interoperability between the
air defense assets of the Croatian Air
Force (Hrvatsko Ratno Zrakoplovstvo,
HRZ) and other NATO member
countries through joint planning and
execution of various interception
operations.
The Royal Air Force sent two
Euro ghter Typhoon FGR4s (ZJ
and ZJ924) for the exercise, thesearriving from Mihail Kogălniceanu
air base, near Constanța on the Black
Sea. The jets are temporarily detached
there as part of No 135 Expeditionary
Air Wing (EAW), which includes four
Typhoons. These deployed at the end
of April as part of Operation ‘Biloxi’
— the enhanced air policing (eAP)
mission aimed at securing the NATO
airspace in the Black Sea region.
Their host in Croatia was the Combat
Aircraft Squadron (Eskadrila Borbenih
Aviona, EBA), with modernized
MiG-21bisD ghters and two-seat
MiG-21UMD trainers — part of the
91st Air Base at Zagreb International
Airport (Pleso). This is the single HRZ ghter unit and maintains a QRA pair
‘24/7’, under the direct command of
the Combined Air Operations Center
at Torrejón, Spain.
The main event was on July 17,
when the QRA pair of MiG-21bisD
ghters and the Typhoons practised
various joint interception scenarios
including one involving a Pilatus
PC-9M trainer of the Aircraft Squadron
(Eskadrila Aviona, EA) from Zemunik
air base near Zadar, playing the role of
target. A NATO E-3A Sentry operating
north of Zadar provided support. It
was the rst time the HRZ had the
chance to interact with an E-3A.
Vladimir Trenda lovskiCANADA’S FINAL SEA KING
DETACHMENT RETURNS
HMCS ST JOHN’S (FFH 340)
returned to its home port of
Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the
conclusion of a six-month
deployment to the Baltic Sea,
northern Atlantic Ocean, and the
Mediterranean Sea in support
of Operation ‘Reassurance’. Its
return marked the conclusion of
the nal operational deployment
of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s
CH-124 Sea King helicopter. Thedetachment from 443 Maritime
Helicopter Squadron brought
an end to the Sea King’s 54-year
operational history with the Royal
Canadian Air Force and Royal
Canadian Navy, which began on
May 24, 1963. The squadron will
continue to operate the Sea King
from its home base in Patricia Bay,
British Columbia until the end of
2018 when the last CH-124s will
be retired. Tom KaminskiCH-124 serial 12417 hovers at 12 Wing/CFB Shearwater, Nova Scotia in June- The Sea King has been painted in its original 1963 Royal Canadian
Navy scheme to honor the venerable helicopter’s upcoming retirement.
DND/CPL Cody Chaisson
RNLAF ACQUIRES FOUR MQ-9S
THE DUTCH MINISTRY of Defense
acquired four General Atomics
MQ-9 Reaper Block 5s under
the US Foreign Military Sales
(FMS) program, in a deal signed
on July 17 at the Farnborough
International Airshow. The
Royal Netherlands Air Force
(RNLAF) has had a long-standing
requirement for medium-altitude
long-endurance unmanned
aerial vehicles (MALE UAVs).
After selecting the MQ-9 as the
preferred aircraft in 2013, the
planned acquisition in 2015 of
four Reapers and associated
equipment, parts, training and
logistic support was postponed
for up to seven years due to a lack
of funds. With the Dutch defense
budget increasing again since last
year, the Reapers were back on
the shopping list, as con rmed by
the latest Defense White Paper,
published on March 26.
The acquisition of four MQ-9s by
the RNLAF was approved by the
US State Department in February- In the approval document,
the deal was valued at $339 million
and included four MQ-9s in Block 5
con guration, four mobile ground
stations, six Honeywell TPE331-10T
turboprop engines (including two
spares), six AN/DAS-1 multi-
spectral targeting systems, and
four Lynx synthetic aperture radar/
ground moving target indicator
(SAR/GMTI) systems with maritime
wide area search capability, as
well as initial and readiness spares
packages to support 3,400 ight
hours for a three-year period.
The current schedule sees the
RNLAF taking delivery of the
MQ-9s in mid-2020. The Dutch
Reapers will operate unarmed
in the ISTAR role only, although
they may be retro tted to carry
weapons in the future. The MQ-9s
will be operated by Leeuwarden-
based 306 Squadron. This
squadron, originally established
in September 1954, used to
be the RNLAF’s only dedicated
reconnaissance squadron until it
became the RNLAF F-16 training
unit in 2001. It was disbanded as
such during 2010.
Kees van der MarkCHILE RECEIVES BLACK HAWKS
THE CHILEAN AIR Force accepted
delivery of three of six new-build
Sikorsky S-70i helicopters on July- Assigned the local designation
MH-60M, the Black Hawks were
unloaded from a chartered Antonov
An-124 airlifter in Santiago.
Produced by Sikorsky’s subsidiary
PZL-Mielec, the S-70i aircraft were
formally accepted in mid-July
during a ceremony in Poland. They
were ordered in December 2016.
Delivery of a second batch of three is
expected in October. Tom KaminskiQATARI EAGLE PRODUCTION UNDER WAY
BOEING BEGAN PRODUCTION
of the rst of 36 F-15QA (Qatar
Advanced) ghters for the Qatar
Emiri Air Force at its St Louis,
Missouri, facility on August 3. The ghters, which are known as Qatar
Advanced Eagles, were ordered by
the Qatari Ministry of Defense in
December 2017.
Tom Kaminski[NEWS] WORLD
18 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net