AirForces Monthly Magazine January 2019 Edizione posteriore

In the January issue, AFM begins a series of features celebrating the career of the ever-popular Tornado GR4 as it nears the end of its RAF service. We meet Flt Lt (ret’d) Bill Read, who talks about his time at the front end of the ‘Mighty Fin’. This month’s UK coverage looks at some of the new challenges the Royal Air Force is facing in the maritime patrol arena, where retirement of the Nimrod MR2 left a nine-year capability gap.

The close of the year brought a flurry of activity among NATO’s air arms, reflected in three very different exercises. During the Clear Sky manoeuvres, the Ukrainian Air Force proved it has made giant steps towards adopting the Western doctrine of operations. Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean, examples of most of the Italian Navy’s aircraft were in action during Mare Aperto 2018-2 – its largest training exercise. Finally, for the second year, the French Army’s 4th Air Combat Brigade organised the large-scale Baccarat exercise.

Regular features include Intel Report from the Zhuhai Airshow, where China’s advanced fighters were the main attraction alongside a burgeoning family of unmanned aerial vehicles. Force Report turns its attention to the Colombian Army Aviation, the most powerful force of its type in Latin America, with a huge inventory of helicopters and a small but growing fixed-wing fleet. Regular columnist Air Marshal (ret’d) Greg Bagwell CB CBE investigates the work of combined air operations centres, while our Su-25 operators’ survey turns its attention to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan. In the next of our Postcard from… series, AFM contributor Benoît Denet shares his photographs from Mali, where the Belgian Air Component completed a four-month deployment last summer.

Alongside AFM’s latest book reviews, you’ll also find all the latest coverage of attrition and military aviation news from around the world.