[Charlie Jaguar]

A nível militar a aeronave portuguesa com mais capacidade para ir a Kabul é o C-130.

Mas estamos em pleno MLU, quantos estarão disponíveis?

Os dois C-130H, no entanto não têm neste momento capacidade para ir a Kabul por todas as razões que são por demais conhecidas. Ainda assim dão para ir ao Mali e RCA.

[HSMW]

claro que dispõe, TAP, Euroatlantic, SATA..........

Se fosse necessário empenhar um A330 para ir a Cabul carregar passageiros, o que seria necessário?

Disponibilidade, Escalas, custos...


Porque:

EUA ordena uso imediato de 18 aviões comerciais para retirar afegãos

 Em causa estão três aeronaves das companhias American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines e Omni Air, duas da Hawaiian Airlines e quatro da United Airlines .

O Pentágono ordenou este domingo o recurso, com caráter de emergência, a 18 aviões comerciais dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA) para o transporte de afegãos retirados de Cabul.

https://sicnoticias.pt/especiais/afeganistao/2021-08-22-EUA-ordena-uso-imediato-de-18-avioes-comerciais-para-retirar-afegaos-084d6b53?fbclid=IwAR1xK9mNsaL7T0rpDI1LyLyIcqaqTmWxD7d4AjP1ANAz2oStiML2xxFLvFw

[typhonman]

A nível militar a aeronave portuguesa com mais capacidade para ir a Kabul é o C-130.

Mas estamos em pleno MLU, quantos estarão disponíveis?

Os dois C-130H, no entanto não têm neste momento capacidade para ir a Kabul por todas as razões que são por demais conhecidas. Ainda assim dão para ir ao Mali e RCA.

A grande questão é como os "estados maiores de planeamento estratégico militar", Alfragide etc, não conseguem antever uma situação destas, (seja no Afeganistão) ou num país qualquer aonde seja necessário extrair portugueses em quantidade, como seja uma Venezuela, Moçambique, Guiné etc.
Como é possível, sermos sempre apanhados de calças na mão?
Opções não faltam, A-400M, A-330MRTT... enfim!

[HSMW]

Que tal algo assim?

The US Department of Defense has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet to help with moving evacuees and refugees away from Afghanistan. What the #CRAF is and which aircraft are taking part:

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/us-department-of-defense-activates-civil-reserve-air-fleet/

[NVF]

Atenção que os aviões da CRAF, que foram requisitados, não vão até Cabul. Para já, essa parte da missão está reservada a aviões militares, por Cabul ser considerada zona de guerra.

[Lightning]

Os dois C-130H, no entanto não têm neste momento capacidade para ir a Kabul por todas as razões que são por demais conhecidas. Ainda assim dão para ir ao Mali e RCA.

Eu percebo que não vale a pena enviar avião nenhum para lá pois já quase não há lá portugueses (o bombeiro do aeroporto já terá regressado?).

Mas Gostava de saber quais são essas razões que não nos permitem capacidade de ir a Kabul, parece que não chego lá sozinho, os C-130 estão ocupados com outras missões? É demasiado perigoso para os nossos C-130?

Andam lá C-130 de outros países, Itália, Holanda, Nova Zelândia...
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/c-130-hercules-depart-auckland-afghan-mission

[tenente]

claro que dispõe, TAP, Euroatlantic, SATA..........

Se fosse necessário empenhar um A330 para ir a Cabul carregar passageiros, o que seria necessário?

Disponibilidade, Escalas, custos...


Porque:

EUA ordena uso imediato de 18 aviões comerciais para retirar afegãos

 Em causa estão três aeronaves das companhias American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines e Omni Air, duas da Hawaiian Airlines e quatro da United Airlines .

