Russian jets in Libya: Why Haftar's MiGs will 'change nothing' on the ground

A fleet of Russian-made fighter jets which have arrived in Libya in support of Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces are militarily “useless” and will “change nothing” on the ground, aviation analysts have told Middle East Eye.

Instead, the planes, which are probably piloted by mercenaries, have likely been deployed with Moscow’s approval in order to deter further Turkish-backed attacks on LNA forces.

At least six MiG-29 Fulcrum and two Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer fighter jets escorted by two Russian Air Force planes were reported last week to have landed in the North African country.

Fathi Bashaga, the interior minister for the internationally recognised Government of National Accord in Tripoli, told the Bloomberg news agency last Thursday that the GNA had information that the planes had arrived.

On the same day, a reliable source told MEE that a suspected “Syrian” Mig-29 was stationed at the Haftar-held airbase at al-Jufrah.

Meanwhile a satellite image taken of the base on 19 May appeared to show a MiG-29 on the facility’s taxiway, suggesting that the other seven planes were there as well

Read this analysis wriiten in collaboration with Jalel Harchaoui and Tom Cooper on Middle East Eye : Russian jets in Libya: Why Haftar's MiGs will 'change nothing' on the ground

LNA uses an Il-18D belonging to a foreign company to transport ammunition from Benina to Gharyan

On May 12th, 2019, a Russian journalist - Alexander Kots - embeded with LNA forces published the three photos below on his Twitter account revealing that LNA uses a former Moldovan Sky Prim'Air company Il-18D - serial ER-ICS - in an aerial bridge to transport, notably, ammunition from Benina to Gharyan. Kots deleted his tweet later realizing probably that he was revealing touchy information on LNA.

This Il-18D is flying in the Libyan sky for at least three years. On September 15th, 2016, it flew from Tobruk to Zintan, transporting participants to the Nalut Reconciliation Conference. On November 25th, the same Il-18D flew from Tobruk to Benina air base loaded with equipment and, supposedly, medical supplies for hospitals and clinics in and around Benghazi. According to the LNA, the consignment of medicine and health equipment had arrived the day before at Tobruk on a flight from Germany.

On December 15th, it hauled 60 million dinars from Libya’s central bank to Birak Al Shati.

The same aircraft landed at Zintan on January 1st, 2017 with Libyan military officers on board. The officers had recently graduated from training in Jordan.

On August 24th, 2017, it was seen at al-Jufra airbase and was used to transport LNA soldier bodies killed by ISIS in an attack the days before.

Sky Prim'Air like Oscar Jet belonged to a Moldovan family, the Ghilan. Their fleet carried out cargo flights toward, from and inside Libya in profit to the LNA which have only old aircraft from Kadhafi period - an Il-76TD and a C-130. In June 2017, United Nation Security Council Panel of experts report on Libya revealed that this Il-18D was spotted on satellite imagery at the UAE airbase of al-Khadim in eastern Libya. According to the report, the plane with Moldovan registration numbers does not have an official owner and is not registered in any country. However, until July 2015, it belonged to Moldovan company Grixona SRL, which in the meantime changed its name twice: initially - in Sky Prim Air SRL, and in 2016 it is renamed Terra Avia SRL. The company belongs to Moldovan Grigore Ghilan. A week before the aircraft was removed from the Republic of Moldova's airline, the businessman was decorated by President Nicolae Timofti with the "Labor Glory" order for merits in civil aviation.

In November 2017 RISE Moldova investigated about suspected flights of Moldovan immatriculated aircraft in Libya. RISE Moldova learned that Grigore Ghilan had as business partners two Russian citizens of Arab origin who were involved in a scandal over Armenia's illegal arms transport to Libya. It's about Malik Bilal and Mukhammad Amir. Several years ago, the two owned nearly half of the share capital of Grixona SRL. And now, Malik Bilal, along with Vladimir Ghilan, is the founder of Oscar Jet SRL.

