The LNA Air School rehabilitated nine pilots and upgraded eight

The Libyan News Agency published on 16 April 2017 a video from inside the Libyan National Army Air School at Tobruk where new pilots are being trained on Mi-2 helicopters. Colonel Pilot Mohamed Ben Ali, commanding officer of the Mi-2 Squadron, said that the military personnel carried out 1553 sorties, which lasted 1200 hours and 45 minutes. Ben Ali explained that these flights included military operations in addition to other training that contributed to the rehabilitation of nine pilots from the combat squadrons, and raise the efficiency of eight other pilots on Mi-2 Squadron.

My publication in April-May 2017

In March-April, two of my articles are published in DSI and Combat Aircraft Monthly magazines. The first one is the story of the Garud commando forces, the special forces dedicated to the Indian Air Force in DSI special Issue. In Combat Aircraft Monthly, I published a short piece about the latest Aero Vodochody L-159s delivered to Iraqi Air Force.

The Libyan National Army Is Running Out of Air Power

The Libyan National Army Air Force — part of the eastern-based Tobruk regime, one of two competing governments in Libya — lost two fighter-bombers and an experienced pilot in fewer than two weeks. A MiG-21 shot down over the Al Sabri district in Benghazi and a second MiG-21 that crashed near Tobruk after a mission to Derna, killing the commander of Gamal Abdul El Nasser air base.

The LNA/AF, under the command of Gen. Khalifa Haftar, also lost a Mi-35 gunship helicopter that the air arm abandoned at Ras Lanouf air base during a militant attack — and then destroyed.The losses have sharply reduced the LNA/AF’s combat capability as it battles western-based Misrata militants who are determined to hold Libya’s central oil crescent.

The Libyan National Army Is Running Out of Air Power

My interview in Libération newspaper on 7 April

My interview (in French) in Libération newspaper on 7 April 2017 about US airstrikes on al-Shayrat airbase in retaliation of the chemical attack on Khan Cheikhoun in Syria.

Syrie: Al-Shayrat et les 59 Tomahawks