Page 5 - AirForces - Monthly (February 2020)

Features
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04-05 Contents AFM Feb2020.indd
04-05 Contents AFM Feb2020.indd
3 Comment on Hong Kong streets to restore law
AFM’s opinion on the hot topics and order. Gordon Arthur examines the
in military aviation. forces of the Hong Kong Garrison.
28 Phantom farewell 64 Big ‘Pigs’ of the Pampas
at Hyakuri The C-130 Hercules is the workhorse of many
Benoît Denet reports from the Japan Air-Self air arms, not least with the Fuerza Aérea
Defense Force’s final F-4 Phantom II base Argentina. Here it has performed sterling
at Hyakuri as the service’s last examples service in some incredible and unexpected
of the ‘Rhino’ made a public farewell. roles, as Esteban G Brea discovers.
36 Ukrainian Naval 70 Africa’s forgotten
Aviation update war: Part one
Vladimir Trendafilovski provides an update In the first of a two-part feature, war
on the status of the Ukrainian Navy’s single correspondent and Africa specialist
aviation unit – the 10th Naval Aviation Al J Venter reports from Bangui in the
Brigade at Kul’bakino air base near Central African Republic where the
Mykolayiv – which has recently received conflict – now in its seventh year – is
new rotary and fixed-wing equipment. seeing increased use of air power.
40 Florida’s ‘bad guys’ 76 Ten years of excellence
Northrop’s veteran Tiger II still has a few Since the first flight of the Rafale A
more years ahead of it as an adversary, demonstrator in 1986, the Dassault
and it’s possible more used F-5s will arrive fighter has become a popular airshow
to form new units or replenish existing performer. With its great lines, plenty of
ones. George Karavantos reports from raw power and fine-tuned flight controls,
Naval Air Station Key West, where the it’s made for turning heads at public
resident VFC-111 ‘Sundowners’ flies some displays, as Anthony Pecchi explains.
of the US Navy’s in-demand F-5s. 82 Italy’s transport specialists
44 Postcard from Jordan The Italian Air Force’s 31° Stormo fulfils a
AFM contributor Elio Viroli provides niche transport role, undertaking operations
a photographic report from for national agencies and the Vatican, and,
an exclusive visit to Royal as Riccardo Niccoli discovers, it has also
Jordanian Air Force facilities. increasingly been tasked with the role
of emergency aeromedical missions.
60 Troubled times
in the Special 92 Syria: the great escape
Administrative
Region When US special forces were ordered
to pull out of Syria in October 2019 the
With the Hong Kong Pentagon had to activate emergency
Police stretched to breaking point, plans to evacuate its troops.
there has long been speculation that Tim Ripley looks at the airlift
the Chinese communist regime may mission to extract American troops
set the People’s Liberation Army loose from this troubled country.
Cover: Rare and spectacular neatly
describes the cover shot this month,
depicting a Peruvian MiG-29SM-P of
Escuadrón Aéreo 612 during a mission in
Your Aviation Destination 2019. Katsuhiko Tokunaga/DACT Left: Despite
the headlines regarding a US military
See withdrawal from operations in Syria, air
power continues to help police ongoing
page 24 troubles in the area. The US Air Force is still
maintaining overwatch of the country, as
illustrated here by an F-15E Strike Eagle on
for full patrol. USAF/MSgt Russell Scalf
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#383 February 2020 // 5
06/01/2020 14:15:27
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5 06/01/2020 14:15:27