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http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #362 MAY 2018 // 19

Brazilian

Army eyes

SuperCobras

THE EXÉRCITO Brasileiro

(EB, Brazilian Army)

has approached the US

government to purchase

surplus US Marine Corps

AH-1W attack helicopters.

It says talks have taken

place but there have not

yet been government-to-

government negotiations.

The SuperCobra is one

option to meet the army’s

Procurement of Attack

Capability project, part

of the Army Strategic

Programme – Army

Aviation (Prg EE AvEx).

A notification on

the Federal Business

Opportunities (FedBizOpps)

website earlier this year

indicated that the US

is now offering surplus

AH-1Ws to international

customers via either

Foreign Military Sales (FMS)

or Direct Commercial Sale

(DCS) channels, as the US

Marine Corps progressively

retires them in favour

of the AH-1Z Viper.

THE POLICÍA Federal

Argentina (PFA, Argentine

Federal Police) has retired

its only Cessna 310Q, serial

PF-18 (LQ-JGS, c/n 135).

The decision to withdraw

the type, which had been

operated by the PFA’s Air

Division, took account

of obsolescence and the

cost of potential repairs.

Juan Carlos Cicalesi

PFA

Nicaraguan

An-26s break cover

PHOTOS AND more details
have emerged of two An-
cargo aircraft donated by
Russia to the Fuerza Aérea
del Ejército de Nicaragua
(FAEN, Nicaraguan Army
Air Force) – see Nicaragua
takes on ex-Russian
Navy An-26, April, p19.
The Antonovs were
formally handed over to
Gen Julio César Avilés
Castillo, head of the
Nicaraguan Army, by Maj

Gen Igor Kozhin, chief

of naval aviation of the

Russian Nav y. Delivery

took place at Augusto

C Sandino International

Airport in Managua.

The aircraft – FA-EN

(c/n 5904, ex-RF-46898/‘

Blue’) and FA-EN162 (c/n

6509, ex-RF-46855) – are

being operated by the

Escadrón de Transport,

based at Managua.

Juan Carlos Cicalesi

Viking details Peruvian Twin

Otter maintenance

contract

VIKING AIR of Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada,
has announced details
of a multi-year contract
supporting the Twin
Otter Series 400 fleet
operated by the Fuerza
Aérea del Perú (FAP,
Peruvian Air Force).

The firm has now entered

the second year of the deal

• its maintenance plus (M+)
  programme supporting
  12 FAP Twin Otters
  flown in Peru’s northeast
  Amazonian region. It
  provides factory spares,
  technical publications and

on-site technical training

and support, plus the

tools required to monitor

upcoming maintenance.

The aircraft, delivered

between 2011 and 2014,

are configured with

conventional landing gear

and floats. Grupo Aéreo

42 at Iquitos Teniente

Bergerie air base uses them

for infrastructure support

and medevac services to

remote communities as well

as military missions such as

environmental monitoring

and troop transportation in

inaccessible areas of Peru.

FAEN

Chile prepares

to receive

Black Hawks

THE FIRST three S-70i

Black Hawk helicopters on

order for the Fuerza Aérea

de Chile (FACh, Chilean

Air Force) will arrive in

August and the other three

by the end of October.

Built by Sikorsky’s PZL

Mielec subsidiary in

Poland, the Black Hawks

will be assigned to Grupo

de Aviación No 9 (9th

Aviation Group), based at

Comodoro Arturo Merino

Benítez International

Airport, Santiago de Chile.

Juan Carlos Cicalesi

Above: The FAP’s fl eet of 12 Series 400 Twin Otters has provided remote communities in northeast Peru with critical
infrastructure support since 2011. Serials 303 (c/n 865, ex-C-GFAP) and 313 (c/n 910, ex-C-GNVA) display the two different
undercarriage confi gurations. Viking Air

Argentine Police retires Cessna 310