Conflict in Ukraine: military movements & news

[Rabbit]

Today POTUS Joe Biden said more US troops are being deployed to strengthen NATO allies in Eastern Europe. He has authorized additional movements of US troops and equipment, already stationed in Europe, to defend Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

According to Fox News journalist Jennifer Griffen om Twitter, this are the first movements to eastern Europe:

“Here are the troops Biden ordered to Baltics: Infantry battalion task force of 800 personnel, from Italy to Baltics; 8 F-35 Strike Fighters from Germany to NATO’s eastern flank; 20 AH-64 helicopters -- from Germany to the Baltic region; 12 AH-64 helos from Greece to Poland.”

https://twitter.com/JenGriffinFNC/statu ... ePTxe2ag9g

[Stratofreighter]

Perhaps of interest:
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/02/a-p ... e-us-army/

As the world waits on Russia’s next move in its slow-rolling invasion of Ukraine, US military aircraft continue flights over Eastern Europe, searching for changes in Russia’s posture along Ukraine’s border that could give clues about its next moves.

Flying in the region among the US military’s submarine hunting planes and surveillance drones is a novel intelligence-gathering aircraft prototype known as ARTEMIS — a Bombardier Challenger 650 that’s been souped up with military-grade sensors for tracking ground troops, flown on behalf of the US Army by defense contractor Leidos.

ARTEMIS, which stands for Airborne Reconnaissance and Target Exploitation Multi-Mission System, has been conducting operations over Eastern Europe since the beginning of the month, logging 14 sorties between Feb. 1 until Feb. 21, according to Amelia Smith, a hobbyist plane-spotter who has been using flight data to track ISR missions over Europe.

...see
https://breakingdefense.com/2022/02/a-p ... e-us-army/
for more.

Flight data shows that ARTEMIS tends to make the same flight path every day, first taking off from Romania
and flying through Slovakia and Hungary,
where it can get a quick glimpse of Ukraine.
From there, it moves along Poland’s eastern and northern borders —
a route that allows ARTEMIS to project its sensors into Belarus, where Russia has staged troops,
as well as Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

https://breakingdefense.com/2022/02/a-p ... e-us-army/

...and pre-invasion:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4 ... nd-ukraine

Indeed, NATO surveillance aircraft overfly Ukrainian territory, at times

This Is The Armada Of Spy Planes Tracking Russia's Forces Surrounding Ukraine
Meet the fleet of intel-gathering planes that has been aloft over the Black Sea and Ukraine to keep tabs on Russian forces.
FEBRUARY 18, 2022

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4 ... nd-ukraine

Today, at least 9 NATO and Swedish ISR aircraft flew sorties over Europe: USN P-8As (PL16x, PL17x); USAF RQ-4s (FORTE11, FORTE12), RC-135U (HOMER49); US Army ARTEMIS (BRIO68); RAF RC-135W (RRR7234, RRR7217); Swedish S102B (SVF622). 1/5
3:49 a.m. · 18 feb. 2022·Twitter Web App

https://twitter.com/ameliairheart/statu ... 7553763328

[michel N]

Last week 20 Apaches flew through Dresden eastbound. I wonder if these were the 20 Biden speaks about, or if there’s an additional 20 Apaches going east.

[Stratofreighter]

...suppose this link is not much "out of place" in this topic :

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/275843

Date: 24-FEB-2022

Narrative:
Ukrainian air defence is said to have shot down a Russian Air Force military jet in Luhansk region.
Some reports state the five warplanes and one helicopter were shot down.
This was later however denied by the Russian military.

...see the links at
https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/275843 .

[r.e.hendriks]

A Ukrainian Su-27 was intercepted by Romanian QRA and landed at the Romanian Air Force Base 95, Bacau.

https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/actualitate ... au-1848443

Regards, Rob Hendriks

[Trabanti]

RNethAF is fielding 2 F-35s to aid in the defense of NATO airspace in eastern Europe, according to Dutch MoD on Twitter. Unclear to me if this will mean relocating or flying long missions from homeplate (EHLW).

[Thijs]

RNethAF is fielding 2 F-35s to aid in the defense of NATO airspace in eastern Europe, according to Dutch MoD on Twitter. Unclear to me if this will mean relocating or flying long missions from homeplate (EHLW).

NAF322 - 2x F35 Left this morning from Leeuwarden to an (to me) unknown destination; could be related.

[Stratofreighter]

...some more losses:

https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 20220224-0

A Ukraine Air Force Antonov An-26 transport plane is reported to have crashed.
A photo is circulating on social media that purportedly shows the burnt wreckage of an An-26 in a field.

https://aviation-safety.net/database/re ... 20220224-0

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/275856

Narrative:
Hit by MANPADS and made an emergency landing near Hostomel Airfield.

https://twitter.com/johnsweeneyroar/sta ... 3690850304

Russian chopper stung by a Stinger.

[DutchThud]

https://www.facebook.com/orlinsky13/vid ... 706470027/
Russian helicopters attack Gostomel airport in Ukraine.

[Rabbit]

Yesterday at least one, but most likely a number of AV F-16s left for Romania. Is this another deployment in the East?

See:
https://www.itamilradar.com/2022/02/24/ ... r-romania/

[Zonan]

Viper31 returned to aviano later in the evening

[Rabbit]

Viper31 returned to aviano later in the evening

So just a long mission. Thanks.

[Levente]

The Hungarian Chief of Staff acknowledged yesterday that, Hungary is using fixed wing aircrafts and helicopters as well to monitor the eastern border.

https://honvedelem.hu/hirek/a-magyar-ho ... tarra.html

[Ajaxfever]

Yesterday at least one, but most likely a number of AV F-16s left for Romania. Is this another deployment in the East?

See:
https://www.itamilradar.com/2022/02/24/ ... r-romania/

don't know. I saw a Viper F-16CM visible on flightradar24 (not visible on ads-b) above Romania

[Ajaxfever]

right now FORTE12 RQ-4A Global Hawk above Black Sea near the Krimm peninsula. Only visable on FR24 not on ads-b.