O Pentágono ordenou este domingo o recurso, com caráter de emergência, a 18 aviões comerciais dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA) para o transporte de afegãos retirados de Cabul.

https://sicnoticias.pt/especiais/afeganistao/2021-08-22-EUA-ordena-uso-imediato-de-18-avioes-comerciais-para-retirar-afegaos-084d6b53?fbclid=IwAR1xK9mNsaL7T0rpDI1LyLyIcqaqTmWxD7d4AjP1ANAz2oStiML2xxFLvFw

Em termos de aeronaves há sempre, rpt sempre disponibilidade, pois em situação de calamidade ou de conflito, as requisições de aeronaves sempre foram feitas, lembras-te do repatriamento de centenas de milhares de retornados da nossas Ex-Colónias ?

As melhores aeronaves que actualmente possuimos para esse trabalho são os 339 da TAP, sem qq margem para dúvida, apesar do 762ER da Euroatlantic ser um excelente acft.
No ano passado os 339 efectuaram voos directos LIS-PEK-LIS sem escala técnica, lembras-te ?

Quanto a custos teriam que ser contactados os países sobrevoados para avaliar as taxas de rota, e depois planear, contabilizar os custos de operação nos aeroportos alternativos em caso de ser obrigado a divergir, não fosse o diabo tecê-las.

para este tipo de operação terias de empenhar um 339 e uma aeronave de menores dimensões, preferencialmente um C' ou um 295 para fazerem de ponte aérea entre Kabul e o aerodromo onde o 339 ficaria baseado, porque não estou a ver os pilotos da TAP arriscarem operar em Kabul nestas situações de conflito.

A nossa ausência, quanto mim tem a ver com o numero muito reduzido de cidadãos Lusos, também toda uma falta de solidariedade que tem vindo a ser apanágio desta gentinha que está nos comandos deste País, e principalmente, mais uma vez, apanhados com as calças na Mão, por não termos os meios minimamente adequados para este tipo de missão e refiro apenas uma aeronave tipo A400, pois, nem necessitavamos de ter os MRTT para intervir.

Se já tivesssemos os 390 operacionais o problema de falta de meios colocava-se exactamente do mesmo modo, ou destavamos três aeronaves para a operação, sendo uma delas o reabastecedor de serviço, ou com uma aeronave, teriamos de efectuar uma escala para chegar a kabul e outra para regressar e isto apenas para um voo de auxilio, basta imaginar os tempos perdidos no solo a reabastecer !

Quando necessitamos de ajuda vamos a correr estender a mão, mas quando os outros necessitam dessa ajuda olhamos para o lado !!
Não teria ficado mal a Portugal se tivesse destacado um dos C's para auxiliar nesta operação de resgate de refugiados !

Abraços   

[P44]

A319 da Hungria em Kabul

[Charlie Jaguar]

A319 da Hungria em Kabul

É só ver a lista que, por exemplo, o Tom Cooper tem estado a actualizar diariamente:

Today is something like the 7th day of ‘non-combat evacuation’ from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul (‘Kabul IAP’). The airport is reported as ‘safe’, now, with a firm perimeter defence, and Afghan, US, and British troops guarding all the entries. However, it’s getting ever harder to approach the airport (see the end of report why). Regarding involved forces and their operations:

Afghanistan
- 400-500 AIA and NDS commandos are still there holding the perimeter of the Kabul IAP. What happened with up to 50,000 other personnel of the two agencies, nor if anybody in the Washington DC might ever come to the idea to try saving them – is unknown.

Austria (this just ‘for the records’)
- Austrian Chancellor Kurz proudly announced he’s against taking in ‘any more’ Afghans… Instead, Austrian government is going to pay one of neighbouring states to take in the refugees…

Australia
- After growing pressure at home, the Australian PM ordered the RAAF into action.
- 1 C-17A flight evacuated 26 on/around 17 August, another 76 were evacuated by a RAF (British) transport on Thursday, 19 August.

Bahrain
- Is permitting aircraft carrying evacuees to stop and refuel – and that’s it (I’m always flashed by the much-praised ‘Islamic solidarity’)

Belgium
- 2 C-130s and 1 A.400M (from Luxemburg) are involved; couldn’t find additional details right now.

