After we previously covered the world's ugliest 'Air Force One' on this website, it is about time to introduce the polar opposite of The Gambia's President Jammeh's horribly decorated Ilyushin Il-62. [1] As perhaps already apparent to the keen-eyed aviation enthusiast, the majestic De Havilland Comet 4C in question flew on behalf of the Saudi Royal Flight for use with King Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Lavishly decorated with a VIP cabin filled with gold and distinguished by a gold, green and white colour scheme, the aircraft was the world's first executive jet. Sadly, the beauty of the aircraft was not to last for long, with a fatal crash in the Alps in 1963 making its glamour short-lived.

 

''I will develop the areas that vote for me, but if you don't vote for me, don't expect anything.'' (By Yahya Jammeh)

 

It's no secret that the world's top leaders travel in style. Just look at America's 'Air Force One' or the lavish fleet of VIP aircraft owned by the Qatari royal family. While all these planes come with different levels of luxury, one thing is certain: The world's leaders like to travel in style. That is every world leader except for the Republic of The Gambia's now ousted President Jammeh, who boasted a fleet of VIP aircraft that included an Ilyushin Il-62M with arguably the worst looking airplane interior in the world. A Soviet jet airliner with a 1970s interior, flying for an African despot who purchased it with the State's Pension Fund while being maintained and flown by a crew from Cuba: What's not to like?

 

The Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) is known to operate a modest fast jet force comprised of some nine Chengdu F-7NII and FT-7N fighter aircraft and ten Hongdu K-8E jet trainers acquired from China in the late 1980s and mid-2000s respectively. Unbeknownst to many however, older jet aircraft types once thought long retired from operational service continue to see limited use as well, being maintained in operational condition and occasionally flown to ensure their airworthiness in times of need. These consist of the MiG-23UB, the BAe Hawk T.Mk 60 and even the Hawker Hunter FGA.Mk 9 and T.Mk 81 continue to be operated some 60 years after they were originally produced. In doing so, Zimbabwe is the last air force in the world to operationally deploy the Hunter, an absolute unicum!

 

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans

 

The Su-30 was a notable absentee from the air war over Nagorno-Karabakh during the 2020 conflict. Hailed by Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as "our most important acquisition this year" in 2019, many expected to witness the Su-30's participation in the conflict sooner or later, combatting Bayraktar TB2 drones and deterring Azerbaijani Su-25 close air support aircraft from releasing their deadly ordnance on Armenian soldiers below. [1] But as days turned into weeks, it became increasingly clear that the Su-30s were deliberately kept out of the fighting, earning them the title of 'White Elephant' in the eyes of some. This article will attempt to provide a rationale for why the Su-30s didn't participate in the conflict and look into Armenia's decision to acquire the aircraft in the first place.

Libya's aerial refuelling programme has only been rarely reported on since its inception in the late eighties, and suffered from a series of setbacks that ultimately led to the abandonment of the programme in the following decade. Nonetheless, this ambitious project has definitely left its traces within the Libyan Air Force, and aircraft once playing a key role in the in-flight refuelling programme are still flying inside the country today.

 

Türkiye's ambitions in the field of aviation have spawned advanced aircraft designs like the TF-X stealth fighter, the Hürjet advanced jet trainer and the T625 Gökbey helicopter. Equally great strides have been made in the design and production of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs), most notably the Bayraktar Akıncı and Kızılelma combat jet. Research, development and production of these designs (often within short timeframes) by Türkiye is impressive, showing just what teams of motivated engineers supported, but not micromanaged, by their government can achieve.

 

It would be a mistake to quickly dismiss the An-132 as merely an improved version of an older generation aircraft, as this line of reasoning would apply to nearly every type of transport aircraft sold on the market today. The highly popular C-130J Super Hercules is a comprehensive update of a 1950s design while the C-27J and C-295 are advanced derivatives of 1970s and 1980s-era aircraft respectively. The C-27J and C-295 also happen to be the An-132's direct competitors, and have achieved significant success on the export market since their introduction in the late 1990s.

 

While their continued commercial success proves there's indeed a large market for aircraft like the An-132, it also means that many prospective customers of the An-132 are by now already operating the C-27J or C-295. The An-132 would thus have to improve on these aircraft's parameters, offer novel features such as advanced payloads and most important of all, be less expensive to acquire and operate than its competitors. Strong political backing by Turkey could also be a contributing factor to incentivise friendly countries to purchase the aircraft.

 

The An-132 design already improves on many of the characteristics of the C-27J and C-295 (see below), and has the capability to operate from unprepared runways where other transport aircraft fail to operate. This also makes the aircraft an attractive option for civilian cargo operators in South America and Africa, which often maintain services to remote airstrips deep in the jungle. Several cargo airlines in these continents continue to make use of the An-26 and An-32 specifically for their ability to operate from dirt strips, with no aircraft currently available to truly replace them.