On April 11th, 2019, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Republic of Moldova reported that restrictive measures were imposed on certain air carriers operating flights outside the Republic of Moldova (Middle East, Asia and the Pacific) by prohibiting the operation of an aircraft (Oscar Jet) and the suspension of Air Operator Certificate (AOC) for Terra Avia - former Sky Prim'Air renamed in 2016 as mentioned above - and Fly Pro. Despite this suspension , it seems that Il-18D serial "ER-ICS" still fly and has changed hands and is now owned by a Kazakh unknown company.

Remains of Chinese made missiles found in Tripoli points to Wing Loongs airstrikes

As part of Operation Taoufane al-Karama, the accuracy of night air strikes has become unusually high for at least a week. The past days, many pictures of remains of missiles were sent to me for identification pointing they could have been launched by foreign air forces during night airstrikes around Tripoli. The photos have been taken in fighting in Wadi Rabe on April 17th and in Aziziya and comparison with Chinese made Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) LJ-7, also known as 'Blue Arrow-7', confirmed that this type of missiles was used in the two air strikes. Some Blue Arrow 7 missiles fragments were found following night air strikes on :

- Wadi Rabe' south of Tripoli on April 17th
- Al-Hira on April 20th
- El-Azizia on April 20th
- Ain Zara on April 21th

The LJ-7 missile is an ATGM derivative of a semi-active laser guided HJ-10 for export market. The missile has been displayed at Eurosatory 2012 as the Blue Arrow 7. It is also used for armor penetration is up to 1400 mm; it is achieved by increasing the warhead and reducing the fuel, resulting in the reduction of the maximum range.

On April 19th, 2018, a LJ-7 missile shot from a drone was used by the Saudi-led coalition to assassinate the president of Houthi Supreme Political Council Saleh Ali al-Sammad.

The LJ-7 missile can be loaded on Wing Loong 2 UAV, in service notably with United Arab Emirates Air Force which deployed some of them at al-Khadim airbase in eastern Libya and with Egypt Air Force.

Al-Khadim is a former airport located in al-Marj province in eastern Libya. Since June 2016, Emirates IOMAX AT-802 “Air Tractor” turboprop aircraft and Chinese-made Wing Loong UAV have been deployed on this airbase on which extension works started to increase its capacity. The existing parking area was equipped with a dozen of shelters, half of them used to house aircraft and drones.

This small fleet was engaged in airstrike and reconnaissance missions in support of Libyan National Army troops fighting islamist groups in Benghazi, in particular the Islamic State et the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, or BRSC - a group with ties to Al Qaeda. A second parking area was under construction since September 2016 in the base’s southeast corner. A dozen of large shelters were built and half of the new tarmac was achieved on February 2017. The size of these infrastructures is large enough to host fighter jets like F-16s, Mirage 2000s or even Rafales.

Tripoli is far from this UAE-built airbase, so the Wing Loongs might be operated from an alternative runway close to the Tripoli front in order to stay longer in the air for carrying out Close Air Support (CAS) to LNA.

Marshall Haftar air power capacity could increase as UAE airbase in Libya is now ready to host fighter jets

Marshall Haftar air power capacity could increase as UAE airbase in Libya is now ready to host fighter jets
Version : November 10th, 2018
Number of pages : 8 (1430 words)

9,99€

Satellite imagery taken on November 10th, 2018, shows that al-Khadim airbase is now operational to receive a fleet of fighter jets. Indeed, the parking area under construction for two years is now “opened” on the runway. The expansion of the al-Khadim airbase which had been paused for more than half a year suddenly accelerated since October 2017. Al-Khadim is a former airport located in al-Marj province in eastern Libya. Since June 2016, Emirates IOMAX AT-802 “Air Tractor” turboprop aircraft and Chinese-made Wing Loong UAV have been deployed on this airbase on which extension works started to increase its capacity. The existing parking area was equipped with a dozen of shelters, half of them used to house aircraft and drones. This small fleet was engaged in airstrike and reconnaissance missions in support of Libyan National Army troops fighting islamist groups in Benghazi, in particular the Islamic State et the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shura Council, or BRSC - a group with ties to Al Qaeda.

