Author: Alistair Zammit Farrugia

Yesterday, 9th August 2019, a second Agusta Westland AW-139 belonging to Cyprus Police arrived in Luqa for maintenance purposes at Gulf Helicopters Facilities. Currently both AW-139s in force with this arm are in Malta for maintenance, serials being ‘CP-6’ for yesterday’s AW-139 and ‘CP-8’ for the first AW-139 to visit Malta.

Rumours also state that the entire rotary fleet of this arm is due to visit Malta for maintenance at some point in the future.  Currently the rotary wing is busy in firefighting activities back in their homeland.

You can find more info and pictures about the first visit by ‘CP-8’ here.

Yesterday, July 25th 2019, an Irish Air Corps Casa 235 MPA passed through Malta on its way back to Ireland, following a brief one day visit to Lebanon. Irish Air Corps Casa 235s occasionally pass through Malta en route to Lebanon in order to support their missions in the middle Eastern Region, in this case to support their UNIFIL mission. More information regarding UNIFIL can be found below.

Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1978, UNIFIL was established to supervise the withdrawal of Israeli Forces and restore peace and security to the area. Since then the Irish Defence Forces had an Infantry Battalion (approx. Strength 540 personnel) in Lebanon, which rotated every six months plus almost 100 others in UNIFIL headquarters and the Force Mobile Reserve until November 2001.

The presence of the Irish battalion in South Lebanon undoubtedly helped to restore normality to the area, as evidenced by the increase in population and economic activity in the region. This is a part of Ireland’s commitment to global peace and security.

After the withdrawal of Israeli troops from South Lebanon and the completion of its mandate with UNIFIL, the Irish Defence Forces withdrew from the Area of Operations leaving behind 11 Defence Forces personnel in Lebanon to overseas the handover of the mission to Ghana Battalion.

A total of 47 Irish Defence Forces personnel lost their lives in the service of peace during the first 23 years of this mission, in which over 32,000 individual tours of duty have been completed.

Following a return to intense conflict on the Israel/Lebanon border in June/July 2006, in response to a request from the UN in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 of August 2006, the Defence Forces returned to Lebanon on 31 October 2006 for 12 months. The unit consisted of a Mobile Mechanised Infantry Company Group and operated in reconnaissance, patrolling and security roles alongside a Finnish Engineering Company as part of a joint Irish-Finnish Battalion.

The Infantry Company Group withdrew in 2007, however the Irish Defence Forces remained committed to UNIFIL, with nine personnel serving in the UNIFIL HQ in Naquora. In June 2011 until Nov 2013, the Irish Defence Forces deployed a Mechanised Infantry Battalion of approx 440 personnel to UNIFIL, as in the past this unit was involved in peacekeeping operations. The Infantry Battalion, deployed in UNIFIL‘s Sector West continued to be involved in this area Peace Keeping Mission. Their duties included manning two Posts along the Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel. The units also carried out patrolling, ground holding and humanitarian operations. As a mechanised Infantry Battalion the unit was equipped with MOWAG Piranha III APCs, Light Tactical Armoured Vehicles (GR32), heavy machine guns, anti-tank guns and Javelin missiles, heavy and medium mortars, reconnaissance surveillance equipment.

As of Nov 2013, the unit is now operating as an Infantry Group under the command of a FINIRISH Battalion. The UNIFIL mission Monitor, Support and Assist involves extensive mobile patrolling throughout the Irish area of operations, including ground-holding, monitoring the Blue Line and humanitarian operations. Operations are conducted on a “High visibility, low profile” basis with access to armour if needed; soft skin vehicles are predominantly used for interaction with the local population.

The Irish Defence Forces currently have 336 personnel serving in the mission area. Together with a contingent from Finland and a platoon plus of Estonian soldiers (38), they form IrishFinnBatt based at UNP 2-45 in UNIFIL Sector West. In addition there are personnel serving in UNIFIL HQ near Naqoura and  personnel serving in Sector West HQ, Shama.

More Information about Irish Defense Forces Deployments can be found on: Here

Yesterday 24th April 2019, A French Air Force and a French Navy E121 Xingu visited Malta for a night stop, most likely on a navigational training flight. The Xingus, serials, ‘103’ and ’81’ respectively, landed on runway 13 and proceeding to Park 3 to park for their night stop. They are due to depart back to France this morning.

Being relatively rare to see at foreign air shows outside France, all enthusiasts were quite happy with their visit, especially since they have been all painted in a new white livery recently, as opposed to the dark grey scheme that they sported previously in French Air Force Service. These aircraft are normally used to train future French Air Force and French Navy Pilots on aircraft that have more than one engine, such as for example the Dassault Rafale or the Airbus A400M.

This morning, at around 11:30pm, a vera rare and unexpected aircraft turned up at LMML in the form of an AgustaWestland AW-139 of Cyprus Police, serial ‘CP-8’. The aircraft came for Maintenance at Gulf Med Aviation Services.

It is yet unknown how many days the helicopter will spend in the Maltese Islands.

On Wednesday 17th April, while I was waiting for the Hungarian Air Force Falcon 7x to depart, this beautifully painted aircraft of Air Tahiti Nui taxied for departure following maintenance at Lufthansa Technik Malta.

I do not normally take pictures of civilian operated aircraft, however its not often you see an Airbus A340 adorned with such an amazing livery departing in such favourable weather conditions.

On Monday 15th April, A Hungarian Air Force Dassault Falcon 7x (serial ‘606’) made its first visit to LMML to drop off some VIP passengers. It returned on Wednesday 17th April to pick them up and continue onwards to its final destination. This is the sole example of the type in Hungarian Air Force service, and it was was purchased fairly recently by the Hungarian Government. Its stunning military grey colour scheme created a great visual contrast with the golden hour light as it departed in favourable weather conditions on Wednesday afternoon.

On the 4th April 2019 I attended with a group of friends the multinational exercise Iniochos, hosted by the Hellenic Air Force at Andravida Air Base (LGAD). After my first attendance in 2018, I was looking forward to this exercise, especially since it attracts the participation of Air Forces and aircraft types rarely seen in Europe, such as the Israeli Air Force and the United Arab Emirates Air Force. Furthermore, it is one of the few remaining occasions in which one can get up close and personal with the mighty F-4 phantom, especially since the days of this venerable aircraft are numbered.

A detailed report of the event will follow soon.

Yesterday afternoon, a Royal Air Force C-17 Globemaster III visited Malta International Airport for a night stop following its journey from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. It left back to the UK this morning at around 10am. This example is one of eight examples of C-17s that the RAF have within their inventory.

Following a period of no military activity at MIA, this visit in glorious sunshine was a much welcome addition among all military aviation enthusiasts.

 

What an amazing two days it has been! On the 11th and 12th February, I attended an event organised by the Spanish Air Force at the airport of Badajoz, home to the 23rd fighter wing of the Spanish Air Force operating the SF-5M Freedom Fighter.

For two whole days, we were allowed to take as many imaginable photographs of the operations of the F-5s present on the ramp, including night operations where night shots were possible.  The great weather, the amazing hospitality of the Spanish Air Force and the numerous photographic opportunities offered made up for a truly spectacular event, one of the best I have ever yet visited!

A full report will be uploaded soon.

Yesterday February 3rd 2019, Icelandic Coast Guard DHC-8 Dash 8 ‘TF-SIF’ returned back home following a period of a month in Malta for Maintenance purposes at Medavia. This was the aircraft’s second maintenance visit to the Medavia Safi facility in less than a year, following a previous visit in March 2018. Another highlight of 2018!