Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/661228
(up to six units), or universal combined cargo (54 seats for passengers and space for cargo on pallets). The total carrying capacity allows picking up to 10 tons. in the service Both aircrafts ended up in the RAF No. 32 Squadron, the personnel of which has been using BAe-146 for years. The main change was the different application – not for passengers flights to perfectly facilitated airports, but for transporting people and equipment into war zones. What is peculiar, although it was designed for the Afghan mission, initiation of BAe-146C.3 took place in the latest battlefield between the Western world and terrorism – Mali. On 15 April 2013, an aircraft transported a British training team to the airport in Bamako – this was the British contribution to the European mission to support the government in the fight against Islam extremists. 14 days later, the first aircraft appeared in Afghanistan, where it was supporting transport of personnel and equipment between bases, as well as to transshipment hubs outside this country. The operation of withdrawing British forces was one of the largest for years – only the equipment qualified for withdrawal cost about 4 billion GBP. Due to the local situation, the majority of more valuable equipment had been transported by air (directly to Europe or regional hubs, where it was loaded on ships). Despite the wide usage of civil service providers, the task had also to be performed by RAF transport aviation – here appears the role of BAe-146C.3. AVIATION