AirForces Monthly Magazine #361 -April 2018- (ENG) Oficially the World's Number One Authority on Military Aviation

AirForces Monthly Magazine #361 -April 2018- (ENG) Oficially the World's Number One Authority on Military Aviation.

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AFM’s opinion on the hot topics in military aviation.

Operation Olive Branch
In January 2018, the Turkish armed forces began a campaign in northern Syria, officially targeting Kurdish and Islamist factions. Onur Kurç and Tayfun Yaşar examine Turkey’s latest major military operation.

Hitting the beach
Landing a big transport like a C-130 on a rough, unprepared airfield requires a team of experts on the ground and in the air. Søren Augustesen discovers how the Royal Danish Air Force trains for this mission at Lakolk Beach, on the small island of Rømø.

Singapore’s Air Combat Command – the first decade
Chen Chuanren assesses the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s Air Combat Command as it celebrates its tenth year of existence, following a service-wide restructuring.

Gripen masterminds
Stefan Degraef and Edwin Borremans visit the Swedish Air Force’s Gripen Operational Test and Evaluation Unit, where a small but important community is responsible for trials of all Gripen-related hardware and software destined for the front line.

Mexican spycraft
Mariano García and José Quevedo review the status of Mexico’s intelligence-gathering fleet, among the most complex in the region, and one that operates manned and unmanned platforms in a variety of roles.

Training a Typhoon pilot
In the first of a two-part feature, Jamie Hunter visits No 29 Squadron at RAF Coningsby to find out how the Royal Air Force trains new Eurofighter Typhoon pilots.

Dutch training in Tucson
Kees van der Mark reports from Tucson International Airport in Arizona, the home of Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 pilot training.

Iberia’s big cats
Salvador Mafé Huertas reviews the progress of the Tigre attack helicopter in Spanish Army service and considers the prospects for the advanced HAD variant.

Regular features

INTEL REPORT: Singapore shapes up for the future
Well trained, and operating some of the most sophisticated systems available, the Republic of Singapore Air Force is an extremely capable air arm. Alan Warnes visited the Singapore Airshow to assess an air force punching well above its weight.

FLASHPOINT: Niger’s desert warriors
Niger’s armed forces are relatively modest in strength, numbering only around 15,000 personnel. Its air force is proportionately small but has added a handful of capable assets in recent years, as Arnaud Delalande explains.

FORCE REPORT: Supremacy in the South Pacific
The Chilean Navy complements its surface and submarine fleet with one of the most powerful naval aviation arms in South America. Cees-Jan van der Ende and Cristobal Soto Pino visited its aviators, who operate over one of the most extensive coastlines in the world.

SURVEY: European maritime patrol aircraft Part 4
AFM’s correspondents continue their round-up of the maritime patrol aircraft fleets of Europe’s NATO and Partnership for Peace members. This month, the focus turns to Poland, Portugal and Spain.

COMMANDER’S UPDATE BRIEFING: Fuelling the fight
It is almost impossible now to imagine modern air operations without the support of airborne tankers providing vital fuel to almost every type of military aircraft.

Attrition
Dave Allport details the world’s most recent military accidents.

Book reviews
AFM evaluates some of the latest offerings in aviation literature.

Coming up
See what’s featuring in your AFM next month.