I do not really think that such a move will go any further than being just a bill proposed by the Russian Parliament. The move was obviously a narrow political action aimed at scoring some party political points in the Duma ( Russian Parliament) and I agree entirely with F27friendship in that on gro...
Jump to postThe IDFAF Phantom-2000 Kurnass must be the most advanced and heavily modified amongst all the other F-4 Phantoms around. Their radar systems and avionics were upgraded to incorporate equipment originally intended for the cancelled Lavy programme, and subsequently deployed on the F-16 I Sufa, and the...
Jump to postMany thanks to RJAF for his remarka ( Reply 152 ), and accurate analysis about the Lebanese Air Force and its future plans. He is quite right in calling for Lebanon to have a credible SAM air-defence system. Also, he is quite right in his view that the <acronym title="Lafayette - Purdue University (...
Jump to post" target practice,," ( Quoting LAXiktl - Reply 147 ) I totally agree with both Jackonicko and <acronym title="British Airways">BA</acronym>. The point is simply that Lebanon needs to defend itself, and has no interest or intention to attack any one. Of course the IDFAF enjoys air superiority over it...
Jump to postMany thanks to Spacepope for the perfect reply to LAXintl. Lebanon has never been interested , nor has it ever initiated or instigated aggression against any of its neighbours. Indeed , it has always been the victim of such aggression., be it from Israel or Syria. The fact that the Lebanese Governme...
Jump to postDear Friends, It seems that, at long last, the Lebanese Air Force will be getting the modern equipment it so richly deserves. The Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr announced on 16/12/2008 that an agreement has been reached with Russia to supply Lebanon with 10 MiG-29 ( Fulcrum ) fighters. The sta...
Jump to postLoyalty is a good thing. The Super Hornet is definitely a great fighter, but certainly not that great. We can all choose the type of our choice, but it does not eally mean that any of us has the undisputed truth up our sleeves. So let us chill out and think again about the subject matter. It could b...
Jump to postJust to add a few notes to the info provided by my dear friend OD720, and in response to the question by <acronym title="British Airways">BA</acronym> from the US : In fact, the last batch of 6 Hunters received by the Lebanese Air Force during 1975-77, as stated by OD-720 earlier, was comprised of 6...
Jump to post( Quoting Gsosbee ) Again, most of the above info is basically correct . However, I do not think anyone would describe the A-12 / <acronym title="Canadian Armed Forces">YF</acronym>-12 / <acronym title="Swissair">SR</acronym>-71 as "totally different". They were essentially the same family , sharing...
Jump to postI agree the F-111 has to be one of the top contenders, but let us not forget the Tornado IDS, which is essentially designed for the same missions and along the same aerodynamic lines, and also the TSR-2 which was never given the chance to go operational, thanks to the usual "brilliant" defence polic...
Jump to postMany thanks to ( 474218 ) for the interesting info. I certainly never thought before that the F-7 designation belonged to the Sea Dart which I always believed had kept its original Navy designation YF2Y, with the F7U Cutlass getting the F-7 mark instead. well, at least that is now corrected. In repl...
Jump to postBased on simple memory, and also to keep things as simple as possible, I believe that this is how things went at the time ( ie. after 1962 ) : F-1 Fury F-2 Banshee F-3 Demon F-4 Phantom F-5 Freedom Fighter ( and F-5E Tiger 2) F-6 Skyray F-7 Cutlass F-8 Crusader F-9 Panther/ Cougar F-10 Skyknight F-1...
Jump to postJust Fantastic. Absolute Beauty !!
Many thanks to OD720, and to the brave men and women of the Lebanese Air Force for providing us with the opportunity to enjoy this sight once again.
Dear All, Just a brief note to let you know that there are now some really brilliant photos of the newly re-activated Lebanese Air Force Hunters by our friend Vatche on <a href="http://www.lebaneseairforce.info." target=_blank>www.lebaneseairforce.info.</a> They are real beauties and they show the l...
Jump to post( Re SkyyKat) Well, first of all, and obviously from a Lebanese Air Force point of view, these Hunters are most certainly better than nothing. For nearly 15 years the <acronym title="Lafayette - Purdue University (LAF / KLAF), USA - Indiana">LAF</acronym> was deprived of a fixed-wing capability. It ...