Canada
- 2 C-17As involved since Thursday, 19 August.

Czech Republic
- 3 flights by A.319s evacuated 170 Afghans that used to work with the Czech Army, and all of the embassy staff (most were picked out of Kabul by the Czech Army SF teams). No further action is planned.

Denmark
- 2 C-130Js are used to evacuate Danes and eligible Afghans to Islamabad, from there they’re flown to Denmakr by airliners chartered from Sweden, including SAS A.320NEOs registered as SE-ROG and SE-DYC, plus the DAT MD-83 OY-RUE. An SF detachment is involved, but I’m not sure if it’s still at Kabul IAP.

EU
- The usual lots of talking but, except for negotiations with ‘Taliban that are not recognised by the EU’, little action. The EU announced on Thursday, 19 August, that 100 EU staff and 400 Afghans working with the EU (and their families) had been evacuated, while 300 additional Afghans are still trying to leave. However, it also stated that it’s ‘mathematically impossible’ for the USA and allies to evacuate all the Afghan personnel that had worked for the foreign forces. Great to see the honourable politicians paid to plan and act came to the idea to think about this at all – and only now…

Finland
- 2 C.295M transport aircraft and a squad of Utti Special Jaeger Rgt (SF), facilitating evacuation of Finnish nationals.

France
- 1 A.400M and one C.130H-30 are evacuating people to Dhafra AB, in the UAE; from there, A.330s of the Air Force are evacuating to France.
- Like Italians and Spaniards (see below), French RAID SF unit evacuated over 240 people from different spots in Kabul of the last few days – until ordered to stop, by US commanders.

Germany
- 7 A.400Ms are involved; they have evacuated over 2,000 people by now;
- the KSK team and two H.145M helicopters at still at Kabul IAP, but in the light of US commanders prohibiting any ‘externals’ (at least until yesterday), they were standing idle for much of the last two days: first ops over Kabul were reportedly flown the last night.
- So far, at least two German citizens were shot and wounded during diverse of ‘external’ evacuation ops outside Kabul IAP.
 
Great Britain
- C-17 Globemasters and C-130J Hercules of the RAF are involved, and evacuating via the UAE. Like the French, the 900 troops of the 2nd Para/16th Airborne Brigade were excelling at bringing additional evacuees to the Kabul IAP, until interrupted by US commanders, two days ago. London intends to evacuate 6,000-7,000 people, but no aid workers and none of 125 Afghan guards that used to protect its embassy (these were hired by a PMC).

Hungary
- HunAF A319 taking out own citizens, and might accept some Afghans that worked for its government over the time (details remain scarce)

India
- Either on 16 or 17 August, 150-170 Indian nationals were escorted by the Taliban to Kabul IAP (yup, the embassy arranged this), and then flown out to Jamnagar and New Delhi by a C-17A of the Indian Air Force. Another 50 were flown out before the Taliban took over.

Indonesia
- 1 B737 (A-7305) evacuated 33 people from Kabul on 18 August, including 26 Indonesian, 5 Philippino, and 2 Afghan nationals.

Italy
- 4 C-130Js are evacuating to Kuwait, where 4 KC-767s are flying evacuees out to Italy. 
- Italians have teams from the 1st Tuscania Airborne Regiment and the 7th Trentino Alto Adige Regiment (both Carabinieri). They might have some paratroopers of the Folore Division in situ, too, and they seem to have run several ‘externals’ outside the Kabul IAP, until stopped by US commanders. There are reasonably lot of photos showing them ‘all over thee place’. Nominaly at least, the government in Roma plans to evacuate 2,500 Afghans that used to work for it.
- Over 1,000 Afghans were evacuated to Italy as of yesterday, another 211 arrived the last night.

Japan
- 12 diplomatic personnel evacuated by foreign aircraft on Wednesday, 18 August.