Libya - Weekly situation report 10 - 16 May

Fighting between Libyan National Army brigades and "Derna Protection Force" (former Derna Mujahideen Shura Council) militants are still ongoing in and around the city of Derna. Following the latest reinforcement, LNA Omar Mukhtar Operations Room has now about twenty brigades in the area (on almost hundred LNA units). LNA claimed seized Al-Hila, al-Fatayeh, suburbs of Sie Aziz, Sie Aoun, al-Khabta and the Haysha camp. Ground forces are supported by LNA Air Force and UAE Wing Loong drones and AT-802s turboprop aircraft flying from al-Khadim airbase in al-Marj. In Sebha, fighting continued in and around the historic castle which was partly destroyed. Since the beginning of May, more than 31 people have been killed and 121 wounded in the clashes. In western Libya, several networks of migrant traffickers were dismantled by Zuwara Police Forces seizing several boats and engines.

This report includes : - Situation in southern Libya - Situation in eastern Libya - Situation in western Libya - Coast guards activities - Foreign military flights - Demining activities 3,99€

The UAE Is Getting Ready to Deploy Jets to the Libya War

New satellite imagery from Terra Server — dated Sept. 24 and Nov. 10, 2017 — show accelerating construction on Al Khadim air base in eastern Libya.

And that’s strong evidence that the United Arab Emirates is preparing to intervene even more in the grinding Libyan civil war. The imagery of Al Khadim, located in Al Marj province, depicts a new large parking area and aircraft shelters that could accommodate jet fighters.

The UAE Is Getting Ready to Deploy Jets to the Libya War - Base construction hints at air-war escalation

United Nations Panel of Experts report for Libya used or confirmed my work and analyzes done since last year

On 9 June 2017, United Nations Panel of Experts published its latest report about Libya. Parts of this document (18 pages on 299) used or confirmed my work done for War Is Boring and Défense et Sécurité Internationale magazine.

My publication in May 2017

Two publications in May 2017 : in DSI issue No.129, I talk about the engagement of Egyptian and Emirati Air Forces in Libya with a focus on the UAE deployment at al-Khadim airbase; I have also written a short piece about the latest batch of four F-16IQs delivered to Iraqi Air Force in Issue No.350 of Air Forces Monthly magazine

Les émirati sont sur le point de déployer des chasseurs en Libye

Base aérienne d'al-Khadim au 30 décembre 2016 (TerraServer)

De nouvelles photos satellites de la base aérienne d’al-Khadim prises en décembre dernier montrent clairement que les Emirats Arabes Unis sont sur le point de déployer des chasseurs sur le territoire libyen. L'engagement de la force aérienne d'Abu Dhabi aux côtés du maréchal Haftar a déjà été confirmé depuis plusieurs mois. En effet, les IOMAX AT-802 Air Tractor et les drones Wing Loong de fabrication chinoise sont situés sur la base aérienne d'al-Khadim depuis au moins le mois de juillet. Leurs pilotes - la plupart d'entre eux des mercenaires américains travaillant pour Erik Prince – ont régulièrement effectué des missions de soutien aérien au profit de l'Armée Nationale Libyenne contre les groupes islamistes à Benghazi.

Emirati are on the verge of deploying fighter jets in Libya

New satellite photos of the al-Khadim airbase taken in December clearly show that the United Arab Emirates are on the verge of deploying fighter jets on Libyan territory. The engagement of the air force of Abu Dhabi alongside Marshal Haftar has already been confirmed for several months. Indeed, IOMAX AT-802 Air Tractors and Chinese-made Wing Loong drones are located on al-Khadim airbase since at least July. Their pilots - most of them are American mercenaries working for Erik Prince as source told War Is Boring in January - regularly carried out air support missions for the benefit of the Libyan National Army against Islamic groups in Benghazi

Emirati Fighter Jets Could Help Tip the Libyan Civil War - A deployment of Mirage 2000s appears to be imminent