[The Drive] A total of 24 helicopters that once belonged to the defunct Afghan Air Force are now at the U.S. military's main aircraft boneyard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona. Over the past few weeks, an additional four Russian-made Mi-17 Hip transports and 17 MD 530F Little Bird armed light helicopters have joined the three Mi-17s that arrived last month. The War Zone was first to report on the delivery of that initial trio.
It is not clear how many former Afghan Air Force Mi-17s, MD 530Fs, or other types that had belonged to that service the U.S. military ultimately plans to relocate to Arizona. As of July, the month before the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the Afghan Air Force had 13 Mi-17s and 49 MD 530Fs, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a U.S. government watchdog.
Regardless, it is clear the U.S. government continues to be under immense pressure to recover as many ex-Afghan Air Force aircraft of all types as possible, or otherwise prevent the repatriation of any airframes that are still in other countries back to the current Taliban-controlled government of Afghanistan. The total number of former Afghan aircraft in storage at Davis-Monthan is likely to grow even further in the near term.
What might happen to any of the aircraft that ultimately end in the boneyard remains to be seen. By and large, the Afghan Air Force operated types that are not in widespread U.S. military service. That being said, Mi-17-type helicopters are notably in use by highly secretive U.S. military special operations units and the Central Intelligence Agency. These organizations could be interested in acquiring some of these former Afghan examples. There have been reports that President Joe Biden's administration has been considering transferring some to the Ukrainian military, which operates Hips, as part of possible new military aid packages to that country as it faces the prospect of a new large-scale Russian invasion.
#4
Not in the news: the Blackhawks that were part of the "flyout" didn't go on to Arizona. On a possibly related note, the Aussies have decided to dump their Airbus Eurocopters (cause they're basically broke all the time) and go with Blackhawks. Perhaps there's a used helicopter lot in UAE with tire kickin' going on.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/17/2021 15:22 Comments ||
Top||
[ToloNews] At least two children were killed and eight other people were maimed, including women, in a blast in the southwestern province of Uruzgan on Thursday.
The blast occurred on Wednesday evening in Gaizab district of the province, officials said.
According to the provincial head of information and culture, the blast was due to a kaboom of ordnance left over from past fighting in the area.
All of the victims were children and women, he added.
Due to the conflict in Afghanistan that has lasted over 40 years, a lot of explosive ammunition remains in the countryside and civilians are killed or injured in detonations.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
]KavkazUzel] A military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria Aznaur Chechenov to 10 years in a strict regime colony, having found him guilty of recruiting a local resident into the ranks of Syrian militants. Chechenov pleaded not guilty.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, Aznaur Chechenov was detained on March 23, 2020. In February, a court in Rostov-on-Don extended his detention.
Aznaur Chechenov, a 30-year-old native of the Sovetsky village in the Sovetsky region of Kabardino-Balkaria, was accused of aiding terrorism, illegal arms trafficking and illegal arms manufacture.
"It was established that at the end of January 2020, in the urban settlement of Kashkhatau in the Cherek region of Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechenov, in the course of communication with the citizen "Petrov " (pseudonym), urged him to go to Syria to participate in the armed struggle against the government forces of this state as part of an international organization, Islamic state.
Then Chechenov remade a single-barreled hunting rifle barely enough, which he placed in the trunk of his car. On February 13, 2020, the sawn-off shotgun was discovered and seized by law enforcement officers," court.
Chechenov was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security colony with four years in prison, as well as a fine of 100 thousand rubles.
There were no comments by Aznaur Chechenov or his official representatives regarding the verdict of the court.
Earlier, lawyer Kazim Atabiev told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the accusation against Chechenov is based on the testimony of a secret witness, and the accused himself denies his guilt. During the trial, Chechenov also did not admit his guilt, the press service said.
The criminal case against Chechenov entered the court on January 29, the sessions on the merits began at the end of March, the process took 20 sessions, follows from the card index on the website of the Southern District Military Court.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[KavkazUzel] A military court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced a resident of Derbent Movsum Mamedov to six years in a general regime colony, recognizing him as a member of the Islamic State.
A resident of Derbent, Movsum Mammadov was accused of committing terrorist activities (part 1 of Article 205.1 of the Criminal Code of Russia), an attempt to organize an illegal armed group (part 1 of Article 30 - part 1 of Article 208 of the Criminal Code of Russia) and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization (part 2 of Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code Russia).
According to the investigation, in February 2020, in St. Petersburg, Mamedov took an oath of allegiance to the head of the Islamic State terrorist organization, recorded the process of its pronunciation on audio recordings and participated in the activities of IS until his arrest on November 3, 2020 in Makhachkala by law enforcement officers.
In February-March 2020 in St. Petersburg, Mammadov, knowing about the intention of his friend to create an armed formation controlled by IS on the territory of Dagestan, persuaded another person to become a member of this formation, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent in the press service of the Southern District military court.
Mamedov was found guilty and sentenced to six years in a general regime colony. He pleaded not guilty, the court said. "Caucasian Knot" has not yet received any comments from Movsum Mammadov and his representatives regarding the verdict.
The criminal case against Movsum Mammadov was submitted to the court on June 8, the process took nine sessions, follows from the file on the website of the Southern District Military Court.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/17/2021 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IsraelTimes] Interior minister begins process to close house of worship for up to 6 months over ’unacceptable’ preaching; authorities say religious leader also defended jihad in sermons
La Belle France’s interior minister said on Tuesday he had launched a procedure to close a mosque for up to six months because of the radical nature of its imam’s preaching.
Gerald Darmanin told the Cnews TV channel he had "triggered" the process of shutting the mosque in Beauvais, a town of 50,000 some 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Gay Paree, because of "unacceptable" preaching.
