Conflict in Ukraine: military movements & news

[Stratofreighter]

https://ac.nato.int/archive/2022/nato-awacs-to-ROU

GEILENKIRCHEN, Germany -
NATO prepares a deployment Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes to Bucharest, Romania.

The aircraft are scheduled to arrive on January 17, 2023
and are going to support the Alliance’s reinforced presence in the region and monitor Russian military activity.

“As Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine continues to threaten peace and security in Europe,
there must be no doubt about NATO’s resolve to protect and defend every inch of Allied territory,”
said NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu.

“Our AWACS can detect aircraft hundreds of kilometres away,
making them a key capability for NATO’s deterrence and defence posture.
I thank Romania for hosting the aircraft, which makes an important contribution to our early warning,” she added.

Our AWACS can detect aircraft hundreds of kilometres away, making them a key capability for NATO’s deterrence and defence posture.

In response to Russia’s war in Ukraine,
NATO has increased its air presence in eastern Europe with additional fighters, surveillance aircraft, and tankers.

Since February 2022, NATO AWACS have conducted regular patrols over eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region to track Russian warplanes near NATO borders.

The NATO AWACS will start reconnaissance flights, solely over Alliance territory, in the coming days.

The mission is scheduled to last several weeks.

The aircraft belong to a fleet of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft usually based in Geilenkirchen, Germany.

Around 180 military personnel will deploy the Romanian Air Force base at Otopeni near Bucharest in support of the aircraft.

[Rabbit]

Now flying near the Polish-Ukraine-Belarussia border is Nova31: 77-0351 E-3A USAF

At the same moment an unknown a/c is flying next to the coast of Kaliningrad. Ads-b says possibly a USN P-8.

[FredL]

Once again 77-0351 E-3A USAF (AE11DF) now close to Ukraine Belarus borderline, along with E-3A USAF 78-1607 NOVA01.
Also around, Sweedish AF S102B 102002, and, over Romania, USN EP-3E 157318.

[Stratofreighter]

Once again 77-0351 E-3A USAF (AE11DF) now close to Ukraine Belarus borderline, along with E-3A USAF 78-1607 NOVA01.
Also around, Sweedish AF S102B 102002, and, over Romania, USN EP-3E 157318.

No wonder those two AWACS E-3As are close to Ukraine at the moment :

https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-new ... index.html

Joe Biden makes surprise visit to Ukraine: Live updates

US President Joe Biden with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Ukrainian Presidential Palace, Kyiv, Ukraine, on February 20. (Pool)

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-64702090

Biden's secret trip to Ukraine was made via train from the border of Poland, the New York Times reports.

The visit to Kyiv remained a secret because of security concerns.
Reports also say that that Biden departed Washington without notice
after he and his wife Jill had a rare dinner out at a restaurant on Saturday night.

Officials had denied that Biden would visit Ukraine during his scheduled to trip to eastern Europe.

The New York Times says:
"Indeed, the White House on Sunday night issued a public schedule for Monday
showing the president still in Washington
and leaving in the evening for Warsaw, when in fact he was already half a world away."

You can watch the moment the pair left St Michael's Cathedral in central Kyiv
at a time when air raid sirens sounded across the capital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLx4jF0z98A

Joe Biden in Kyiv streets with Zelenskiy: Air raid siren activated

Siren starts at 0.14-ish....

[f4phantom]

https://twitter.com/DI_Ukraine/status/1 ... 12/photo/1

this link shows a Blackhawk in Ukrainian colors

[Stratofreighter]

https://twitter.com/DI_Ukraine/status/1 ... 12/photo/1

this link shows a Blackhawk in Ukrainian colors

...and an update at
https://scramble.nl/military-news/ukrai ... black-hawk
now.

Also:

https://www.upinthesky.nl/2023/02/23/ne ... er-russen/
/
https://www-upinthesky-nl.translate.goo ... r_pto=wapp

Nederlandse F-35’s onderschepten vanuit Polen weer een Russisch IL-20M Coot-A in het internationale luchtruim boven de Oostzee. Het ging om hetzelfde toestel als vorige week alleen dit keer zonder escorterende gevechtsvliegtuigen.

https://www.defensie.nl/actueel/nieuws/ ... eoperaties

and earlier:
https://twitter.com/DefensieMin/status/ ... 0689642497 , apparently...

