My publication for summer 2017

This summer, two of my stories are published in issue 20 of The Aviation Historian magazine and september issue of Air Forces Monthly. First one is the story of the Libyan Tu-22s "Blinder" engaged in Chad against Chadian and French written in collaboration with my colleague Tom Cooper. Two of them were lost during the air raids against N'Djamena in 1986 and 1987. The second article (Flaspoint) establishes an assessment of the air war in Yemen since March 2015.

Libyan National Army Air Force MiG shot down over Derna

The Libyan National Army Air Force has lost a new aircraft over Derna today, shot down by Derna Mujahidine Shura Council (DMSC) militants. The pilot, Adel Al-Jihani, and the co-pilot, Wael Al-Wakwak, ejected but Al-Jihani died from his wounds shortly after it was detained by DMSC. According to LNA spokesman, the aircraft was a MiG-21, but other LNA sources claimed it was a MiG-23. The fact that the crew took off from Tobruk airbase would confirm that it would indeed be one of the three remained MiG-21UMs of the fleet (serial number 073, 076 or 117).

Edit 30 July 2017 : It seems that the pilot, Adel Al-Jihani was a MiG-23 pilot and has been executed in retaliation of previous airstrike performed by him ... The lost aircraft is therfore MiG-23UB '8008'

MiG 23 shot down by MSCD in al Hamar, south #Derna, reportedly by SA18 #missile #Libya video of wreckage cannot be verified pic.twitter.com/G2M7pYh82Z

— Viraj Pattni (@intlsec) 29 juillet 2017

Video of the supposed crash site

My publication in July 2017

En juillet, je contribue au n°130 du magazine "Défense & Sécurité International" avec un article sur la "guerre aérienne face à l'Etat Islamique en Irak et en Syrie" depuis 2014.

In July, I have contributed to Issue No. 130 of "Défense & Sécurité International" magazine with an article about the "Air War against Islamic Sates in Iraq and Syria" since 2014.

Rapport du Groupe d'Experts du Conseil de Sécurité des Nations-Unies sur la Libye

Mon travail sur la crise libyenne depuis un an confirmé par les Experts du Conseil de Sécurité des Nations-Unies sur la Libye

Version en français de l'article publié sur War Is Boring le 14 juin 2017

Le 9 juin 2017, le Groupe d’Experts des Nations Unies créé à la suite de la résolution 1973 sur la Libye a publié son rapport final sur son travail pour le Conseil de Sécurité. Ce document, long de près de 300 pages, inclus notamment des détails sur l’évolution politique et la sécuritaire du pays, la violation des droits de l’homme, la violation de l’embargo sur les armes, la prévention des exportations illicites de pétrole brut, le détournement de fonds publics et le financement des groupes armés.

Une grande partie du chapitre concernant la violation de l’embargo sur les armes, soit une trentaine de pages, a mentionné, réutilisé et/ou confirmé mes recherches et analyses publiées depuis un an sur plusieurs médias spécialisés (War Is Boring, Middle East Eye et le magazine DSI).

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.

Egypt Has Joined the Air War in Libya

On May 26, 2017, armed men traveling in pickup trucks gunned down 28 Coptic Christians and wounded 26 as the Christians were on their way to visit a monastery in Egypt’s Minya province. Islamic State has claimed its responsibility for the attack. That same evening, Egypt announced that its air force had carried out six air raids on ISIS camps near the Libyan city of Derna. Cairo suspects that the Derna Mujahideen Shura Council, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated coalition of Islamist militias that formed in December 2014, supported the murders.

The strikes involved F-16C/D Block 52s covered by at least two Rafales. Weirdly, the Egyptian government posted a video supposed illustrating the operation, but the footage actually depicts a later strike on the city of Hun.

Egypt Has Joined the Air War in Libya - The skies are getting crowded

My publication in June 2017

In June Issue of Air Force Monthly magazines, I published the second contribution to my new series of monthly reports named the "Flashpoint" : "Wolves in sheep's clothing", the concept of transforming Antonov transports into auxiliary bombers starting in 1967 in the Indian Air Force and used recently in the battle of Mosul by Iraqi AIr Force.

How Iraq Makes Combat Pilots

During the occupation that followed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, most Iraqi combat aircraft — MiG-23s, MiG-25s and Su-25s — were discovered by coalition forces in poor condition on various air bases, while others were discovered buried outside their bases or in nearby towns and villages where they had been abandoned.

Most IrAF aircraft were destroyed during and after the invasion, and any remaining materiel was discarded in the immediate aftermath of the war. No aircraft acquired during the era of Saddam Hussein would be retained in service by the new Iraqi air arms.