He said the mosque’s imam "is targeting Christians, homosexuals and Jews" in his sermons.
Authorities in the Oise region, where Beauvais is located, had already announced that they were considering closing down the mosque because of sermons they said incited hatred, violence and "defend jihad."
An official at the Oise prefecture told AFP that a letter had been sent last week announcing the plan, adding that a 10-day period of information-gathering was legally required before any action could be taken.
Local daily Courrier Picard reported that the mosque’s imam was a recent convert to Islam.
What kind of pathetic mosque can only get recent converts to lead prayers?
The paper quoted a lawyer for the association managing the mosque as saying that his remarks had been "taken out of context," and said that the imam had been suspended from his duties following the prefecture’s letter.
Darmanin announced earlier this year that La Belle France would step up checks against places of worship and associations suspected of spreading radical Islamic propaganda.
The crackdown came after the October 2020 murder of teacher Samuel Paty who was targeted following an online campaign against him for having shown controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo ...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe... during a civics class.
According to the interior ministry, 99 mosques and Moslem prayer halls out of La Belle France’s total number of 2,623 have been investigated in recent months because they were suspected of spreading "separatist" ideology.
Of the total, 21 were currently shut for various reasons, and six were being probed with a view to closing them down on the basis of French laws against extremism and Islamist separatism.
[Rudaw] Kurdish counterterrorism forces conducted operations against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in Erbil province, arresting two arms smugglers of the group, the anti-ISIS global coalition said on Thursday.
"Today the CTD [The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism] conducted operations in the Al Zaytun area of Erbil, Iraq which resulted in the capture of two #ISIS arms smugglers. These operations deny ISIS the ability to smuggle, store and transport weapons," read a tweet from the Special Operations Joint Task Force-Levant.
Kurdish counterterrorism forces in Erbil have yet to report the arrests.
This comes weeks after ISIS killed at least 20 members of Peshmerga forces and three civilians in areas disputed between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, especially areas which border Erbil city.
ISIS claimed on its propaganda channel on Telegram earlier this month that it has killed 23 members of Peshmerga and injured 14 others in the disputed areas in nine days.
[IsraelTimes] A 48-year-old resident of Kafr Qasim is being indicted in connection with the stabbing attack of a man in Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this month.
The man, a taxi driver, drove the suspect from the Paleostinian village of Qalqilya to Jerusalem, where the terrorist stabbed a young Haredi man before being rubbed out, according to the indictment.
The indictment charges the taxi driver with negligence for bringing a West Bank resident to Jerusalem, and says that he "should have suspected that a West Bank resident could carry out an attack in Israeli territory."
[JPost] Terrorists shot towards a moving car on a northern West Bank road, killing one of three Israelis inside.
Three IDF battalions scoured the West Bank for the Palestinian gunmen who riddled a car with bullets on Thursday night, killing Yehuda Dimentman, 25, and injuring two others.
Dimentman was married and had a toddler. He was a resident of the Shavei Shomron settlement and a student at the Homesh Yeshiva.
The IDF blamed a terror cell for the attack, noting that more than 10 bullets had been shot at the vehicle. "The security forces will get their hands on the terrorists very soon and will ensure that justice is served," Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said.
"Together with all the people of Israel, I send heartfelt condolences to the family of the person killed and a speedy recovery to the wounded," he said.
“Hey, Mahmoud! Lookit that thing — it’s Iron Dome!!”
[IsraelTimes] According to agency, terror group recruited Israeli citizen and Paleostinian who had a valid permit to enter Israel, to gather intel on IDF and prepare for attacks
Israeli security forces arrested two men last month, an Arab Israeli and a Paleostinian from the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, who are suspected of spying on Israel on behalf of the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, terror group, the Shin Bet security service said Thursday.
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Sailors recover 1,745 kg of hashish, 500 kg of meth and 30 kg of heroin, valued at $14.7 million, after crew apparently set fire to their stash onboard traditional sailing vessel.
[AlAhram] A drone that threatened a base with US and partner forces in southern Syria was shot down by a British fighter jet with the Western anti-Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... coalition, the Pentagon said Thursday.
The US Central Command said that two "unmanned aerial systems" had flown toward the al-Tanf desert garrison near the Syrian border with Iraq and Jordan late Tuesday.
"As one of the UAS continued its course deeper into the al-Tanf Deconfliction Zone, it was assessed as demonstrating hostile intent and was shot down," said Bill Urban, front man for the US Central Command.
The second drone was not attacked and "likely left the area," Urban said in a statement.
The British defense ministry said the drone was downed by a missile from a Royal Air Force Typhoon, the first-ever air-to-air engagement by one of the British fighter jets.
The small size of the drone made it a "very challenging target," the ministry said.
But officials did not say if it was armed or not.
"This strike is an impressive demonstration of the RAF's ability to take out hostile targets in the air which pose a threat to our forces," said British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.
Neither the United States nor the British would say who launched the drones toward the base.
The Pentagon has blamed drone attacks on US forces in Iraq over the past years on Iran-backed militia groups.
Iran-backed forces are deployed in close proximity to al-Tanf, which sits on the strategically important Baghdad-Damascus highway.
In October the base came under attack by artillery fire and drones.
"We know that this is an increasingly used and increasingly potentially lethal threat that these Iran-backed militia groups are using, the use of drones," Pentagon front man John Kirby said Thursday.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
[IsraelTimes] A 48-year-old resident of Kafr Qasim is being indicted in connection with the stabbing attack of a man in Jerusalem’s Old City earlier this month.
[JPost] Terrorists shot towards a moving car on a northern West Bank road, killing one of three Israelis inside. 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
