Air Forces Monthly - November 2006

[Webmaster]

Ok, I have enough to do, but having finished reading the last AFM, I have to write some words on it!

First off, the cover! Someone ought to be fired for this month's cover. It looks crap. "Aircraft self defence - the facts!" it says, in the article it says the data is not official and compiled from open sources, i.e. not really sure they are the facts! "Stealth Fighter Retires" seems to say that the F-117 has retired, actually the article is about the Grey F-117 which they stopped testing because the F-117 will be retired soon.

News Section
As good as ever, but not much really interesting stuff this month, except for the Harriers in Afghanistan article which contains some data on the weapons dropped. Then a mistake I think/hope, Jamaica is selling its Gulfstream 695A Commander 1000 for $475 million! Or I suppose they might want to keep it and only pretend selling it for political reasons maybe  . Picture of the Congolese Mi-35 and article on ATE's Hind Mk V are quite interesting though.

Tomcat's Last Days
A full article on its retirement? Nope, it's only about the last refuelling mission. Purely published for the nice pictures.

Recce Terriers
British Islander/Defender aircraft profile. Not an interesting aircraft it might seem, but the article will make you think differently, very nice.

The Italian Job...
A joint Italian/French A-A refuelling sortie. Again nice for the pictures, but not anything special.

Grey Dragon II
Aha, so the article is only about the Grey F-117 and its test program and within five years of retirement, all testing is stopped. That's why the test unit is deactivated. However the article does not reveal wether the unit's F-117s will live on with other units or not, until the type's definite retirement.

Romania's Ghost Towns
MiGs and IARs in disrepair on some airfields. Interesting read, with interesting but depressing photos.

Fast Thinking
Article on exercise Swift Panther 06-5. Ok, not really exciting stuff, but with the new effects-based warfare training. Nice to read, but makes you wonder why they didn't change their training earlier...?

Alaskan Alert
Good analysis on the Alaskan 3rd wing and its future. Quite detailed information on aircraft and numbers. Not special, but well worth the read.

Jastreb
Bosnia and Herzegovina has seven J-22s, one N-62 Super Galeb, and nine Jastrebs. Pretty interesting article on this young air force, flying legacy Yugoslavian jets and jet trainers. However more could have been written about the J-22 and N-62, even though they are inoperable and in need for an overhaul. The article also focuses more on the author's flight with the NJ-21 than on the aircraft or air force, but it makes a nice read.

Mexico's Nautical Needs
Aha, I am thinking Su-27! Finally we hear more about it. Unfortunately, most of the article focuses on the current state and aircraft; helicopters, transports, trainers and patrol aircraft. Finally there is a small paragraph on fighters. Good force report, but unfortunately not as interesting as I'd hoped.

Undercover!
Article on private military companies and civilian (CIA) airliners operating in Afghanistan and Iraq and the war on drugs. Really interesting read with interesting pictures (US mercenaries hanging from a Hughes 369). Pretty cool.

Thunder over Fife
Airshow report for Leuchars 2006. Our report will be online soon by the way. Some nice photography, I liked the report more than the photos. Hehe.

Self Defence - part one
Nice article, although suffers bit from inconsistency, not written very well. Interesting information, but most of it, not really new to me and could be more detailed. However I am looking forward to part II. Some mistakes, I think the French new fighter is still called Rafale and not Rafael...