Kajsa Ollongren
@DefensieMin
Op bezoek in Polen bij het Nederlandse F-35 detachement was ik getuige van het razendsnel in actie komen van 2 van onze F-35’s om 2 Russische Fencer’s te identificeren en eventueel te onderscheppen. Dat laatste was uiteindelijk niet nodig. 1/3

[Ajaxfever]

https://mil.in.ua/en/news/russian-aircr ... n-belarus/

A-50U AEW&C aircraft (board number "42 red", registration number RF-50610). 2019. Russia. Photo credits: Russian media

Russian aircraft А-50 AEW&C exploded in Belarus

The Machulishchi air base is used by the Russian Aerospace Forces for the war with Ukraine.

Russian A-50U AEW&C aircraft and MiG-31 fighters regularly take off from this air base.

It is claimed that А-50 suffered serious damage, and “the plane will definitely not fly anywhere.”

“As a result of two explosions, the front and center parts of the aircraft were damaged, avionics and a radar antenna were damaged,” the report said.

According to BIPOL, the incident occurred while working near snow removal equipment.

[Ajaxfever]

Another story ....
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global ... partisans/

Belarusian anti-government activists have claimed responsibility for what they said was a drone attack on a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft at an airfield near the Belarus capital of Minsk on Sunday (26 February).

“Those were drones. The participants of the operation are Belarusian,” Aliaksandr Azarov, leader of Belarusian anti-government organization BYPOL, was quoted as saying on the organisation’s Telegram messaging app and on the Poland-based Belsat news channel.

“They are now safe, outside the country.”

Reuters was not able to independently verify the report of the attack. There was no official confirmation from Russia or Belarus and there was no immediate response from their defence ministries to requests for comment.

Belsat is a Polish broadcaster focused on Belarusian news that Minsk has branded extremist. BYPOL, which includes former law enforcement officers who support opposition politicians, has been branded a terrorist organization.

Franak Viacorka, an adviser to Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said in a post on Twitter it was the most successful act of sabotage since the beginning of 2022.

Front and central parts of the aircraft as well as the radar antenna were damaged as a result of two explosions in the attack at the Machulishchy air base near Minsk, BYPOL reported.

The Beriev A-50 aircraft, which has the NATO reporting name of Mainstay, is a Russian airborne early warning aircraft, with airborne command and control capabilities, and the ability to track up to 60 targets at a time.

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, there have been several acts of sabotage in Belarus and in Russian regions bordering Ukraine, especially on the railway system.

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus has not taken a direct part in Russia’s war on Ukraine, but he allowed its forces access to use territory as a staging post at the beginning of the invasion a year ago.

Russia and Belarus have set up a joint military unit in Belarus and have held numerous exercises. A number of Russian warplanes and airborne early warning and control aircraft have been deployed to Belarus.

“I am proud of all Belarusians who continue to resist the Russian hybrid occupation of Belarus & fight for the freedom of Ukraine,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter.

The Belarusian human rights group Vyasna said on Monday that a woman was detained in Machulishchy but the reason and her whereabouts were not known.

There was no information on whether the detention was related to the alleged sabotage of the aircraft.

Detentions are common in Belarus, for offences as small as comments on social media, especially after Lukashenko crushed the mass-pro democracy protests in 2020 and jailed all leading opposition figures or forced them to flee abroad.

[Stratofreighter]

https://news.sky.com/story/poland-to-se ... e-12835338

Poland to send at least four MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine
Poland becomes the first NATO member country to fulfil the Ukrainian government's increasingly urgent requests for warplanes.

Thursday 16 March 2023 13:32, UK

"Firstly, literally within the next few days,
we will hand over, as far as I remember,
four aircraft to Ukraine in full working order,"
Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday.

"The rest are being prepared, serviced."

It makes Poland the first NATO member country to fulfil the Ukrainian government's increasingly urgent requests for warplanes.

President Duda said Poland had roughly 10-20 MiG-29 jets.

Poland has sent 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Asked last week how many MiG-29 planes Warsaw might supply, the head of the president's office, Pawel Szrot, said it would "certainly not" be as many as 14.

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.itamilradar.com/2023/03/17/ ... usy-again/

Black Sea busy (again)
March 17, 2023

A USAF Northrop Grumman RQ-4B (reg. 10-2045 – c/s FORTE10)
also orbited the same area for a long time, which then, when the other two surveillance aircraft
arrived in the area, headed for the Black Sea instead.