Jump to postThis is great news. It would not be an exaggeration to describe it as a historic flight which confirms the ability of the Lebanese Air Force to refurbish and bring back to active service its Hunters after nearly 15 years of storage, and to do that single-handed and with no outside help what-so-ever....
Jump to postIt seems the Iranians were in two minds about this.. First , they tried to turn this episode into some kind of a major " diplomatic incident ", by trying to present it as a US intrusion into their airspace, similar in a way to what they did in the not too distant past with the incident of the Britis...
Jump to post( Quoting Wvsuperhornet ) This is precisely the point. It obviously does not take a genious to realize that the Lebanese Air Force, and indeed the Lebanese Armed Forces in general, have never, and will never constitute a threat to the IDF. Lebanon has never had in the past, nor the present , any qua...
Jump to postMany thanks to Keesje. Your observations are spot on.
And what a beautiful picture of the Lebanese coast on the Med, showing Beirut and the mountains behind it.
Compliments all round.
How about the simple question of TIMING ?!!!
Jump to post( Quoting Ba97 ) Quite simply, in my view, the "jump" was brought about by the availability of more raw power thanks to bigger, larger and more fuel-thirsty engines, such as the J75 ( on the F-105 ) and the J79 ( on the F-4 and the F-104 amongst others ). The quest at the time was for ever more spee...
Jump to post(Quoting Moe777) You are absolutely correct. Israel has indeed been applying a lot of pressure , not only to prevent the supply of the Cobras, but also against any meaningful modernization of the Lebanese Armed Forces. This has been going on now for quite a while, and it does sound rather strange, b...
Jump to postIt seems that the Lebanese Air Force might finally get the <acronym title="Air Algérie (Algeria)">AH</acronym>-1 Cobra attack helicopters, which it had wanted for such a long time. While nothing official has been announced yet, reliable US and Lebanese sources have expressed their confidence during ...
Jump to postGreat answer by Sovietjet for an equally great question by Blackbird !!! I do find it odd ( and rather tedious ) that some contributors to this forum prefer to refer to Google, everytime someone raises a serious, or interesting or even plain curious matter for discussion and debate. Why not just clo...
Jump to postMany thanks to OD720 for his kind and generous remarks. I do agree that with the election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as President, and the recent appointment of Gen Maalouli as Commander, the future of the Lebanese Air Force looks brighter than it has been for a very long time. At least now we can dete...
Jump to postDear RJAF, While I agree with a lot of what you say, I still believe that a strong and credible defence posture is essential for any country ( especially a small country such as Jordan, and indeed Lebanon ) to safeguard and defend its independence and sovereignty. I still remember the days when some...
Jump to postI think over and above the question of drag induced by the "massive" fuel tanks, one has to calculate the specific fuel consumption (spc) of the engines. The F-101 was a large aircraft, even when compared to other same-generation types such as the F-106 and the F-4. It was able to carry a large amou...
Jump to postHello to all, Some new info has appeared in the recent days about the present staus and future plans of the Lebanese Air Force, which should be interesting to all of you out there. The UK-based magazine Air Forces Monthly ( airforcesmonthly.com ), has just published a detailed feature on the <acrony...
Jump to postDear RJAF,
Many congratulations on the new Fighting Falcons. Fitting aircraft for a well deserving Air Force.
And huge compliments also for the great photos.
It is always good to hear from you again. Keep up the good work and once again, Mabrook.
Two recent developments worth reporting on the current status of the Lebanese Air Force. The first is the reported crash landing last month of one of the <acronym title="Lafayette - Purdue University (LAF / KLAF), USA - Indiana">LAF</acronym> Gazelles while on a routine training mission somewhere in...
Jump to post( Reply to LY744 ) It seems, according to reports from our reliable friends in Beirut that the plans to put the Hunters back into operational service are actually gathering pace and getting much more serious. After the election of the new president, Gen. Michel Suleiman, the ex. Army Commander and r...
Jump to post( replying to Scbriml from UK ) You are absolutely correct. Unlike Saudi Arabia and some other countries in that region, the state of Qatar is very small indeed. That does not mean, however, that they do not have requirements for long-haul overseas heavy-lift duties. Remember that the UAE for exampl...
