Author: Alistair Zammit Farrugia

Following on from their recent visits back in the beginning of Summer 2018, the Tunisian Air Force are currently conducting a series of cargo flights to and from LMML carrying Tunisian Dinars to their homeland.

Today, a Tunisian Air Force C-130J-30 Serial Z21121 ‘TS-MTK’ landed early in the morning on one of these cargo flights, routing DTTA – LMML – DTTA.

This example is one of two recently acquired C-130J-30s of the Tunisian Air Force which are based at Bizerte-Sidi Ahmed (DTTB) and are operated by the 21st squadron.

More cargo flights are expected in the coming days.

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A Royal Saudi Flight L-100-30 Hercules visited LMML on the 11th March 2020 in support of the Saudi Hawks Display Team that were transiting back to Saudi Arabia following their successful participation in the first ever Tunisian Air Show IADE 2020, held in Djerba. The aircraft sports a striking Saudi Arabian Airlines Livery, in contrast to the more common desert camo or two tone grey camo usually seen on hercs supporting the Saudi Hawks at airshows worldwide.

The Hercules performed a spectacular low pass on departure following the departure of the Saudi Hawks.

This particular airframe had already visited LMML way back in January 2011.

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Supporting the Royal Saudi Air Force Display Team on the 28th February 2020 was a Royal Saudi Air Force C-130H-30 belonging to 16 squadron. It arrived soon after the Saudi Hawks in support of the team, carrying equipment, crew and personal belongings of the whole Saudi Crew. This was the first time ever that this particular example, serial 1630, visited LMML.

The Hercules departed soon after the Royal Saudi Hawks to Djerba after making sure that all 8 hawks had successfully departed LMML without any technical issues.

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What better way to start promoting military aviation , than to start with one of LMML’s most exotic visitors of 2020!

Friday the 28th February 2020, the Royal Saudi Air Force Display Team, aka the Saudi Hawks visited Malta for a fuel stop while en route towards Djerba for the first ever Tunisian Air Show, IADE.

The team arrived in the morning painting the Maltese Flag in the sky and also found out time to pose for photographs and show us around their aircraft. The team departed a few hours later at 2 pm and performed a low flyby after departure, again painting the colours of the Maltese Flag over the length of the runway.

This the first visit by a foreign military display team in LMML following the airshow held in Malta back in 2017. This event brought all the aviation community together and gave us a taste of things to come when Malta will hold its own airshow again in September 2020 following an absence of 2 years.

After an absence of three years, the French Air Force Air to Air Refuelling Tanker, the C-135FR, belonging to the Sologne 4/31 Air Refueling Squadron, visited LMML for a brief visit after a navigational training flight from Prague (LKPR).

This is the third time that this magnificent and classic aircraft type has visited the island following a first visit back in 2011 and a second visit already mentioned in 2017. In that instance, the tanker had diverted to LMML due to an issue with one of the engines, consequently dragging behind two FAF Rafales, a sight that will also never be forgotten among Maltese aviation enthusiasts.

The aircraft departed the following day on its way back to its base in Istres Le Tube Air Base.

Following a brief visit by a French Navy Dassault Falcon 50 Surmar back towards the end of 2019 (Serial ’78’), 2020 saw the French Navy back in force multiple times with the same aircraft type.

The aircraft have been noticed to fly within Malta’s FIR for long hours, following which the aircraft land in LMML for fuel and later return back to their naval base in France.

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On the 11th February 2020, USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) called in at Malta’s Grand Harbour for a few days. Luckily this amphibious command ship does not have a hangar on-board  the ship and thus we were able to photograph the United States Navy Sikorsky MH-60S Knighthawk ‘167847’ that was on-board.

It is worth mentioning that USS Mount Whitney is the flagship and command ship of the United States Sixth Fleet. Its visit to the Grand Harbour also enabled aviation enthusiasts to photograph a US Navy C-26D Metroliner ‘910502’ based in Naples, that visited Malta as a result of USS Mount Whitney’s presence in our Grand Harbour.

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Following an earlier visit by Italian Navy Vessel ITS Vesuvio back in December 2019, in February 2020 we had another visit from the Marina Militare, this time through ITS SPICA P403. Like with ITS Vesuvio, ITS SPICA also had an Agusta Bell AB-212 ASW onboard, much to our delight.

The AB-212 ASWs of the Italian Navy are soon going to be retired and replaced by the EH-101 Merlins and SH-90s and therefore it was a real privilege to witness two types onboard two different vessels within the space of a few months.

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Following on from the visit by Royal Oman Police Casa CN-235 ‘A4O-CV’ back in November 2019, on the 15th February 2020 the second example of their inventory ‘A4O-CU’ landed in Malta for a night stop. It is thought that the CN-235s are currently undergoing maintenance in the Airbus maintenance plant in Seville.

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Following its recent visit in 2019, RAF C-17 Globemaster III ‘ZZ178’ visited Malta again for a night stop while enroute from the UK to the East. This time, conditions for photography were excellent with some brilliant winter light giving life to the photos.

A truly great start to the 2020 military aircraft spotting year!