[Yamahammer]

FORTE11 keeping a close eye on the southwest Ukraine tonight.

[Yamahammer]

Romanian Air Club flying a drone over Iasi near the border with Moldova. In fact FORTE11 flew over it a few minutes back!

[Yamahammer]

FORTE11 keeping a close eye on the southwest Ukraine tonight.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6811ebb3d0.jpg

**Update**

FORTE11 doing double duty tonight. It's now cruising the border of Moldova looking towards Odessa. I take it that Moldova also has "obligations" to keep Moscow happy by sitting back.

[Yamahammer]

Malta military drone (Israeli built IAI Heron) off the coast of Tripoli in Libya.
I see this drone flying regularly but as to why Malta is concerned about Libya I don't know. Does this have something to do with the trafficking of refugees from Africa??

[Yamahammer]

Here's a fabulous look at the route for a military aircraft flight from Moscow to Sochi versus a non-military/passenger flight.

[Yamahammer]

Don't worry I'm still peeking.....

[Yamahammer]

HOOPA21 French C-160 Transall over the Black Sea after taking off from Bucharest in Hungary.

[Paul Reichert]

Nice, the French have grown some balls since the war.

[spARTacus]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...rson-1.6475279

[Paul Reichert]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...rson-1.6475279

Deadbeats.

[Yamahammer]

U.S. Blackhawk medivac over Romania very close to the border with the Ukraine and not far from Odessa. Perhaps casualties being picked up. Note NATO01 is providing surveillance right over the area.

[Yamahammer]

FORTE10 - I haven't seen it cruising around the Black Sea of recent, maybe due to refit? Here it is being tested off the Sicilian coast where it is based.

[Yamahammer]

FORTE10 - I haven't seen it cruising around the Black Sea of recent, maybe due to refit? Here it is being tested off the Sicilian coast where it is based.

I take it everything checked out as shortly after my comment, off it went to the Black Sea to keep an eye on the coast of the Ukraine.

[parryberry]

Interesting it avoided Turkish airspace. Must be some objections from Turkey.

[Yamahammer]

Interesting it avoided Turkish airspace. Must be some objections from Turkey.

Turkey is a very funny country. A member of NATO but still plays both sides...$$$$$. Turkey actually is not banned from Russian airspace just like China and India.

[spARTacus]

Some of the news is suggesting that maybe Turkey might be able to escort Ukrainian grain ships out, in view of the Russian blockade. I haven't followed closely to understand how comprehensive that blockade might now be. Must not involve too many big Russian Navy ships anymore, given the number of ones that have been hit and the treaty agreements about what warships are permitted to pass through the straits that Turkey controls, and Turkey's earlier affirmation that they weren't going to just let more Russian Navy ships in.

[Yamahammer]

Some of the news is suggesting that maybe Turkey might be able to escort Ukrainian grain ships out, in view of the Russian blockade. I haven't followed closely to understand how comprehensive that blockade might now be. Must not involve too many big Russian Navy ships anymore, given the number of ones that have been hit and the treaty agreements about what warships are permitted to pass through the straits that Turkey controls, and Turkey's earlier affirmation that they weren't going to just let more Russian Navy ships in.

I had no idea that Russia's Navy had been decimated. Meanwhile here's some background.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/comm...on-2022-06-08/

[spARTacus]

It's not that the Russian Navy has been decimated. It's that they can't just decide to sail in replacements for the bigger warships.

[spARTacus]

It's not that the Russian Navy has been decimated. It's that they can't just decide to sail in replacements for the bigger warships.

I think I got some of that wrong. I just read up on it a bit and Black Sea States have some liberal rights with regards to passage of warships, while non Black Sea States have some restrictions.

There was something about the Soviet Aircraft Carrier Kiev however, for why it was built as a "heavy cruiser" vs an "aircraft carrier" per se. Something about restrictions regarding the Strait I thought.

[Yamahammer]

It's not that the Russian Navy has been decimated. It's that they can't just decide to sail in replacements for the bigger warships.

You mean to replace those Raptors that have been sunk? Those aren't warships, they are patrol boats. It appears that the Russians are adapting by using captured Ukrainian vessels in the meantime.

[spARTacus]

No, to replace the anti air cruiser.

[spARTacus]

I think I got some of that wrong. I just read up on it a bit and Black Sea States have some liberal rights with regards to passage of warships, while non Black Sea States have some restrictions.

There was something about the Soviet Aircraft Carrier Kiev however, for why it was built as a "heavy cruiser" vs an "aircraft carrier" per se. Something about restrictions regarding the Strait I thought.

I dug around and found it.

"...This designation allowed the ships to transit the Turkish Straits while the 1936 Montreux Convention prohibited aircraft carriers heavier than 15,000 tons from passing through the Straits...."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiev...rcraft_carrier

[spARTacus]

Something else in there:

"...The passage of civil aircraft between the Mediterranean and the Black Seas is permitted only along routes authorised by the Turkish government..."


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont...of_the_Straits

[Yamahammer]

Turkey is a very funny country. A member of NATO but still plays both sides...$$$$$. Turkey actually is not banned from Russian airspace just like China and India.

As examples of the privileges that Turkey enjoys we have here 4 (if not more) Air Turkey aircraft en route from Moscow to Turkey. Flying over Belarus which is Putin's ally and then will fly south over Poland avoiding the Ukraine. Poland and other NATO partners can't deny access to the airspace because Turkey is a member of NATO!! Shady...

[spARTacus]

Somethings else in that wiki article:

"...According to Jason Ditz of Antiwar.com, the Montreux Convention is an obstacle to US naval buildup in the Black Sea because of its stipulations regulating warship traffic by nations not sharing a Black Sea coastline. The US thinktank Stratfor has written that those stipulations place Turkey's relationship to the US and its obligations as a NATO member in conflict with Russia and the regulations of the Montreux Convention..."