It took off on 11 Dec and flew to Algiers DZA before again flying south. It left Algiers on 13 Dec returning to RUS.

I could not find any reference in the media of a recent disaster in the PRK; however, chronic food shortages are becoming even worse due to below average rainfall. Is RUS now going to bail out the PRK with food shipments? If so, it will take a lot more than one flight.

I continue to be interested in the recent high number of Russian aircraft flying into/out of LBY.

There is an aircraft factory at Gorodskoj, the JSC Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association Plant named after V.P. Chkalov (NAPO) and it produces, repairs and upgrades Su-34 FULLBACK, hence the picture of the FULLBACK at the factory from Jun this year that I have posted numerous times.

Gelix Airlines Il-76TD CANDID RA-76360 has flown to Gorodskoj numerous times before flying to DZA likely supporting aircraft deliveries.

It is interesting the RUS is using these new CANDID for flights to Africa when they are likely needed to transport cargo for the ‘Special Military Operation.’

From timings and altitudes this aircraft may not have stopped in LBY. The Aviadvigatel’PS-90 engines vice the ubiquitous original Soloviev D-30 engines give it better ‘legs’ along with the ability to carry more cargo.

Actually, I am not 100 percent sure that EW-383TH flew into/out of Tbilisi. It may have landed and taken off in RUS.

Ruby Star Airlines Il-76TD CANDID EW-567TH was reportedly in N'Djamena on 30 Nov but was not tracked. It possibly flew there from Benghazi LBY on 28 or 29 Nov.

Later on 10 Dec EW-383TH RSB7615 flew from Fujairah to Tbilisi GEO. It took off on 11 Dec and was tracked as far as LBY but it filed a flightplan for N'Djamena TCD.

I can only imagine what the aircrew of the Tu-134UBL would be told when flying these missions! When I was in the USAF I had a supervisor and whenever he had to tell me to do something that he knew I was not going to want to do, he would say ‘The Air Force is giving you an opportunity to excel.’

These aircraft were used to train RADAR operators. I always believed that in a conflict, these aircraft would be fly out in front of BACKFIRE and BLACKJACK with their RADAR on and draw SAM away from the real bombers. Not a job I would want!

This similar to the Tu-134UBL (учебно-тренировочный самолёт – training aircraft) that had a long nose, but that was not to make the aircraft look cool. It housed a Leniniets PNA RADAR (NATO DOWNBEAT) that was on the Tu-22M BACKFIRE bomber and later the CLAM PIPE RADAR on the Tu-160 BLACKJACK.

This aircraft began flying in 2019 to test avionics and upgrades for the Tu-160 BLACKJACK bomber to include the Tu-160M2 RADAR in the nose of the aircraft. defence-blog.com/russia-launc...