NATO Day 16.09.2017

[upnorth]

Hello all,

This weekend was the annual NATO Days public show at Ostrava, in the north east of the Czech Republic.

 

The show is a broad ranging exhibition of military and civilian security forces of both air and land nature.

 

The weather this year was wet and overcast, so a lot of the flying acts were shortened or cancelled when I attended on Saturday.

 

Here's the most presentable of my pics on the day:

 

We'll start with Slovakia, as they were the special co-host nation this year. Among the many things they brought was their newest air asset, the Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk:

Parked next to the Blackhawk was a veteran Mil Mi-17 of the Slovak Government Flying Service:

This Fokker 100 was also part of the Slovak exhibition:

As part of the flying display, they threw their A319 Airbus around a bit:

As usual, they also furnished the MiG-29 flying display for the event:

Canada made their first NATO Days appearance with this CF-18 Hornet:

F-16 Vipers came courtesy of Belgium and the Netherlands. Here's the Dutch pair:

Lithuania brought three aircraft including this Eurocopter AS365:

The German navy brought this aerial survey and monitoring Dornier Do-228NG:

This year's USAF KC-135 came courtesy of the Nebraska ANG:

Standard at any Czech airshow of prominence is the Saab Gripen:

A view of the static park from the tail side:

This Hawk in the statics was as much as anyone saw of the Saudi Hawks on Saturday as they ultimately cancelled their performance due low visibility and safety concerns:

The Yakovlev Yak-40 is an increasingly rare bird in European skies. The Czech air force maintains two, but plans to replace them in the next year or two:

One of the few flying machines on Saturday was the Czech police Bell 412:

Adding a bit of vintage feel to the show was this restored two seat MiG-15 that flies on the Czech civil register:

Edited September 17, 2017 by upnorth

[Simon382]

Some great photos despite what appears to be awful weather, thanks for sharing

[upnorth]

2 hours ago, Simon382 said:

Some great photos despite what appears to be awful weather, thanks for sharing

Thanks, I'm glad I chose to go yesterday as today's weather was even worse.

 

[dolphin38]

Nice shots in some pretty awful weather, I didn't know Slovakia had acquired the Blackhawk, nice catch 

[Jinxman]

Thanks for sharing these - the MiG looks great.

 

Didn't make it this year so nice to see what was on offer.

 

cheers

[upnorth]

9 hours ago, dolphin38 said:

Nice shots in some pretty awful weather, I didn't know Slovakia had acquired the Blackhawk, nice catch 

 

They are quite fresh in Slovak service, the first of them arrived in Slovakia in June:

 

https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20569222/the-first-two-black-hawks-land-in-slovakia.html

[Orion]

Hello Upnorth,

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Some very interesting air frames, for me especially the Fokker 100.

Regards, Orion / The Netherlands.