First Twin Otter 400 for Qatar
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NEWS at [email protected]http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #369 DECEMBER 2018 // 25Middle East
UNITED ARAB Emirates
Air Force and Air Defence
(UAEAF&AD) C295W serial
820 (c/n 178) departs
Airbus Defence and
Space’s facility at San
Pablo, near Seville, Spain,
for a test flight in earlyOctober. The transport is
one of five ordered for the
Gulf state in November
last year, and deliveries
were due in the fourth
quarter of this year.
The aircraft will replace
the service’s remainingPT Dirgantara Indonesia
(PTDI)-built CN235M-
100s delivered between
August 1993 and early- Survivors of the
seven new-build CN235s
are operated by the CASA
Squadron at Abu Dhabi.
Iraq’s third
T-50 batch
delivered
A THIRD batch of six
Iraqi Air Force (IQAF)
T-50IQ Golden Eagles has
been delivered. Shrink-
wrapped for their sea
voyage, they were taken
to the port of Pyeongtaek,
South Korea, and loaded
aboard the Panama-
flagged ro-ro cargo vessel
Green Diamond, which
set sail on October 4,
arriving at Umm Qasr
Port, Iraq, on the 27th.
The second batch –
apparently consisting
of four aircraft, not six
as previously reported- arrived in May and
followed the first delivery
of six in February last
year. Twenty-four are
on order under a 2013
contract. Dave Allport
Jordan offers
45 aircraft
for sale
AS THE Royal Jordanian
Air Force (RJAF) continues
to modernise, it offered 45
aircraft and helicopters for
sale by tender – inviting
bids between September
25 and 30 for two C295
and one C -130B transport
aircraft, 17 AH -1F attack
helicopters, 13 UH -1H
utility helicopters and 12
Hawk Mk63 jet trainers.
In December 2016, after
re-equipping the King
Hussein Air College, the
RJAF offered 17 T-67M-
260 Firefly IIs and seven
C -101CC Aviojets for
sale, following their
replacement by G 120TPs
and PC-21s. Dave AllportNew Iraqi JetRanger serials
VIDEOS POSTED to
YouTube in October
showing training at the Iraqi
Army Aviation College at
Al-Taqaddum/Habbaniyah
revealed previously unknown
Bell 206B-3 serials. Those
visible include YI-240,
YI-241, YI-245 and YI-246.
The highest known serial
had hitherto been YI-234.
Five former US civilian 206B-
3s and ten ex-US Army
OH-58Cs were delivered in- It seems these have
been re-serialled to follow
on from Iraq’s ex-UAE Bell
206Bs. Dave Allport
Iraqi Bell 206B-3 YI-241 on the ramp at the Iraqi Army
Aviation College. Iraqi MoDGreen light for
Iraqi Armed
Bell 407GXs
THE US State Department
has approved a possible
Foreign Military Sale of
five additional Armed
Bell 407GX helicopters
to Iraq, worth $82.5m.
The Defense Security
Cooperation Agency
(DSCA) delivered the
required certification
notifying Congress of
the sale on October 3.
They will be configured
with 7.62mm M240 and
M3P machine guns,
0.5in GAU-19 machine
guns and M260 rocket
launchers for Advanced
Precision Kill Weapons
System (APKWS)
rockets. Self-defence
equipment includes AN/
AAR-60 missile launch
detectors and AN/ALE-
47 countermeasure
dispensers.
The new helicopters,
which will also feature
MX-15Di electro-optical/
infrared sensors, help
compensate for the
combat loss of seven Iraqi
Army Aviation Command
IA-407 helicopters
in recent years.Lebanon
orders six
MD530Gs
THE LEBANESE Air Force
(LAF) has bought six
armed MD530Gs from MD
Helicopters – the company
announcing receipt of a
third delivery order issued
against its five-year, $1.4bn
light scout attack helicopter
indefinite delivery/
indefinite quantity (IDIQ)
contract on October 1.
The new MD530G scout
helicopter is expected
to gain a US Army
Airworthiness Release
(AWR) by December next
year and deliveries to
the LAF are scheduled
to be complete by the
fourth quarter of 2020.
They will be supplied with
the DillonAero Mission
Configurable Armament
System (MCAS), 0.5in
HMP 400 machine gun
pods, M260 seven-
shot rocket pods and
Advanced Precision Kill
Weapons System (APKWS)
rockets – plus Wescam
MX-10D electro-optical/
infrared sensors and the
Thales Scorpion helmet-
mounted cueing system.Above: The fi rst QEAF Twin Otter 400, MAQ, at Sidney, British Colombia, on October 11. Viking Air
VIKING AIR has completed
the first Qatar Emiri Air
Force (QEAF) DHC-6 Twin
Otter 400. Photos of c/n
963 at Sidney, British
Colombia, on October
11 show it in full civilian-
style Qatari colours, large
‘Q ATAR’ titles on therear fuselage, a QEAF
roundel beneath the
cockpit and the serial
MAQ – with Canadian test
registration C-FVGY taped
on the port side only.
The manufacturer signed
a contract with the QEAF
in Doha on June 11 foran unspecified number of
Twin Otters for operation
by the Joint Special Forces
in support of its skydiving
team. Some reports
suggest two aircraft are
involved in the deal, but
one source indicates it
could be four. Dave AllportUAE C295 prepares for delivery
Mike Jefferies