EHM: Sailing across the skies

The August issue of the Portuguese magazine "Vega" (you can check their website here) brings a report about the Esquadrilha de Helicópteros da Marinha (EHM, Navy Helicopter Squadron) as part of my collaboration with such publication.

Such work includes images from the Instrex 08 military exercise as well as several details about the future of the squad. Besides, the articles from the magazine include a full English version.

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Pristina 082: Portugal prepares a new peacekeeping mission in Kosovo

In 2007, the Pristina 072 (see report here) was the final exercise of the portuguese force before being deployed in Kosovo.
One year later, the Agrupamento Mike from the Brigada de Intervenção (Intervention Brigade, the medium brigade of the Portuguese Army) was involved on the Pristina 082 which took place in Cabeceiras de Bastos, during the last week of July. The exercise tested the performance of the Portuguese troops on a peacekeeping mission, since they will be part of the KFOR Tactical Reserve Manoueuvre Batalion. The unit of 290 men will replace the Portuguese force deployed in Kosovo in September.


A full report in Portuguese was published, last week, by the Brazilian defence website Defesa Net:
http://www.defesanet.com.br/nato/pt_pristina08.htm

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Cassiopeia: Protecting the law on the waters

The NRP Cassiopeia is a fast patrol craft from the Argos class which entered in service in 1991. Its primary mission is fishing surveillance aimed at combating illegal fishing in the Portuguese coast.


Last July, I have embarked on this vessel as part of a report.

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Portuguese Army in analysis

The last edition of the Portuguese magazine Segurança & Defesa (check the website) brings an analysis of the changes that have been occurring in the Portuguese Army. The main focus is the new organic structure of the military branch.

Such work presents and updates some of the data of my previous work for Fuerzas Militares del Mundo - published in November and December of 2007.

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Coimbra Airshow 2008

Here are some photographs that I have taken during the weekend on another edition of the Coimbra Airshow (report of the 2007 edition)

Despite the reduced presence of the Portuguese Air Force due to participation of its acrobatic teams in the Air Force Day (Azores) and Royal International Air Tatoo (United Kingdom), the airshow had the presence of several civilian aircraft, such as the Smoke Wings acrobatic Team or the aircrafts from the Aerofénix.

A classical and impressive Boeing-Stearman N62TS from the Aerofénix museum [click to enlarge].

The take-off of another aircraft from museum: in this case, one Havilland CT-120 Chipmunk [click to enlarge].

One of the few military aicraft present was this Dornier Do-27 of the Air Force museum [click to enlarge].

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Air spotting in Monte Real

Last week I have made a spotting session in the air base of Monte Real, where the Portuguese F-16 fleet is based. In the photos is possible to identify both F-16 OCU from the 201 Sqn. "Falcões" and F-16 MLU from the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares".

This spotting session follows a report, made in last March, about the F-16 fleet along with my Juan Carlos Pando (you can check his website here)

One of the most modern fighters from the fleet is this F-16BM in the M5 configuration. The aircraft belongs to the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares" which operates all the MLU fleet [click to enlarge].

The end of an afternoon mission for a F-16BM from the 301 Sqn. "Jaguares" [click to enlarge].

A low pass of a F-16A OCU from the 201 Sqn. "Falcões" with a low-viz scheme [click to enlarge].

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