Netherlands
- 2 C-130H-30s and running one flight each – a day. Probably to the UAE.
- 1 A.330M tanker evacuated about 180 from Islamabad, on 20 August; a C-17 flew out 86 yesterday, another 160 were flown out by an A.330M early this morning.

Poland
- 3 C-130s involved, evacuating from Kabul to Uzbekistan; LOT airliners are flying people out (five sorties so far)
- BTW, some of German media is using photos of Polish C-130s to ‘illustrate’ the Qatari deployment of US-made C-17s to fly the Taliban leadership from Doha to Qandahar….

Qatar
- I love reporting about Qatari involvement, really – because it’s ‘murky waters’ all the way. Official statements say ‘continuing efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan… additional flights schedule for the upcoming days’, and they have also shown one of C-17 – perhaps the same that brought the Taliban leadership to Qandahar? – picking up evacuees in such a well-organised fashion, that even Hollywood would have a problem to organise it that way. But, have no doubts: Biden is – endlessly – thankful for Qatar’s ‘help in Afghanistan’ and the mainstream media is full of reports about Qatar ‘housing thousands of evacuees (until they can enter a third country)’. Some of French commentators are ‘overwhelmed’ by the Qatari help, too. Makes me wonder how much did Doha pay for that (if it had to pay anything at all)…

Romania
- 1 C-130 flight to Islamabad evacuated 2 Romanians, 1 British, 1 Bulgarian, and 1 US citizen. No new on 14 Romanians that were waiting to be evacuated as of Thursday.
- 1 C-27J remains on hold for possible involvement.

Slovakia
- 1 C-27J flew out 24 people on 19 August.

Slovenia
- 5 Slovenes evacuated to Italy and France, also an Afghan translator that worked for them (was flown from Paris to Ljubljana by a Slovenian Falcon bizjet).

Spain
- At least 3 A.400Ms are involved, and evacuating to Dubai in the UAE. For example, one transport with 110 Afghan refugees – including 36 that used to work for the US administration – arrived at Torrejon yesterday.
- Spain has two teams deployed at Kabul IAP: a squadron of EZAPAC (SF troops) and one from GEO (SWAT asset). They run several externals into Kabul over the last days – until stopped by US commanders, like everybody else.
- Contrary to its troops, the government was a mess in regards of Afghanistan, initially, but now official Spain announced it is providing two additional military bases as transit stations for Afghan evacuees: Moron (de la Frontera) AB, near Seville, and (NAS) Rota, near Cadiz.

South Africa
- Nothing. Indeed, one is left to wonder what’s going to happen with hundreds of South African private military contractors (PMCs), known to have been in the country only about a week ago…
 
Sweden
- 2 C-130H/TP-85 transports involved.

Switzerland
- 230 people evacuated by foreign aircraft: 40 Afghans that used to work for the embassy are going to be allowed into Switzerland.

Turkey
- 3-4 A.400Ms and at least 1-2 C-130s involved
- Turkish Army has 650 troops from the 2 Bolu Commando Brigade, 5 Hakkari Brigade, and some Gendarmes, reinforced by 120 Azerbijan Army troops, at Kabul IAP.

UAE
- United Arab Emirates reportedly ‘facilitated’ the evacuation of 8,500 people from Afghanistan in the last week.

