Author Topic: Austria Divided  (Read 31699 times)

Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #25 on: January 16, 2012, 02:32:51 PM »
Thanks!

I think the exact mark of MB.326 wasn't that crucial as a lot of West Austrian technology was integrated into both the 326 and F-104. They could have them as they wanted them, that kind of flexibility was the key attraction of the Italian deal.

As for the art, I can't thank Apophenia enough for that generosity, all of the profiles are by him. I don't think my current computer can handle Photoshop and my skills in that program are probably seriously rusty anyway.
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Offline upnorth

  • Distorting a reality near you.
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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #26 on: January 16, 2012, 03:08:21 PM »
Emissary to Ebensee:

Early 1980 saw an unusual and unexpected guest at Ebensee, an Israeli MiG-21.

The aircraft had been visiting Obergrafendorf and was slated to carry on to Steyr. However, the pilot crossed in to West Austrian territory instead.

As West Austria and Israel carried on peaceable relations with each other and Israeli citizens could enter and leave West Austria with only a passport and visa; there were many questions regarding why the young pilot opted to enter the country in such an unnecessarily risky fashion as he did.

The answer came soon enough after the pilot requested asylum.

Israel: Recipe for Implosion:

The young Israeli MiG-21 pilot was taken to Salzburg shortly after arriving at Ebensee and requesting asylum.

His explanation for coming to West Austria in the way that he did was that Israel was growing more divisive and the military was destabilizing and polarizing. On the surface, the Israeli military looked like the harmonious, ethnically integrated body that the Israeli government wanted to show to the world. However, Kibbutz groomed Semitic officers occupied the upper echelons of power exclusively. There was a glass ceiling against anyone of non Semitic heritage entering the senior officer ranks in the Israeli armed forces and it was clear to anyone familiar with the inner workings of the service.

The young pilot was from the northern reaches of Israel and had significant Lebanese heritage, as such, he new that his chances of ever becoming more than the Lieutenant that he was were slim indeed.

He revealed that his choice to use his MiG for travelling to West Austria was also to do with his heritage. While he could get a passport with relative ease, his movements were closely monitored owing to the fact that he hailed from one of the more hotly contested areas of Israel. For him to get a normal air ticket for a civil flight out of Israel for personal travel reasons would have been a very difficult task bureaucratically.

He had been increasingly pressured to take one side or the other in the polarization of the Israeli armed forces, the longer he held out on doing so, the more difficult his life became. He’d had enough when direct threats against his life started being made if he didn’t take a side.

He knew that he was scheduled for a rotation to East Austria, so he took that as his most likely opportunity to flee his homeland.

He made mention that there was a growing movement of nationalism among young people in Israel and many were embracing the old idea that having ties with Austria of any sort was “Treasonous”, as Austria had aligned with Germany in WWII. He went further to say that there was a growing underground nationalist movement with plans to make life very difficult for any Austrian citizen inside Israel’s borders.

The young man’s application for asylum was put under consideration. However, there was a considerable degree of scepticism levelled at his claims of how unstable Israel really was. In spite of Israel’s open Socialism friendly stance, it was still a self-determining nation that was free to seek out business with parts of the world not under Socialism’s grasp.

West Austria and Israel had built a mutually prosperous technology based trade agreement in the civil sector. Surely, if there was such deep unrest in Israel, the West Austrian citizens working and living there would have seen and reported it to those back home. Surely the West Austrian journalists in the country would have reported on it. Surely, something would have been seen by now.

Scepticism Shattered:

One late May morning, shortly after 10:00 a.m., a huge explosion gutted the East Austrian Embassy and shook Jerusalem.

The carnage in the street in front of what was left of the embassy was beyond most imagining. The explosion took place mid morning on a working day. The road in front of the embassy was full of the usual motor and pedestrian traffic when the roaring cloud of glass, steel, stone and other debris sheared across it and did significant damage to a five star hotel on the opposite side of the road.

There were relatively few injuries. People in the immediate vicinity were either dead or simply stunned and shaken by the experience.

A solitary file clerk was the only surviving embassy employee, her injuries were extensive and doctors performed drastic emergency surgery to save her. She died on the operating table, and any chance to know what precisely was going on in the embassy that morning died with her.

In the days following, an incredulous world tried to absorb the near surreal imagery of Jerusalem that was coming at them fast and furious through all media outlets.

