Tuesday, 18 January 2022

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Bombs From Baku: Cataloguing Azerbaijan’s Indigenous Air-To-Ground Munitions

Azerbaijan , Azerbaijan Air Force 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer
 
Unbeknownst to many, Azerbaijan has designed a vast range of unguided and guided munitions for use with its air force. Whilst it is unknown how many of these designs have actually entered service, it is certain that the design of air-to-ground munitions represents one of the more promising parts of the country's fledging arms industry. In addition to including a number of unguided bombs based on Soviet-pattern designs, several guided variants also exist. These use either laser-guidance, GPS/INS or a wing guidance kit to hit targets up to 65 kilometres away with high accuracy.
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Monday, 17 January 2022

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Operational Failure: The CH-4B’s Short-Lived Career In Jordan

CH-4B , China 0 Comments
 
By Stijn Mitzer
 
As the number of nations operating unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) grows larger and larger each year, Jordan retired its entire inventory of UCAVs some two years after they first entered service. At the center of this drastic move was the performance of the country's fleet of six Chinese-made CH-4B armed drones, which's unreliability, incompatibility with other Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) assets and apparent inability to operate under jamming environments caused the RJAF to put them up for sale after barely seeing any operational use. [1]
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Drone Warfare Turns Hot Over Ethiopia’s Oromia Region

armed drones , Asosa Airport 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer
 
The discovery of Iranian Ghaem-5 precision-guided munition (PGM) remains near the town of Gidami in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia in early January 2022 was a first indication that the Ethiopian Air Force had forward deployed its Iranian-made Mohajer-6 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) to an airport closer to the Oromia Region. [1] Satellite imagery now suggests that these armed drones have likely been deployed to Asosa in the neighbouring Benishangul-Gumuz Region. [2] From Asosa the Mohajer-6s have sufficient range to cover most of the Oromia Region where the Oromo Liberation Front (OLA) is currently active.
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Tuesday, 11 January 2022

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Swarm-UAVs Are Coming - And Turkey Just Called Dibs

İsmail Demir , Presidency of Defense Industries 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer
 
''Don't bother to devote your energy to achieving impossible dreams. Just establish a bridge between us and them [western defence manufacturers], act as our translators, that's enough.'' (Address to Selçuk and Haluk Bayraktar by a bureaucrat at the Presidency of Defense Industries, mid-2000s) [1]
 
The concept of swarm-UAVs could drastically alter the way wars are being fought, with swarms of nimble UAVs attacking ground and air targets, carrying out reconnaissance missions and conducting electronic warfare missions all the while remaining in close contact with each other, providing a layer of independent operations not yet seen on the battlefield before. For all their novelty, most swarm-UAV concepts that are currently being tested are still years away from being fielded operationally.
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Confirmed Arms Transfers To The Ethiopian Military During The Tigray War

Addis Ababa , Blue Arrow 7 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
An air bridge between Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates and Iran has ensured Ethiopia is equipped with all the armament it needs to defeat the Tigray Defence Forces (TDF) in the ongoing conflict. Despite totalling some 140 flights by January 2022, relatively little is known about the types of arms and equipment delivered to the embattled Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF). [1] This is not in the least through the enforcement of strong operational security (OPSEC) rules throughout the entirety of the ENDF, forbidding soldiers to take photos of their equipment. Prior to the outbreak of the Tigray War, Ethiopia was known for its laxity in adhering to proper OPSEC procedures, a welcome fact for analysts like us.
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Sunday, 9 January 2022

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Strategic Ignorance: The U.S. Lawmakers’ Stance On Israeli Arms Sales To Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , Barak-8 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer and Joost Oliemans
 
The State of Israel is Azerbaijan's largest supplier of arms and equipment, accounting for a whopping 69% percent of the country's major arms imports in the period from 2016 to 2020. [1] [2] This number is likely to have risen even further after the conclusion of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, which saw Azerbaijan expend a significant portion of its ammunition reserves that had to be replenished both during and after the war. [3] While Türkiye is often thought to be a major exporter of military items to Azerbaijan, Türkiye accounted for only 2,9% percent of Azerbaijan's imports of major arms from 2011 to 2020. [4]
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Saturday, 8 January 2022

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From Trainer To Attacker: The Aero L-39C Albatros In Afghan Service

Afghan National Army Air Corps , Afghanistan 0 Comments

By Lukas Müller in collaboration with Stijn Mitzer
 
This is an updated and expanded version of an article that was first published in the August/September 2020 newsletter of the Asian Air Arms Research Group. The article also updates information on Afghan L-39s featured in the author's book Wings over the Hindu Kush.
 
The Czechoslovak-made L-39 Albatros jet trainer was widely exported and enjoyed a long and successful career in service of many countries around the globe. Afghanistan received its first L-39s in 1977 with the last two examples being withdrawn only in the late 2000s or early 2010s, after at least 30 years of service. The story of Afghan L-39s might not be over yet, though: in December 2021, mechanics at Kabul airport, now under the command of the Taliban, began testing the engines of the remaining L-39s, with a clear ambition of bringing the long-grounded jets back to service. [1]
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Friday, 7 January 2022

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Keeping The Peace - Bayraktar TB2s Over Ukraine

Baykar Tech , Bayraktar TB2 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer
 
A Ukrainian drone strike on a howitzer belonging to DNR seperatist forces in the contested region of Eastern Ukraine led several countries to voice their concern for the use of unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) in the War in Donbas. [1] Interestingly, this not only included Russia, but also Germany and France. [2] [3] Since the strike, which took place on the 26th of October 2021, tensions between Ukraine and Russia have risen to their highest in years, with a large Russian troop build-up close to the border with Ukraine sparking fears that all out war could be imminent. [4]
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Wednesday, 5 January 2022

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Thunder From The East - Pakistan’s Operational UAV Fleet

Falco , Lists 0 Comments

By Farooq Bhai in collaboration with Stijn Mitzer

Pakistan has been a prolific user of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) since the late 1990s. In 2004, the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) inducted the indigenous Satuma Jasoos II ''Bravo+'' UAV, becoming the first branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces to operate UAVs. The Pakistani Army (PA) soon followed suit with another indigenous type, the Uqab P1 UAV designed by Global Industrial & Defence Solutions (GIDS), which entered entered active service with the Pakistani Army in 2008. The design of the Uqab P1 was further refined after incorporating lessons learned during its service with the PA and an improved version, known as the Uqab P2, was later adopted by the Pakistani Navy (PN) in 2010.
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Tuesday, 4 January 2022

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Replicating Success: Turkmenistan’s Arsenal Of Israeli SkyStriker Loitering Munitions

Elbit , Loitering Munitions 0 Comments

By Stijn Mitzer

Turkmenistan is a large recipient of Israeli arms and equipment, so far including weaponry like the TAR-21 assault rifle and several types of infantry mobility vehicles (IMVs). Arguably lesser known is Turkmenistan's inventory of Israeli-produced unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This until 2021 consisted of familiar types like the Elbit Skylark and Aeronautics Defense Orbiter 2B, both solely used for reconnaissance missions. These were acquired in the early-2010s, presenting Turkmenistan's first UAVs that were not target drones inherited from the Soviet Union.
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