How Iraq Makes Combat Pilots

The military escalation in Fezzan can lead to an open conflict between Tobruk and Misrata

This analysis was to be published initially on Middle East Eye, but this publication has been canceled. So I decided to share it for free on my blog ...

For six months, escalation is increasing in the Tamanhint area – 30 kilometer northeast of Al Sebha – between the LNA’s 12th Infantry Brigade and Misrata’s Third Force. The latest major confrontation was the attack on Brak al-Shati — 80 kilometers north of Al Sebha — infrastructure on 18 May which let about 140 LNA militaries and civilians killed, and an entire key military air base ravaged. How a militia like the Third Force managed to fall such airbase so easily ?

Iraqi secret Intelligence Service aircraft revealed

On May 10, 2017, a ceremony took place at Al Muthana air base in Iraq in the presence of Iraqi air force commander Gen. Anwar Hamad Amin. In the background of photos taken that day, a De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter with an Iraqi flag on the tail is visible.

The presence of this DHC-6 is surprising because no such aircraft has been reported as having been delivered to Iraq. According to sources War Is Boring agreed not to name, this airplane arrived in Iraq in secrecy in 2014 and is currently being used by the Iraqi intelligence service.

We’ve Spotted Some Secret Iraqi Spy Planes

My interview in Libération newspaper on 21 May

My interview (in French) in Libération newspaper on 21 May 2017 about the attack performed on Brak al-Shati airbase in southern Libya.

L'armée du maréchal Haftar ravagée dans le Sud libyen

New loss for Iraqi Army Aviation in the battle of Mosul

Iraqi Army Aviation has lost a Bell IA-407 on 13 May in western Mosul near Al-Qayrawan region. The pilots managed to land safely in a PMU (Popular Mobilization Units) base after being hit by ground fire and later evacuated. This is the second Bell IA-407 down in five weeks. Previous one was down on 6 April in Al-Muhandisin district of Mosul city. A Mi-35 crashed near Baiji on 4 January and another Bell IA-407 was lost in Mukeshefah area North of Samarra at 140 km north of Baghdad on 29 October 2016. Seven Bell helicopters were captured, crashed or shot down in three years of fighting against Islamic State.

Dropping the Big One

by Krzysztof Dabrowski

The Big One usually refers to a nuclear weapon, a nuclear bomb in particular. In case of the AN602 (AH602) this term is especially fitting for this thermonuclear weapon was indeed big both in terms of its yield as well as weight and dimensions. The bomb went under several other designations including RDS-202 (РДС-202), RN202 (PH202) and names such as Ivan (Иван). It was also called Kuzkina mat (Кузькина мать) literally meaning the mother of Kuzma which was a reference to the Soviet Union’s leader of that time Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev ( Ники́та Серге́евич Хрущёв) exclamation "Мы вам покажем Кузькину мать!" – phonetically “My vam pokazhem Kuzkinu mat!” – which literally means we will show you Kuzma’s mother but colloquially expresses the intention to teach others a harsh lesson. However arguably the weapon is best known as the Tsar bomba (Царь-бомба) even if the Soviets themselves never actually used this term. Since it is pointless to “swim against the tide” Tsar bomba will henceforth be used in this piece as well. The said “doomsday device” was developed by a team of physicists headed by Yulii Borisovich Khariton (Ю́лий Бори́сович Харито́н) which also included many other distinguished Soviet scientists with Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (Андре́й Дми́триевич Са́харов) among them.

While considerable attention is usually devoted to the bomb itself and its test – that hardly being surprising – the aircraft which delivered it and the men who flew it usually stay in relative obscurity. Yet a nuclear bomb without a bomber remains useless for obvious reasons. Thus it begs to devote a few words to the Tu 95V bomber which was an aircraft devised specifically to carry and drop the Tsar bomba.

The bomb undergoes the necessary preparations

Misrata has recruited new mercenaries for its air force

Forces loyal to the Libyan renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar claim foreign mercenaries are being recruited to bolster the air power of rival fighters in the city of Misrata. Colonel Ahmed Almesmari, of Haftar's Libyan National Army, said this week that the 11 mercenaries had entered the city, including "nine jet technicians from Ecuador, one Ukrainian pilot, one missile expert from Georgia".

A source close to the international mission in Libya, who asked to remain anonymous, also confirmed this to Middle East Eye. Almesmari told MEE that the Libyan National Army (LNA) was "not in a stage to comment further". "In case we decide to announce detailed info, it will be on our official outlets," he added.

The mercenaries were reported by MEE's source to have entered the cities of Misrata and Mitiga. The hiring of mercenaries would break UN resolutions on arms control in Libya.

Libyan militia building mercenary air force, rivals claim

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