 

The An-132 could not only achieve success on the civilian market, but also attract military customers that lack the funds to procure the C-27J/C-295 or that want to replace their An-26/32s with a more advanced iteration. In Africa, such nations include Mozambique, DR Congo, Sudan, Libya, Ethiopia, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria while South American countries like Peru, El Salvador and Colombia are other probable operators. Closer to home, Ukraine and Iraq could settle on the An-132 to replace their An-26/32s. While most of these countries would likely sign for just a few aircraft each, sales numbers could quickly stack up when combined with possible sales to cargo airlines.

The payload options of the An-132 and a comparative chart with the C-27J and C-295. Click on the images to enlarge.

In addition to its roles as a military cargo aircraft and commercial freighter, the An-132 can also fulfill a range of specialised tasks that include firefighting, electronic warfare (EW) and MEDEVAC; even gunship and maritime patrol (MPA) variants of the An-132 were once envisioned. Although not all of these tasks are necessarily of interest to Turkey, with projects for EW aircraft and future (jet-based) MPAs already underway, such variants could still be interesting for certain export customers. In 2017, Ukraine's Ukroboronprom and Turkey's Havelsan already concluded an agreement for the development of the MPA and ISR variants of the An-132 to meet a possible requirement by Saudi Arabia, which ultimately failed to materialise after the country abandoned the An-132 project shortly thereafter. [12]

Arguably the most interesting An-132 variant for Turkey is the An-132FF dedicated firefighting aircraft. Although Turkey once boasted a fleet of some nine CL-215 and eleven PZL M18 firefighting aircraft, these have all been retired in recent years, leaving a fleet of chartered Russian Be-200s amphibious aircraft and Mi-17 and Ka-32 helicopters to take over their valuable work. [13] The 2021 Turkey wildfires once again brought awareness to the benefits of operating its own firefighting aircraft rather than relying on leased aircraft and helicopters. Consequently, October 2021 saw the announcement that four firefighting aircraft would be purchased. [14] The An-132FF could meet a Turkish and Ukrainian requirement for more firefighting aircraft as forest fires in both countries are on the rise. If such an acquisition occurs, the An-132 also becomes an increasingly interesting candidate for adoption by the Turkish Air Force, which operates a fleet of some 50 CN-235s dating from the early-to-late 1990s that are likely slated for replacement in the next decade.

For all the (commercial) potential of the turboprop An-132, Turkey has so far only ever publicly voiced its interest in the An-178 and An-188 jet transport aircraft. The Antonov An-178 medium transport aircraft was designed as a cargo derivative of the An-158 airliner with an identical flight deck, wing panels, tail section and many of the onboard systems. The fuselage however was newly created to hold up to 16 tonnes of cargo that can be flown to a range of 1620km (or 4700km with 5 tonnes of cargo). Both aircraft are powered by the same Progress D-436 or AI-28 engines produced by Ukraine's Motor-Sich, which almost got taken over by China in 2017 before the U.S. government forced the Ukrainian government to step in and freeze the deal for national security reasons. [15]

Arguably the most remarkable aircraft Turkey has shown interest in (aside from the An-225) is the An-188 strategic airlifter concept. The An-188 is a progressive development of the An-70 propfan medium-range transport aircraft that was developed in the late 1980s as a replacement for the Soviet An-12. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, development of the type slowly continued under joint Ukrainian-Russian ownership. After the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia was officially kicked out of the An-70 programme by Ukraine. This move was mostly symbolic however, as Russia had already withdrawn from the programme in 2013 to focus on a domestic aircraft. [22]

Up until 2014 the An-70 programme had been anything but a smooth ride, with the aircraft still lacking certification some twenty years after its first flight in 1994. In those twenty years, the An-70 programme was plagued by a lack of funding and internal disagreements between Russia and Ukraine. After a brief cooperation with China (which later went on to develop the Y-20), a potential breakthrough for the programme came in the late 1990s as Germany and France began to evaluate the An-70 for their Future Large Aircraft programme to replace the C-160. [23] An evaluation by the German Ministry of Defence found a westernised An-70 to be technically superior and an estimated 30% cheaper than the A400M design offered by Airbus. [23] In the end, the A400M design was chosen for practical reasons.