Jump to post( Quoting LY744 ) They could indeed be doing that, but I really do not believe that 2 C-17s are such a huge favour for the books of a company like Boeing. They already have on order a huge no. of commercial Boeing-777s for the flag carrier Qatar Airways. They also interestingly have a similarly huge...
Jump to postIt is quite correct that Qatar is not normally renowned for their interest in spending a lot of money on "toys" which might be a source of prestige for some, but utterly useless in practical terms( Scbrimle From UK). Compared with some other oil- and gas- rich countries in the Gulf region of the Mid...
Jump to postQuoting OD720: This is good news for the Lebanese Armed Forces, especially that it comes right after the election ( at long last ) of a new President , who happens to be the former Commander -in Chief of the Army. It also indicates a "vote of confidence" by the US and other friendly Arab and Interna...
Jump to postI am not entirely sure about the idea that Morocco happens to be in Africa rather than the Middle East. Egypt is also an African country from a geographic point of view and certainly it was involved in the vast majority of Arab military efforts against Israel over the years until it signed its famou...
Jump to postHello to all, I wander if anyone has any recent information on the role that the Lebanese Air Force ( if any ) might be playing in the renewed unrest which has unfortunately struck Lebanon during the past few days. We know that Hizbullah and various other pro-Syrian and pro-Iranian militias have res...
Jump to postI have not heard anything ( yet ) about this story. But I would most certainly consider it possible and plausible. After all, and despite all outward and public appearances , one can only be amazed at the amount of cooperation which has always taken place between Israel and several Arab states for m...
Jump to postIt just reminds me of the good old days when I was a young spotter growing up in Beirut, Lebanon ,back in the 1970s. I used to go to the airport there every weekend with my sandwiches, binoculars and note-pad, to watch the traffic in and out. The Lebanese Air Force used to operate from a corner of B...
Jump to postHello to All, After some absence, here we are back to business ! It was interesting that by complete chance I became aware recently of a website entitled " Lebanon Air Force Museum ". Until now I had no idea that the Lebanese Air Force had a museum. But obviously they do, and it is located at the Ra...
Jump to postI agree totally with our friend OD-720 , and I believe the info which he reported from Lebanon about the plans being laid for the future of the <acronym title="Lafayette - Purdue University (LAF / KLAF), USA - Indiana">LAF</acronym> makes a lot of sense . Indeed, it has now become quite clear that a...
Jump to postIt seems that there are some Hunters at least which to all intents and purposes are at near operational status pending the availability of both funds and some minor parts . According to some reliable estimates their number is given at between 5 and 6 aircraft including one two-seater. But of course ...
Jump to postWhat about the following: 1- The Mirage-3 ( Israel) and the 6-day June 67 War. 2- The MiG-21 ( Egypt / Syria ) and the Yom Kippur October 73 War. 3- The Super Etendard ( Argentina ) and the Falklands ( Malvinas ) War. 4- The Mirage F-1 ( Iraq ) and the Iraq-Iran War. 5- The Mil Mi-24 ( US<acronym ti...
Jump to postDear OD720. I am quite sure that the bit about the <acronym title="Air Berlin (Germany)">AB</acronym>-205s is a straight foreward error as there is absolutely no other source or indicator which has ever mentioned them in relation with the Lebanese Air Force either during that period, or indeed at an...
Jump to postIn view of the very widely divergent estimates on current IRIAF inventory and order-of-battle, can anyone provide a advice on reasonable approximations, such as nos. of remaining F-4/5/14s and operational recently-acquired Russian equipment, such as MiG-29/31s and Su-22/24/25s ? Also, anything new o...
Jump to postCan somebody please correct me if I am wrong. The Lebanese Air Force received a total of 32 UH-1Hs in two consecutive batches of 16 units each. They put 24 in service, and kept 8 in storage as a source of spare parts and as general reserves. One UH-1H was lost in an accident a while ago , so there s...
Jump to postI certainly agree with OD-720 that plans and ambitions to develop and upgrade the operational capabilities of the Lebanese Air Force seem to be on hold now mainly as a result of the political impasse which Lebanon is facing at the moment pending the election of a new president and the formation of a...
Jump to postThe Israeli Govt. has confirmed that it has conducted a successful test-firing over the eastern Med, of a new ballistic missile. Although official sources refused ,as usual, to provide any further details , Israeli media sources reported that the test involved a JERICHO-4 IRBM capable of reaching ra...
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