AirForces Monthly July 2023
INTERVIEW: What it takes to be Belgium's F-16 'Viper' display pilot
Benoît Denet meets Belgium’s F-16 Dream Viper demo pilot, Captain Steven De Vries, callsign ‘Vrieske’, to find out what it takes to put his aircraft through its paces at air shows across Europe
How has Russia responded to Western ISR ops over NATO’s eastern flank?
Electronic intelligence flights in international airspace close to Russia have led to a series of incidents. Sérgio Santana looks at the heightened tensions and the Russian response to Western operations
What it’s like to fly aboard a USAF KC-135R during an air-to-air refuelling mission
AirForces Monthly was invited by the USAF 100th Air Refueling Wing to join them on a mission over the North Sea from their base at RAF Mildenhall. Photographer Tom Williams went along for the ride
How New Zealand is preparing RNZAF Base Auckland for future operations
In a time of change and fleet recapitalisation, Barry Ambrose visits RNZAF Base Auckland to discover how New Zealand is working to modernise its capabilities, replacing old workhorses with newer, more capable platforms
Defending French airspace: Inside Mirage 2000-5 ops from Luxeuil
The Groupe de Chasse 1/2 ‘Cigognes’ has long been a lynchpin in French aviation. Dedicated to air defence missions, the high specialisation of its crews is one of its key assets and more than makes up for the age of their mount, the Dassault Mirage 2000-5F. Giovanni Colla, Daniele Faccioli and Remo Guidi paid the group a visit to find out more
Lightnings go Dutch: Assessing the impact of the F-35A on the RNLAF
As the second of three Royal Netherlands Air Force squadrons continues its transition from the F-16AM/BM (MLU) Fighting Falcon to the F-35A Lightning II, Gert Kromhout assesses the fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter's impact on the Dutch air arm
Inside the final days of 47 Sqn as RAF C-130J retirement looms
The RAF is in the process of bidding a fond farewell to two very iconic components of its airlift organisation this June: No 47 Squadron – which was formally deactivated on June 8 – and the Hercules C4/C5 fleet. Khalem Chapman visited RAF Brize Norton in late May to find out how the drawdown efforts are going and how the C-130J will be missed by those closest to it
Switzerland bids fond farewell to world's only civil-operated Mirage IIIDS
The end of an era was marked at Payerne Air Base in Switzerland on May 25, when former Swiss Air Force-operated Dassault Mirage IIIDS (ex-serial J-2012, now registered as HB-RDF) – the only airworthy, civil-registered example of the fighter in the world – completed its final flight