In an effort to market the An-70 to foreign customers since, Antonov has made a number of proposals to win over potential clients. This has included the An-77, a westernised version of the An-70, the An-170, a version with more powerful propfan engines, the An-112KC, an aerial refuelling version for the USAF that would have had its four propfan engines replaced with two jet engines, the An-70-118, An-70T-300 and An-70T-400 that were to be powered by two to four Progress D-18T or French-American CFM56-5C4 jet engines and the recent An-188, an improved variant of the An-70 fitted with four jet engines, Western components and the ability to refuel combat aircraft. [24] [25]

 

Apart from being the most promising version of the An-70, the An-188 is also the only viable option to resurrect the An-70 programme. The An-77 project that sought to replace the An-70's Russian components with Western counterparts quickly proved infeasible as certain parts have no Western analogues. [26] The An-70/77's powerful Ukrainian-designed Progress D-27 propfan engines are unique to the aircraft, and feature several Russian parts that can't easily be produced elsewhere. In a 2020 interview, Ukraine's Minister of Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky referred to the programme as ''a dead end road'', a clear indication of the An-77's commercial infeasibility. [26] The Ukrainian Air Force continues to operate a single An-70 after the aircraft officially entered service in 2015. [27]

 

The An-188 programme was first announced at the 2015 Paris Air Show as a four jet engine-powered heavy-medium transport with aerial refueling capabilities, bigger wings equipped with winglets, and Western components. [28] The An-188 can be equipped with four Progress D-436 or AI-28 engines (that will also power the An-178) or with four CFM International LEAP as a Western engine option. [28] The An-188 is intended to fill the gap between the C-130J-30 and the C-17, thereby positioning itself as a direct competitor to the A400M by Airbus.

 

The An-188's spacious cargo cabin allows for the carriage of up to 40 tonnes of cargo (depending on the engine choice), including armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs), UAVs, helicopters, and even Turkey's upcoming unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The aircraft can also accommodate up to 300 persons or more than 200 injured on two decks when deployed in a MEDEVAC configuration, or more than 130 fully-equipped paratroops in a troop transport configuration. [29] The aircraft can also act as a tanker when fitted with two under-wing refuelling pods.

In May 2018, it was announced that Turkey and Ukraine were discussing co-production of the An-188. [28] The discussions revolved around the share of work each country would take up, licensing agreements, technology transfers and the possibility of exporting the aircraft to other countries. For any co-production deal to go ahead, a Turkish official was quoted as saying that the aircraft must be made NATO-compatible. [28] In addition to being a Turkish Air Force requirement, this will also greatly increase the competitiveness of the aircraft on the export market.

 

The Turkish Air Force currently operates a fleet of ten A400Ms and sixteen C-130B/Es military transport aircraft. Turkey's C-130s were originally manufactured in the 1960s, and are in need of replacement at the end of this decade. At the same time, Turkish air operations have drastically expanded over the last several years, with frequent flights to Libya and other destinations throughout Africa. With the acquisition of more A400Ms uncertain, the An-188 is an increasingly attractive alternative to replace Turkey's C-130s.

 

The Ukrainian Air Force could similarly settle on the An-188 to replace its ageing Il-76s, possibly signing for at least half a dozen aircraft. Possible foreign customers for the An-188 include Indonesia, Angola, Libya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Peru. The An-188 could also meet demand from the commercial market to replace the Il-76s that remain in service with a number of cargo airlines around the world. Commercial interest in the An-188 is uncertain however, and air forces would likely be its primary customer.

[1] Sky Giant: Turkey Mulls To Complete The Second Antonov An-225 Mriya https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/01/sky-giant-turkey-mulls-to-complete.html

 

Turkmenistan is on the largest aircraft-buying spree in the history of the country. This has so far seen the acquisition of M-346 and A-29B combat aircraft, C-27J NG transport aircraft and Bayraktar TB2 UCAVs for the Turkmen Air Force, and a fourth Boeing 777-200LR airliner and two Airbus A330-200P2F cargo aircraft for Turkmenistan Airlines. [1] [2] Also acquired are a single Kazan Ansat and one Mi-17-1V helicopter to provide emergency ambulance services throughout the country. [3] The helicopters were delivered in April and May 2021, entering service with Turkmenistan Airlines, which operates the helicopters on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry. [4] 

 

A report by Al Jazeera from Kabul International Airport (IAP) shows that the new Afghan Air Force is currently working on introducing a fast jet capability to its air force. [1] The footage shows an L-39 undergoing an engine test after languishing in storage at Kabul IAP since the early 2010s. [2] Even though the United States saw little use in the operation of Mi-24 attack helicopters and L-39C jet trainers by the Afghan Air Force, both types were maintainted in operational condition, even though the L-39s are not believed to have flown in the past several years.