The drone headed toward the eastern part of the Black Sea where it is now orbiting.

https://www.itamilradar.com/2023/03/20/ ... d-calling/

Kaliningrad calling
March 20, 2023

Today NATO’s attention seems to be directed particularly for the northern part of the eastern flank
where several assets have been operational since this morning.

Two traceable surveillance missions:
a Swedish Air Force Gulfstream Korpen (reg. 102002) that is flying over eastern Poland and
a USAF Boeing E-8C (reg. 94-0285 – c/s REDEYE6) flying near the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

Also operating in the area, however,
is a pair of USAF Boeing B-52Hs (reg. 60-0056, 60-0026 c/s NOBLE11/12),
which took off this morning from Moron AB, Spain,
and is conducting a training flight first over southern Sweden and now over Poland

https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-sa ... 023-03-20/

March 20, 2023
10:01 PM GMT+1 Last Updated 15 hours ago
Russia says Su-35 scrambled over Baltic as 2 US bombers flew towards border

Reuters

March 20 (Reuters) - Russia's defence ministry said a Russian Su-35 fighter jet
was scrambled over the Baltic Sea on Monday
after two U.S. strategic bombers flew in the direction of the Russian border,
but that it returned to base after they moved away.

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.janes.com/defence-news/air- ... r-missions

Ukraine conflict: Finland opens up airspace to allied ISR missions

23 MARCH 2023

Finland is to allow intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft of “key international partners”
to operate in its national airspace,
it was announced on 23 March 2023.

The announcement by the Finnish government coincided
with a surveillance flight flown by a US Air Force (USAF) L-3
RC-135W Rivet Joint signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft
that was seen on flight tracker services routing the length of the Finnish-Russian border.

“The Finnish Defence Forces [carried] out surveillance flights in Finnish airspace
together with key international partners.

The first flight [was] conducted in co-operation with the United States on Thursday, 23 March 2023,” the Finnish government said.

[Stratofreighter]

https://luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieuws/cate ... n-oekraine
/
https://kyivindependent.com/bloomberg-n ... hter-jets/

May 26, 2023 3:09 PM

Netherlands likely to provide Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets

May 26, 2023 3:09 PM
2 min read

Reports appeared on May 20 that the Netherlands canceled the sale of its F-16s to the private company Draken International.
/
https://twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/statu ... 7712325633

May 26, 2023 3:09 PM

The Netherlands will likely send an unspecified number of its 42 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on May 26 with reference to its unnamed sources.

This transfer should follow the training of Ukrainian pilots, according to the report.

On the same day, Ukraine's Defense Ministry tweeted it requires four squadrons of F-16s – 48 planes in total – to liberate its territory from Russia.

According to Bloomberg, 24 Dutch fighters are currently in use by the country's military and cannot be sent to Ukraine until mid-2024.

The U.K. and the Netherlands agreed on May 17 to build an international coalition to provide F-16s to Ukraine. On May 20, the U.S. also declared that it would join the initiative, as did Portugal, Denmark, and Belgium.

Reports appeared on May 20 that the Netherlands canceled the sale of its F-16s to the private company Draken International.

This sparked speculation that Amsterdam plans to reroute the planes to Ukraine’s military instead.

[SquAdmin]

I'm having a hard time keeping track of this whole 'western jet fighters for Ukraine' saga:
- UK is training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16's. This can only be the elementary and basic fast jet training I guess and conversion to the F-16 would need to be done in/by another country.
- Sweden is training Ukrainian pilots to fly Gripens. Not sure where these jets would come from if they will be delivered at all...
- France is training Ukrainian pilots to fly what exactly?
- Poland is training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16's (Block 52's?)
- The Netherlands and Denmark are training Ukrainian pilots to fly their MLU F-16's that would be delivered at some point in time and may be overhauled by Sabca in Belgium first.

What did I miss?

[michel N]

France and UK probably doing basic training on T-6 / PC-21 / Hawk T2 to train on western cockpits.
After that Denmark, Holland will do training on F-16, although NL doesn’t have twin seaters anymore.

From Mig-29 or Su-27 directly to F-16 is probably to complicated?

Sweden is maybe considering donating or selling Gripens to Ukraine? Or prepared to do so after the war?

[SquAdmin]

Well some conversion would be necessary I guess, but the Polish AF will most likely have experience with that.