USA
- Rear Admiral Peter Vasely is in overall command of the evacuation
- Major-General Chris Donahue is in command of Kabul IAP
- Ground units are including 2nd Bn/1st Marines, 1st Bn/8th Marines, 1st Combined Bn/194th Armour (Minn National Guard), 3rd BCT 82nd Airborne Division, and 4th Bn/31st Infantry 2nd BCT/10th Mountain Division. There is ever less to see of SF ops.
- Top cover provided by F/A-18E/Fs from USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
- After holding back everybody else for days, Vasely and Donahue have granted permission for an US external: yesterday, at least 96 Afghans were evacuated by CH-47 helicopters to Kabul IAP.
- 2,500 US nationals were evacuated over the last six days, and then 3,800 over the last 24 hours. It remains unclear how many US citizens are still in the country, but plan is now to fly 5,000 Afghan nationals to the UAE, on temporary basis (for 10 days), of course. 
After reviewing diverse videos of the last six days, my estimate is that about 30 people have been killed at or around Kabul IAP since evacuation began: 5-6 were shot, 7 crushed to death, up to 20 fell off USAF C-17As (not the usually reported ‘three’), or were overrun…
BTW, the worst is yet to come, then the Taliban have handed over the security of Kabul to Sirajuddin Haqqani (who barely survived COVID-19, back in July) and his ‘Haqqani Network: Haqqani was sought for by the USA as much as OBL, and nobody knows how many Afghans were killed by UCAV strikes at ‘Haqqani headquarters’ over the years…
Ah yes, and right on Haqqani’s heels, and in addition to the Taliban releasing thousands of the TTP from Afghan jails, another lovely piece of news is that the ‘Islamic State of Khorasan’ (IS-K or ISIS-K) – the Afghan branch of the Daesh – is active again: supposedly, it’s planning a terror attack on the Kabul IAP. Surely enough, the IS-K was smashed by the ‘non-fighting’ Afghan Army and the USA, back in 2019, and is it at war with the Taliban, but well: when one simply lets thousands of jihadists out of prisons in Afghanistan (thank you, Pakistan!)…

As always, all updates and corrections are most welcome.

[Lightning]

claro que dispõe, TAP, Euroatlantic, SATA..........

Se fosse necessário empenhar um A330 para ir a Cabul carregar passageiros, o que seria necessário?

Disponibilidade, Escalas, custos...


Porque:

EUA ordena uso imediato de 18 aviões comerciais para retirar afegãos

 Em causa estão três aeronaves das companhias American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines e Omni Air, duas da Hawaiian Airlines e quatro da United Airlines .

O Pentágono ordenou este domingo o recurso, com caráter de emergência, a 18 aviões comerciais dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA) para o transporte de afegãos retirados de Cabul.

https://sicnoticias.pt/especiais/afeganistao/2021-08-22-EUA-ordena-uso-imediato-de-18-avioes-comerciais-para-retirar-afegaos-084d6b53?fbclid=IwAR1xK9mNsaL7T0rpDI1LyLyIcqaqTmWxD7d4AjP1ANAz2oStiML2xxFLvFw

Em termos de aeronaves há sempre, rpt sempre disponibilidade, pois em situação de calamidade ou de conflito, as requisições de aeronaves sempre foram feitas, lembras-te do repatriamento de centenas de milhares de retornados da nossas Ex-Colónias ?

O TC Miguel Machado falou num livro referente ao caso das ex-colónias.
Tem mais pormenores mas acho que só para Angola foram 905 voos de repatriamento.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10219985484774243&id=1436646118

[Charlie Jaguar]

Defence
New Airbus military aircraft chief bullish on A400M, MRTT prospects
By Craig Hoyle - 6 September 2021

Airbus Defence & Space has hailed the performance of its A400M Atlas and A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT) with customer air forces during the major airlift which rescued coalition nationals and Afghan civilians from Kabul last month. Some 25 A400Ms and nine MRTTs flew a combined 120 missions amid the mass evacuation activity, which drew to a close in late August. Describing the flights as “operationally demanding”, Jean-Brice Dumont, the company’s head of military aircraft, notes that the sorties were flown “without a technical event”. Only one planned departure was disrupted, when an A400M crew rejected their take-off run due to civilians encroaching on the runway at Hamid Karzai International airport.“These missions could not have been done with the predecessor/competitor,” he notes of the Atlas flights, without naming the rival Lockheed Martin C-130 directly.

Dumont says that while well-documented availability issues which have affected Atlas operators since the type’s entry to service in 2013 “are not behind us, we are on top of them. It’s more now a question of planning with the users” to ensure that aircraft modifications are performed in the least disruptive way, he adds. Kazakhstan’s recent contract to acquire two A400Ms represents “a turning point for the programme”, according to Dumont, who says: “We know that others are interested… some not being far from conclusion.” He also believes that the company’s new Atlas export customer could in time acquire additional examples, along with more C295 medium transports to boost its currently nine-strong fleet.