 

The Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) has traditionally relied on its fleet of Soviet-era MiG-23BN fighter-bombers to carry out bombing missions and to provide close air support (CAS). These rugged aircraft have seen considerable use during the Tigray War that commenced in November 2020, so far leading to the loss of two airframes in November and December 2020. [1] Although appreciated by the ETAF for their ability to carry a hefty bomb load, the less than a dozen or so remaining MiG-23BNs lack the ability to deploy modern precision-guided munitions (PGMs), severely limiting their options to accurately strike enemy targets.

Some 30 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the inventories of many post-Soviet air forces are still very much defined by the Soviet-era aircraft types they inherited. This is especially true for combat aircraft, the expensive price tag of which has dissuaded many nations from acquiring new types to replace older generations currently in service. Instead, proven types such as the MiG-29 and Su-25 undergo overhauls again and again in an attempt to not only keep them flying, but also to keep them relevant in the age of 21st century warfare.

 

The Su-25 has earned its stripes as a rugged close air support aircraft capable of delivering a wide variety of ordnance while withstanding a significant beating from AA guns and MANPADS. From the onset designed with a limited guided weaponry capability in mind, Soviet designers would eventually expand on these capabilities through the development of the Su-25T dedicated anti-tank hunter version. Although offering a number of highly advanced features for its time, its inception during the final years of the USSR ultimately prevented the aircraft from entering into service.

The Chinese Y-8 transport aircraft is unlikely to receive an award for the originality of its design – it being a 1970s reverse engineered variant of the Soviet An-12 with marginal changes to suit Chinese requirements. From the 1970s onwards, the Shaanxi Aircraft Factory set out to improve on the proven design, building on experiences gained with the serial production of the Y-8 but also taking advantage of foreign expertise through Lockeed Martin as well as Antonov, the original designer of the An-12. The resulting aircraft, the Y-8F-600 and Y-9, still have a clear outward resemblance to the earlier Y-8 variants but feature a stretched and redesigned fuselage, a glass cockpit and the ability to use Pratt & Whitney turboprop engines.

 

Military analysis circles have lately been abuzz with speculation suggesting that Bulgaria is eying the acquisition of at least six Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) from Turkey. If this procurement goes through, it would reintroduce capabilities long lost to Bulgaria and simultaneously add to a rapidly growing list of countries interested in acquiring the TB2 or currently already in the process of doing so. Bulgaria is said to have kickstarted its attempt at purchasing TB2s in 2020, but postponed the decision because of the COVID-19 pandemic. [1] If the TB2 does eventually arrive to Bulgaria, it will be the second country (or third pending Latvia's acquisition) in the European Union to purchase the system after Poland acquired 24 TB2s in May 2021.

 

Turkmenistan has embarked on an ambitious re-equipment programme with the aim of modernising its air force through the acquisition of various types of new combat and transport aircraft. This acquisition drive has included types like the M-346 combat jet aircraft and the C-27J NG transport aircraft that have both been ordered from Italy. Another introduction that had been anticipated is the Brazilian A-29B Super Tucano turboprop light attack aircraft, which has so far been bought by more than fifteen countries around the globe. Turkmenistan was long rumoured to have been eying the acquisition of the popular attack aircraft, and one Super Tucano was even tested in the country for a short period in 2019.

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans 

 

Turkish Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the world, flying to more destinations than any other carrier in the world. It operates a fleet of more than 350 Airbus and Boeing aircraft that serve some 300 destinations domestically and internationally today, a huge leap from its humble beginning of four domestic destinations in 1933, and just 103 destinations in 2003. Over the past century, Turkish Airlines has operated a wide variety of aircraft that haven't always been in the spotlight as much as their more modern brethrens. One of these aircraft is the German Ju 52, which has long remained elusive in imagery and footage during its years of service in Turkey.

Saturday, the 6th of November 2004. Two Su-25UBs of the Force Aérienne de la Côte d'Ivoire (FACI) strafe a French peacekeeper camp in Bouaké. As sudden as the unprovoked attack had commenced its tragic results would become palpable: the deaths of nine French soldiers and another 31 wounded. This grave provocation would ultimately lead to the destruction of the FACI and have drastic repercussions for Côte d'Ivoire for years to come. Just hours after the attack, all that remained of its fledging air arm was a smoldering heap of junk.

 

The events leading up to this tragedy began to unfold on the 19th of September 2002, when the government of Laurent Gbagbo found itself in a precarious situation after the rebel umbrella organisation Mouvement Patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire (MPCI) took control over much of the northern part of the country, effectively splitting Ivory Coast into two. Also captured was Bouaké airbase, which was home to six inoperational Alpha Jet light attack aircraft. Its confidence bolstered significantly by the capture of the jets, the MPCI boldly threatened to reactivate the Alpha Jets to use them against their former owners which – having no combat aircraft of its own – could offer little to counter this threat. [1]