AirForces Monthly – June 2018

10 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

NEWS

// JUNE 2018 #

Continental Europe

Three ATAKs delivered to

Turkish Jandarma

Above: The fi rst Jandarma T129, J-1453 ‘Fatih’, one of three formally accepted into service on

April 19. TA I

A FORMAL ceremony

was held on April 19 to

mark the acceptance

into service of the first

three T129 ATAKs for the

Turkish Jandarma Havacilik

Komutanliği (Gendarmerie

Aviation Command).

The attack helicopters

comprised J -1453 Fatih,

J -1299 Osmangazi and

J -1071 Alparslan.

The helicopters are the

first of 18 on order for the

Jandarma under a contract

signed last year. They will

help to boost the service’s

close air support capability,

while also being used

for intelligence gathering

and reconnaissance. The

first of them, J -1453, had

already been handed

over to the Jandarma

by Turkish Aerospace

Industries ( TAI) on February

23. Dave Allport

Montenegrin Bell 412

handover

THE VAZDUHOPLOVSTVO

Vojske Crne Gore (VVCG,

Army of Montenegro

Aviation) received the first

of three Bell 412EPs on

April 13. The second-

hand 412EP (c/n 36307,

ex N356TD) was built

in 2002 and had been

used by the New York

Police Department as a

surveillance helicopter

from July 2003 as N 2411X

and, later, as N23FH. It

was sold back to Bell

around 2015 and on April

7 this year was transferred

from Fort Worth, Texas

to Václav Havel Airport,

Prague in a Boeing 747.

Five days later it was flown

to Golubovci, Montenegro

where it was met in the air

by three VVCG Gazelles,

previously the only aircraft

in service with the air

arm. Two new-build Bell

412EPI helicopters will

arrive before the end of

the year. All three will be

used for pilot training.

Aleksandar Radić

Montenegrin Ministry of Defence

Serbia lines

up Mi-35Ms,

Mi-17s and

An-26s

BELGRADE HAS begun

efforts to acquire four Mi-

combat helicopters, four

Mi-17 transport helicopters

and two An-26 turboprop

transports from Russia.

Talks regarding the

acquisition of the eight

helicopters have begun,

according to Defence

Minister Aleksandar Vulin,

who met with his Russian

counterpart Sergey

Shoygu in Moscow on

April 3. Previous plans

announced by Chief of

the General Staff of the

Vojska Srbije (VS, Serbian

Armed Forces), General

Ljubiša Diković, were for six

Mi-17s. The VS acquired

two non-operational

Mi-24V Hind-Es from the

Interior Ministry in 2006

but the gunships were

never made airworthy

and remained grounded

at Batajnica air base.

On March 19, Aleksandar

Vulin announced that

Russia will provide two

An-26s as part of the

modernisation of the

Ratno vazduhoplovstvo

i protivvazduhoplovna

odbrana (RV i PVO,

Serbian Air Force and Air

Defence). Igor Bozinovski

Belgium’s Dark Falcon unveiled

Benoît Denet

THE BELGIAN Air

Component unveiled its new

F-16AM solo display aircraft,

FA-101 Dark Falcon, at

Florennes air base on April

23. The colour scheme

was designed by Johan

Wolfs and Nicolas Deboeck

and applied by the 2nd

Tactical Wing paint shop.

It reflects the nickname

of display pilot Senior

Captain Stefan Darte –

callsign ‘ Vado r’, after Darth

Vader from the Star Wars

movies. Senior Captain

Darte is assigned to 1

‘Scottish Thistle’ Squadron

of the 2nd Tactical Wing

and will serve as the F-

solo display pilot for the

next two seasons, with the

possibility to extend this

for a third and final year.

US approves Spanish CH-47F purchase

THE US State Department

has approved a possible

sale of CH-47Fs to

Spain. The 17 CH-47Fs

are estimated to cost

$1.3bn. The Defense

Security Cooperation

Agency (DSCA) notified

Congress of the possible

sale on April 4.

Spain announced plans

to upgrade its 17 CH-47Ds

to CH-47F standard in

2015, when it was stated

that the work would begin

in 2017, but delays in

approval have prevented

this from starting.

The DSCA notification

makes no mention of an

upgrade, suggesting the

17 CH-47Fs would be new-

build. Also included in

the package are 21 AN/

AAR-57A(V)8 Common

Missile Warning Systems

(CMWS) and 42 embedded

Global Positioning

System/inertial navigation

systems (GPS/INS).

Spain’s Fuerzas

Aeromóviles del Ejército

de Tierra (FAMET, Spanish

Army Airmobile Forces)

originally took delivery of

ten CH-47C models from

December 1972, adding

nine commercial BV

Chinooks to the fleet from

January 1982. Following

approval at the end of

1989, all nine BV414s

and the nine surviving

CH-47Cs were upgraded

to CH-47Ds. One CH-47D

has since been lost, leaving

a fleet of 17. They are

operated by the Batallón de

Helicópteros de Transporte

V (BHELTRA V, Transport

Helicopter Battalion 5)

at Colmenar Viejo.