INDIAN AIR FORCE ON THE ROAD
FIGHTERS JOIN HIGHWAY LANDING EXERCISE
O
N OCTOBER
24 the Indian
Air Force (IAF)
carried out a
highway landing
exercise in the
northern state of Uttar Pradesh,
validating a second stretch of
roadway for potential use in wartime
emergencies. A specially chosen
stretch of highway between the
cities of Agra and Lucknow — both
home to IAF bases and within close
range of a number of other Central
Air Command stations — has seen
the tarmac surface being replaced
with concrete, and runway markings
(24/06) painted at either end of
a 1.8-mile (3km), 108ft (33m)-
wide strip.The proceedings began with a
C-130J inserting a team of IAF ‘Garud’
special forces who ‘secured’ the strip
before the ghters arrived. Fast jets
included a trio of newly upgraded
Mirage 2000TIs from No 1 Squadron
‘Tigers’ and a pair of Mirage 2000Hs
and a twin-seat Mirage 2000TH from
No 7 Squadron ‘Battleaxes’, both
based at Gwalior (Maharajpur); two
Su-30MKIs from No 8 Squadron
‘Eight Pursoot’ and three from No
24 ‘Hawks’ out of Bareilly, and nally
three DARIN I Jaguars from No 27
Squadron ‘Flaming Arrows’ based
at Gorakhpur. Given the limited
infrastructure in place, the ghters
did not actually land like the C-130J
did. Each of the fast jets carried out
a low missed approach on their rstpass, before executing a touch-and-
go on the second pass, which was
considered enough to validate the
highway airstrip for clear-weather
VFR operations.
The exercise concluded with the
C-130J arriving once again, this time
to embark the Garud commandosand carry out a short take-o .
The entire operation was planned
and executed by Air Force Station
Bakshi Ka Talab, a few miles north
of the city of Lucknow, with station
commander Gp Capt J. Suares
responsible for overall control and
co-ordination. Angad SinghFIRST DEPLOYMENT FOR RAAF SPARTAN
THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN Air
Force (RAAF)’s No 35 Squadron
deployed a C-27J to New
Zealand for participation in
Exercise ‘Southern Katipo 2017’
on October 18. The milestone
marked the rst deployment for
the battle eld airlifter since it
entered service. In addition tocargo and Australian troops, the
Spartan moved soldiers, sailors,
airmen and marines from Papua
New Guinea, French Polynesia,
Timor-Leste, the US and New
Zealand. The RAAF also deployed
a King Air 350 and a C-130J in
support of the exercise.
Tom Kaminski
An RAAF C-27J takes o from Royal New Zealand Air Force Base
Woodbourne during Exercise ‘Southern Katipo 2017’.
SGT Ricky Fuller/Commonwealth of AustraliaCZECHS SEEK VENOMS
THE US GOVERNMENT has
approved the potential Foreign
Military Sale of 12 UH-1Ys to the
Czech Republic. The $575-million
deal includes spares, support,
mission-related equipment,and training. The UH-1Ys will
be equipped with BRITE Star II
electro-optical infra-red (EO/
IR) sensor turrets, AN/AAR-
missile warning and laser
detection systems, AN/ALE-countermeasure dispensers, AN/
APR-38 radar warning receivers,
7.62mm M134/GAU-17 Miniguns,
7.62mm M240 machine guns, and
0.5in M3M/GAU-21 machine guns.
The Czech government will make
a decision regarding the helicopter
purchase in 2018. The sale wouldbe the rst for the UH-1Y outside
the US Marine Corps. Prague is
reportedly also considering other
rotorcraft including the Airbus
H215M, Leonardo AW139M
and the Sikorsky UH-60M or
S-70i International Black Hawk.
Tom KaminskiMORE AFGHAN SUPER
TUCANOS ORDERED
THE US AIR Force has ordered six
additional Embraer A-29s from
the Sierra Nevada Corporation
on behalf of the Afghan Air Force,
bringing the total orders for the air
arm to 26 of the light attack aircraft.
One was, however, written o ina crash that occurred in March
2017 near Moody Air Force Base,
Georgia. The order is separate from
another sale of six Super Tucanos
for an undisclosed buyer that was
recently announced by Embraer.
Tom Kaminski
A pair of Afghan Air Force A-29s ies a two-ship over Kabul.
USAF/SSgt Larry E. Reid Jr19
January 2018 http://www.combataircraft.netWORLD [NEWS]
18-23 World News C.indd 19 23/11/2017 11: