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Airwar over Afghanistan


dov

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On 8/31/2021 at 4:36 AM, Creepy Pete said:

That first B-1B pic is interesting, btw. It shows two different kinds of 2000lbs J-DAM's on the same rotary launcher. The one lowest has a BLU-109 warhead, designed for extra hard or deep targets, and the one to the right has a Mk.84 warhead, for your general big badda boom on the surface.

Good pickup CP, I would not have thought it permissible to load mixed bomb types on a single station/launcher,

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

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Don't forget all the aircraft that flew there that didn't have pointy noses.  These include:

 

E-3 Sentry

E-8 Jstars

Raytheon (Bombardier) Sentinel

EC-135 Rivet Joint

RC-12 

KC-135

KC-10

numerous UAVs

Edited by Jeffth
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3 hours ago, Jeffth said:

Don't forget all the aircraft that flew there that didn't have pointy noses.  These include:

 

E-3 Sentry

E-8 Jstars

Raytheon (Bombardier) Sentinel

EC-135 Rivet Joint

RC-12 

KC-135

KC-10

numerous UAVs

Transall, KC-330, KC-767, Galaxy

 

And all those swirly wing types... !

 

Blackhawks, Apaches, Ospreys, Super Stallions, Sea Kings, Tigers, NH-90, Ch-53, Merlins, Chinooks, Hueys? Lynxs, ...Mi-17, Mi-24/35, Stealth Blackhawk? what else?

 

It is nearly easier to state what did not operate over Afghanistan :D

Eurofighter, Gripen, Jaguar  Phantom .. ;)

 

And now the big question: what will operate there in the next ~5 years?: Flankers, Su-58, J-16s, Su-24, Su-25, J-10, Mi-28, Ka-52,... :devil:

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If I read all this types, from start to end, I am breathless.

If I consider all the UAVs too, all this effort.

I think it's a shame that the world's air forces have been drawn into this filthy, endless and ultimately most pointless war of all wars.

In this case the UAVs, the snipers of the sky, are particularly inglorious.

Were there also refusals of orders from the pilots?

That would be interesting!

Happy modelling

 

P.S: I hope, that no war will be there in the future! Anybody who has seen a war, will not want a war.

War is a tool that comes into play when language fails. Or you are unwilling to speak, listen and understand.

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Ok, as promised here some info on the F-14 loadouts during operations in Afghanistan...

AA missiles: original load was Sidewinders on both left and right pylon side rails and one Phoenix under the right pylon. Later this was changed with the removal of the Phoenix and the use of Sparrows, either under the right pylon or in the rearmost underfuselage position (most common). Then Sparrows were also dropped and Sidewinders remained the only AA weapon carried.

 

Bombs: all bombs were carried under the belly. Common loads were:

4 GBU-12 This seems to have been the most common load for day operations.

3 GBU-12 (2 on the front pallets, one on one of the rear pallets). This load was used in night operations by the F-14B and D, as in case of returning with the bombs still attached, it was lighter and therefore safer than the 4 bomb load. F-14As were lighter so could be recovered with 4 GBU-12s

4 GBU-16. Only used in the initial phases of the campaign or when targets were preassigned, since this load is too heavy to allow the recovery of the aircraft on the carrier.

2 GBU-16

2 GBU-12 and 2 Mk.82. A very common load during patrols as was pretty flexible, with the dumb bombs preferred to attack troops in the open and the LGBs better suited to point targets

2 GBU-16 and 2 Mk.83 . Again, only if the bombs were preassigned to targets since this load makes recovery impossible.

2 GBU-10 (one on one of the front pallet and the other on the opposite rear pallet. It was not possible to carry two weapons of that size side-by-side)

2 GBU-24 (same as above) Used against caves in the battle for Tora Bora

1 GBU 10 or 1 GBU-24.. in some cases it was decided to only load one weapon

Mk.20 Rockeye bombs were also carried in a small number of situations

1 GBU-31 JDAM, used by some units only since others were not yet cleared on the weapon. Generally only one was carried.

 

As you can see the loadout was tailored to the kind of mission expected but was also limited by the maximum weight allowed to land back on a carrier. Of course in case the aircraft has to recover with a higher weight it is possible to drop one or more weapons in the ocean, but considering the cost it was preferred to simply load less bombs. Also notice how the recovery weight differed between night and day.

The last Tomcat mission was in November 2003, so really Grumman's big cat only served over Afghanistan in the early days of the war.

Edited by Giorgio N
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IMG_3059

 

Not sure if this will help any - Dov I've sent you a PM

 

Think the US and RAF airframes have been pretty much covered. Other Aircraft: Dutch and Belgium F-16, French Mirage F.1, Mirage 2000 and Rafael, Italian AMX, German Tornado's. There's plenty of none Strike/Fighter aircraft as well, and Helo's

 

Edited by Buz
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On 9/6/2021 at 3:51 AM, exdraken said:

And all those swirly wing types... !

 

Blackhawks, Apaches, Ospreys, Super Stallions, Sea Kings, Tigers, NH-90, Ch-53, Merlins, Chinooks, Hueys? Lynxs, ...Mi-17, Mi-24/35, Stealth Blackhawk? what else?

 

And the CH-46 during service with the USMC and later right up to the final few days and still armed with 'Embassy Air' before being disabled and abandoned.

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On 8/30/2021 at 11:55 AM, Giorgio N said:

There were no enemy aircraft flying during Operation Enduring Freedom

Before the start of the operation, there was a theoretical Afghan air force, with small numbers of MiG-21 and Su-22, however it is likely that even less were the aircraft actually operational and there are doubts about how many pilots and technicians were in service. Just to err on the side of caution, US forces hit all Afghan airbases from day 1 and tried to destroy every aircraft on the ground. There was no report of any enemy aircraft ever flying.

Come come surely you mean Op Herrick 😏

What did the Italians 🇮🇹 call it

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Here's something a little different and never happened according to many armchair experts out there (was told that quite a few times) - Rafale B 320 '7-HV' in Afghanistan (at least I think its 320)

 

Rafale 2 seater 7-HV taxing KAF 19 Apr 2008

 

 

Edited by Buz
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On 9/11/2021 at 8:05 AM, Buz said:

Here's something a little different and never happened according to many armchair experts out there (was told that quite a few times) - Rafale B 320 '7-HV' in Afghanistan (at least I think its 320)

 

Rafale 2 seater 7-HV taxing KAF 19 Apr 2008

 

 

Kandahar airfield ...im pretty sure i saw 2000N as well.....in their secondary role obviously 

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On 9/10/2021 at 6:10 PM, junglierating said:

Come come surely you mean Op Herrick 😏

What did the Italians 🇮🇹 call it

 

I can't remember what name was given internally to the Italian participation but the whole show was just called Enduring Freedom... afterall it was the US that were in charge, we just followed them,,, 🤣

 

The Italian contribution to EF was mainly from the Navy AV-8B+s, that flew from the carrier Cavour. These missions were very long and required multiple in flight refuelling to reach the targets.

Later the air force contributed to what had become known as ISAF with a detachment of Tornado, replaced by AMX a few years later. I'll look for info on the loads of all the types, although I believe it was mostly LGBs

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On 9/12/2021 at 7:18 PM, junglierating said:

Kandahar airfield ...im pretty sure i saw 2000N as well.....in their secondary role obviously 

Not sure what the 2000's were, but all the ones I have photos of have 6xx serials. Rafale's were 104, 105 and I think 320 (for the dual), the F.1's were Mirage F1CR's (630 and 637).

 

 

Edited by Buz
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13 hours ago, Buz said:

Not sure what the 2000's were, but all the ones I have photos of have 6xx serials. Rafale's were 104, 105 and I think 320 (for the dual), the F.1's were Mirage F1CR's (630 and 637).

 

 

Interesting the ones that used to taxi by our line at the far end of the airfield(opposite end to poo pond) were two seaters hence why I thought they might be N variants 

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19 hours ago, junglierating said:

Interesting the ones that used to taxi by our line at the far end of the airfield(opposite end to poo pond) were two seaters hence why I thought they might be N variants 

N or the more capable D variant are 2- seaters and specialized on air to ground

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/28/2021 at 6:54 PM, dov said:

Hallo

For modelling issue only I seek for informationen about all types of aircraft & helicopter flown in the last 20 years in this theater of operations. If you have also information about payload and misdion it is highly appreciated. If you have pics of course too!

Thank you all in forward. 

 

For good

modelling issue it is necessary to take not 20 years! Airwar over Afghanistan - 93 years! 

Moreover, one of the aircraft lost over Afghanistan was the DH-9A from the expeditionary force in India, which was used for reconnaissance and which was shot down by local Afghan tribes.

Afghanistan is also the first time that a ruler:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inayatullah_Khan

used aircraft to flee his country:

1206869_original.jpg

 

From Afghanistan was also  organize a first  mass evacuation on aircraft.

1206668_original.jpg

When in just 84 flights, 584 people were taken out - no casualties!  The total flight time was about 80 thousand km.

1205988_original.jpg

Used for evacuation:

De Havilland DH-9A, Vickers Victoria and

Handley Page Hinaidi.

 

During the Second World War, thanks to Soviet-British cooperation, there was no war in the air.🤗

Next was 10 years Soviet epoch airwar over Afghanistan where were the dog fights.

 

And only then there were these 20 years!

 

I think if you want to go beyond the 20-year air war over Afghanistan in your article, you will be happy to help here on the BM.

😉

 

On 9/6/2021 at 5:51 AM, exdraken said:

And now the big question: what will operate there in the next ~5 years?: Flankers, Su-58, J-16s, Su-24, Su-25, J-10, Mi-28, Ka-52,... :devil:

BBC News, Russian Service, with reference to Wall Street Journal, The United States discusses with Moscow the possibility of using Russian military bases in Central Asia to act against possible threats in Afghanistan.

Full news on Russian here:

https://www.bbc.com/russian/features-58720436.amp

I think you will not perceive British corporation BBC as Russian propaganda?

Therefore, it is not a fact that Western planes will not fly over Afgagistan in 5 years.

 

B.R.

Serge

 

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Excellent Aardvark or Serge

 

I started to get a glimpse on this country in the 1980s. As I mentioned from athletics. Exactly from nutrition.

Since this mountain tribes, we as long distance runners, we could learn much more from them as from Africans.

Because the temperature profile is more like in Europe.

This was also as a climber, for Himalya, this tribes have much in common with people in Nepal too.

Just out of this reason, any military campaign must fail.

From Queen Victoria on I watched the British interference, the German interference in WW1 and also later years.

Your post is simple excellent. Covers a little more.

 

For aviation history:

Lybia, which saw the first air war at all, from Italien side.

Or Tsingtao, Japanese vs. German Rumpler Taube.

 

Happy modelling

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