10 mabr and the Odessa oae
aircraft is to locate and monitor
the activities of Ukrainian mobile
natural gas drilling rigs hijacked
by Russian forces since 2014
and used in Ukraine’s EEZ
in the Black Sea. Ukrainian
aircraft are frequently targeted
by Russian forces (including
by ships and ground-based
surface-to-air missile systems)
during these missions.
As a reminder of how serious the
situation is, An-26 ‘10 Yellow’ of
10 mabr received small arms fire
from one of the rigs on February
1 last year – fortunately none of
its crew members were injured
and the damaged aircraft was
patched up and returned to
service. Vladimir Trendafilovskiwere delivered at the end of
2010 and entered service early
the following year, but one of
them (‘23 Blue’) was lost in an
accident on July 4, 2012.
The remaining seven aircraft lack
any onboard sensors and rely on
hand-held portable observation
aids and cameras. This should
not come as a surprise as they
are second-hand aircraft originally
acquired in late 2012 for the State
Flight Academy at Kirovohrad
(now renamed to Kropyvnytskyi)
but never put to use and thus
transferred to the DPSU in late
December 2015. Nonetheless,
they have the same Garmin G1000
glass cockpit suite and satnav
aids as the DA42 MPP, and it is
planned to fit them with onboardsurveillance sensors as soon
as funds become available.
These light aircraft are well suited
for maritime patrol duty and for
this task the crew usually consists
of a pilot and a navigator in the
front seats and an observer (or
a sensor operator in the case of
the DA42 MPP) on one of the rear
seats. They usually operate at
altitudes between 984ft (300m)
and 3,281ft (1,000m), which are
ideal for this role, and the low
fuel consumption enables them
to cover the full extent of their
assigned border area in a single
flight. They are also frequently
used to direct the actions of
ground units and ships.
Recently, one of the most
important tasks for both theDPSU MPA fl eet
Type Serial c/n
DA40 NG 31 Blue D4.069
DA40 NG 32 Blue D4.120
DA40 NG 33 Blue D4.128
DA40 NG 34 Blue D4.129
DA40 NG 35 Blue D4.142
DA42 MPP 21 Blue 42.MN010
DA42 MPP 22 Blue 42.MN011
DA42 NG 24 Blue 42.N001
DA42 NG 25 Blue 42.N02610 mabr MPA fl eet
Type Serial c/n
An-26 09 Yellow 3605
An-26 10 Yellow 8402
Be-12PL 02 Yellow 0602004
Be-12PS 05 Yellow 2602603and two DA42 MPP Guardian
aircraft. Although both these
units are tasked with patrolling
Ukraine’s territorial waters and
its Black Sea EEZ, the Odessa
oae covers by far the largest
part – the complete Black Sea
region and a bigger portion of
the Sea of Azov. This leaves only
a small 82-mile (132km) stretch
of coast and its adjacent Sea of
Azov waters to the Kharkiv oae.
The DPSU originally operated
only DA42 MPP Guardian aircraft- a DA42 M-NG variant, fitted
with a lightweight FLIR Systems
UltraForce 350 electro-optical
sensor below the nose, enabling
it to conduct surveillance
tasks in all weather conditions,
including at night. Three aircraft
An-26 and DA42 MPP aircraft regularly take part in the annual Sea Breeze multinational naval exercise held in Ukraine and in the Black Sea. Seen at
Kul’bakino during Sea Breeze 2017 are An-26 ‘10 Yellow’ (c/n 8402) of 10 mabr and DA42 MPP ‘22 Blue’ (c/n 42.MN011) of the Odessa oae of the DPSU. Note
the BD3-34 bomb racks fi tted on the An-26. Sergey Smolentsev
DA42 MPP ‘22 Blue’ (c/n 42.MN011)
of the Odessa oae of DPSU after
take-off from its home base at
Odessa IAP. Note its FLIR Systems
UltraForce 350 electro-optical sensor
under the nose, as well as a red
stripe on its tail – a typical feature
found on aircraft operated by the
border guard services of the former
Soviet republics. Sergey Smolentsev44 // JUNE 2018 #363 http://www.airforcesmonthly.comEuropean MPAs Part 5
Fleet
Survey