Though the act had been committed against the East Austrian embassy, any scepticism that West Austria had regarding the Israeli pilot’s story about life becoming difficult for Austrians in his country quickly evaporated. His asylum was granted shortly after the attack.

West Austria very quickly put out an advisory for all of its citizens to evacuate Israel at once and was standing by to shut down its embassy in Jerusalem. After an emergency meeting with the Israeli vice president, the West Austrian Ambassador was left convinced that, whoever was holding the reins of power in that country, it wasn’t the government. The West Austrian embassy was promptly shut down.

The Devil in the Dust:

Jerusalem, and all of Israel, was still reeling from the embassy explosion. Investigators had found evidence of explosive devices in the remains of the building and questions of how they got there and who was responsible were mounting. Austria, both east and west, and the rest of the world at large wanted answers.

In early June, a new image of Israel greeted the world. The top general of the Israeli armed forces claiming power over the small nation on Israeli state television; the image switched back and forth between the general and the dead bodies of the president, the president’s wife and other members of the overthrown government in a mass grave prepared for crude burial.

The next images were of a group of obviously beaten young men and women in military custody, the voice of the general claiming that they had been the ones responsible for the embassy bombing and that the incompetence of the government he had just overthrown was the sole reason that they were able to carry out the act at all.

In a scant two week period, Israel had gone from being a free state to being under the boot heel of a military dictatorship. Things would only get worse for the nation.

Sanctions and Mobilizations:

Almost at once, the world at large condemned the general and the military state he had turned Israel into.

The general was very right wing in his leanings and had little time for notions of an ethnically integrated Israel. “Israel for the Israelites” was his personal motto and he lived and breathed it.

Any member of the military that was from an ethnic minority found themselves stripped of rank and discharged from service. They also found themselves barred from higher education facilities and meaningful work.

Sanctions against the general’s Israel came hard and fast. Many countries severed diplomatic ties outright.

East Austria and the Warsaw Pact weren’t satisfied with sanctions though. Enough Israeli military personnel that had been training in the Warsaw Pact countries at the time of the bombing came forward seeking asylum and claiming that the general himself was most likely behind the bombing, that only the fall of the general himself would satisfy Vienna and Moscow.

Retribution would be the order of the day.

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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #27 on: January 16, 2012, 03:35:11 PM »
Operation Anvil:

Both Austrias responded militarily to the Israeli situation. West Austria was already active in the region as part of the UN peace keeping operations in the Sinai, operating both Buffalo transports and Puma helicopters. Thanks to the EOTP that was part of the now defunct HELLEN program, Chinooks with crews well versed in desert type operating regions joined the Buffalos and Pumas.

The Buffalos and Pumas remained stationed in the Sinai while the Chinooks were stationed in Jordan. The main duty of West Austrian forces in Operation Anvil, as the UN officially called it, was to observe and protect Israel’s borders with the Sinai and southern Jordan. Jordan had requested UN assistance in securing its borders so it could dedicate more of its own troops to the northern border with Socialist friendly Syria; where Warsaw Pact forces were accumulating rapidly in apparent preparation to cross into Israel and subdue the dictatorial regime by force.

West Austria’s Chinooks in the region were in standard UN overall white with black titles and the blue UN insignia. They had no special markings on them to identify them as specifically West Austrian; however, the harsh desert environment did take a quick toll on the white paint and the aircraft took on a decidedly patchy appearance not long after arriving. Soon enough, the distinctive OL alpine splinter camouflage was showing through despite frequent touch ups and it wasn’t difficult to tell whom the machines belonged to.

By contrast, the OL Buffalos and Pumas always looked very near immaculate in finish. It was very rare indeed to see them looking worn at all. This was because the paint used on them was a very hardwearing, high gloss sort that was applied properly and methodically prior to deployment. The Chinooks, on the other hand, had been quickly sprayed in a flat, alkali coating that wasn’t meant for long wear, but was easily available and applicable in the field.

Operation Constrictor:

The Warsaw Pact side of the Israeli matter went into the history books as Operation Constrictor; an appropriate title given the situation Israel found itself in.

The Soviet Union was already very busy in it’s battle with Afghanistan. As it had been the East Austrian embassy that was attacked, Moscow placed primary command of the operation with the Austrians. Direct Soviet involvement with Operation Constrictor was quite limited overall. The combined East Austrian, Greek, Turkish and Syrian forces were seen as more than enough to effectively take care of the situation.