Meanwhile, Airbus has within the last week handed over its fifth examples of the A330 tanker each to the French air force and the NATO Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF). The transfers mean that it has now delivered 50 of the adapted widebodies to military customers for air-to-air refuelling and airlift tasks. Dumont – who was previously executive vice-president of engineering for Airbus’s commercial business – confirms that the company’s preference is to continue production of the A330-200 as the basis for its MRTT offering. In addition to on-order examples for France and the NATO MMF group, the company also has been selected for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s future tanker requirement.

Some MRTT modifications are likely to involve secondhand aircraft, however, with Spain expected to finalise a deal before year-end to convert three examples formerly operated by Iberia.“The majority of the [potential] customers that we are discussing with are more inclined towards new aircraft,” Dumont says, adding that a minimum rate of around two MRTT conversions per year can be sustained. Separately, Airbus is teamed with local prime Lockheed in pursuit of the US Air Force’s KC-Y tanker requirement, a request for information about which was released earlier this year.“We are engaged in a partnership that is stronger than ever, and we believe our aircraft has demonstrated its superior capabilities on the market overall,” Dumont says.

https://www.flightglobal.com/defence/new-airbus-military-aircraft-chief-bullish-on-a400m-mrtt-prospects/145352.article

[Charlie Jaguar]

E desde ontem que o A330MRTT da MMU passou também a reabastecer F-35 europeus.




https://mobile.twitter.com/A330_MMU/status/1438172400085053440

[MATRA]

Infelizmente vamos continuar a nossa triste sina.

Queremos um MRTT, a Luftwaffle vai-se desfazer do seus 310 e nós nada.
Queremos um MRTT, a TAP (do estado) vai-se desfazer dos A332 e nós nada.
Queremos um NPL, a HNLMS vai-se desfazer do Johan de Witt e nós nada.
Queremos um AOR, a RFA vai-se desfazer dos Wave e nós nada.

Triste sina

[typhonman]

Vocês sonham...e muito...
As FA estão muito bem como estão!

[Red Baron]

El que será el primer Airbus A330-200 del Ejército del Aire español acaba de ser adquirido por la empresa Airbus Defence & Space a la compañía Iberia, el aparato lleva la matrícula civil española EC-MIL. Estamos ante el primero de los tres A330 que comprará Airbus para ser entregados al Ejército del Aire una vez convertidos a la variante militar de reabastecimiento en vuelo y transporte, más conocida por su designación internacional en inglés de Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT).

El avión, comprado a Iberia el pasado 1 de septiembre, fue fabricado en Toulouse (sur de Francia), con el número de construcción 1694,  y entregado a Iberia en diciembre de 2015  tras realizar las pruebas de vuelo con la codificación francesa F-WWCH. Ha estado volando hasta este mismo verano desde Madrid a destinos como la capital peruana, Lima. Llevará la matrícula militar española T.24-01, que confirmaría la exclusiva de defensa.com, de que se incorporará al Ejército del Aire como avión de transporte, con la designación T, sin transformar de momento a MRTT.

Será transformado por Airbus en Getafe (Madrid) a la variante MRTT a finales de 2023. El A330 MRTT es líder de su clase en el mercado internacional, con una amplia cartera de clientes en tres continentes. Cuando sea transformado la designación de T.24-01 pasará a ser  TK.24-01.

La luz verde para esta adquisición se dio el pasado 29 de junio, cuando el Consejo de Ministros autorizó la adquisición de 3 aviones A330 de la variante militar MRTT. El presupuesto total se eleva a 675 millones de euros distribuido en cinco anualidades para los ejercicios 2021 al 2025, siendo el importe solicitado para el ejercicio 2021 de 148 millones de euros.