Facing an impassable Greek and Turkish naval blockade off it’s coast and constant over flights of Warsaw Pact reconnaissance aircraft; Israel’s internal strife was contained while an international ultimatum was placed on the general to step down willingly or be removed by force.

As expected, the ultimatum was greeted with silence.

The Warsaw Pact forces prepared to take stronger measures.

Free Israeli Regiments:

Inside the Warsaw Pact force were full regiments of Israeli officers and enlisted from all branches of service that had requested asylum in the countries they were training or operating in at the time the general took power. Many were young and agreed with the ideals of a modern integrated Israel for everyone; needless to say, many more in the Israeli Free Regiments were from ethnic minority backgrounds and knew they had no place in an Israeli military under the general’s watch.

The Warsaw Pact wanted retribution, the UN wanted stability and the Free Regiments wanted their homeland back and their families safe.

Whatever their reasons for deploying to the region, if East and West could agree to nothing else in the midst of the Cold War; they could agree that the general had to go.

Standing Apart from the Competition:

An obvious concern to the Warsaw Pact forces was how to differentiate their equipment from Israeli equipment should combat break out. Israel used all the same equipment; some marking scheme had to be devised quickly to avoid confusion and friendly fire incidents.

A white/red/white diagonal band around the forward fuselage running from just ahead of the cockpit backward to a point under the cockpit was agreed upon for fast jets.

Helicopters had the diagonal fuselage band running from the engine intakes fully around the mid fuselage.

Transports had the fuselage banding starting at the bottom sills of the rearmost cockpit windows and frequently had the bands repeated on the engine nacelles.

Ground vehicles also received variations on the banding.

Most tanks got a band running from the top front corner to the bottom rear corner of one section of skirting on each side as well as painted across the top of the engine section to be recognizable to aircraft.

Naval vessels received no such markings, as size was enough to tell who was who. The Israeli navy had nothing to match the size of what the Greeks and Turks were putting off their coast as a blockade.

The Israeli Free Regiments operated machinery in the markings of whichever Warsaw Pact state they had been given asylum in. They were not permitted to differentiate themselves in anyway from the overall force.

Securing the North:

Neighboring Lebanon had been mired down in it’s own civil war since 1975 and nobody knew what to expect of that nation in light of the current Israeli crisis, securing the border between the two countries was seen as a vital priority.

The border was patrolled constantly on foot and from the air with the aim of cutting off any possible escape route to the north for the general.

Operation Constrictor certainly seemed to be living up to its name.

A Hornet Nest Abuzz:

Military mobilizations inside as well as outside Israel were plainly evident.

The Israeli aircraft had an orange band following the leading edge of their vertical stabilizers and running around the fuselage at an angle. Several aircraft were seen to have the leading edges of their wings and horizontal stabilizers painted the same orange colour.
 
Day and night, there was always movement of some sort in the air, on the ground and at sea. Like the country itself, everything was in flux all the time. Nobody knew what was coming next.





 

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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #28 on: January 16, 2012, 03:48:45 PM »
Deep Deceptions:

In the middle of the night, in late July 1980, a Soviet built Kara class cruiser of the Hellenic Socialist Republic Fleet at the southern terminus of its patrol route was rocked by an explosion in the water not far from it’s five o’clock position. The crew, already tense from the growing unease across the eastern Mediterranean caused by the Israeli situation, snapped to an even higher level of alertness.

The ship had just come full about for the homebound leg of its patrol and was on a course for it’s home harbour in Souda Bay, Crete. Amidst the frenzy of activity the bridge, radar room and communications centre aboard the ship had become in the brief time since the blast, the ship was shaken by a second blast. This second blast impacted the ship’s stern causing significant damage to the aft structures and destroying the ship’s propellers. She was dead in the water. Her attacker didn’t make her wait long for the deathblow. A third explosion, dead amidships was enough to breach her hull and send her into an unrecoverable list.

As the surviving crew abandoned ship and waited for help, their attacker slipped off silently into the early morning blackness.

The crew were rescued by Egyptian navy ships and helicopters and returned to Crete in due course. Recovering from the shock of being attacked and seeing their ship sunk, most of the crew were utterly baffled and stunned at how their cruiser could have been taken so completely by surprise. The Kara class was one of the most advanced ships in the Hellenic Fleet and had just been refitted with a significant radar and sensor suite upgrade. Nothing known to ply the Mediterranean regularly at that time should have been able to take her by surprise like that.

With Impunity, Almost:

By the end of August, while sabres were rattling on the mainland, but no real combat had started in earnest; two frigates, one Greek and one Turk, had been sunk in similar sneak attacks to the Kara incident. Their attacker had left them with just as little evidence as to its origin as it left the crew of the Kara.

It was clear that it was a submarine at work, but suspicion wasn’t immediately on Israel’s navy. They were known to have Yankee class submarines; however, the Yankee class could be detected in various ways, the submarine doing the damage seemed to give no hint to it’s presence at all.

Airborne ASW patrols were stepped up significantly in order to track down the culprit. Turkish and Greek navy Ilyushin Il-38 “May” patrol aircraft flew around the clock over the region. Nothing seemed safe on the surface of the water, if the attacker was to be found, it would have to be found from the air.

Israeli MiG-21s and MiG-23s constantly shadowed the patrol aircraft during their sorties; though, the Hellenic and Turkish MiG-21s and MiG-23s that watched over the Ilyushins were more than enough to keep the Israeli MiGs at a respectable distance.

In late September, a Turkish Ilyushin caught sight of an Egyptian frigate coming under attack and vectored surface ships into the area. While Egypt had taken an officially non-combatant stance on the current Israel matter, as a Socialist friendly nation, Turkey was under some degree of obligation to assist the beleaguered Egyptian vessel.

With surface ships on their way, the Ilyushin’s crew set and intercept course. The submarine was all but impossible to locate with the aircraft’s sensor suite; the ship had clearly been fitted with ECM and jamming gear above that found in a standard Yankee class ship.

In an attempt to at least hinder the submarine, if not damage it to the point it would have to surface; a rough estimate was made of the submarine’s location based on the location of the explosions. The aircraft released a series of depth charges and the submarine’s attack stopped promptly. However, the ship did not surface and no signs of debris, oil or anything else to indicate it might have been destroyed were seen.

The Egyptian ship slowly returned to its homeport while the Ilyushin turned home to Turkey after being relieved by a Greek one.

Breaking it Wide Open:

During the hunt for the mystery submarine, most military action on the mainland had been limited to posturing. A few warning shots were fired here and there but it largely seemed a standoff. Until one late October morning when four sites along the Israeli coast were hammered by a volley of AS-4 “Kitchen” missiles launched from a squadron of Cyprus based Soviet navy Tu-22 Blinders.

While the missiles used in the attacks had conventional warheads, the resulting damage was staggering. The targeted areas seemed to be, to the casual observer and the world at large, completely chosen at random.

The Soviets defended their attacks by claiming that the areas they had attacked were underground submarine bunkers that they themselves had helped to construct. While they conceded that there was still no concrete proof that the marauding submarine was Israeli; they did claim to have, through accounts of more than a few Israeli sailors in asylum that at least one Yankee class submarine had been extensively modified and refitted for attack missions and another was in the process of refitting.

The Soviets took such accounts as ample evidence to justify destroying the submarine bunkers. If it was indeed an Israeli submarine, it was either now dead in its hole or would not be able to go home again.

The submarine, as it turned out, was away from home at the time of the attacks, still in a position to cause trouble.

The General Replies:

The general, who had stayed relatively quiet and kept a fairly low profile, returned to broadcast to the Israelis on state television. He vociferously denounced the coastal attacks and the Soviet Union as being the killers of thousands of innocent civilians. Further, he outright denied to the world that Israel had any underground submarine bunkers and insisted adamantly that the Soviets were simply spoiling for a fight. He vowed to give them one.

In early November, The Israeli army launched a salvo of Scud C missiles at the fortifications of Cyprus. The anti-missile systems based on the island destroyed most of the missiles; though three missiles made impact and did considerable damage to the tarmac and flight line areas of the air base on the island and destroyed two moored ships and several buildings on the naval base side. Thankfully, the warheads had been conventional.

While crews hastily worked on repairs to the bases on Cyprus, Turkish and Greek ships moved into position to mount a retaliatory coastal attack on Israel, with the port city of Haifa as their primary target.

Hitting Home:

As residents of Vienna were heading home from work the day after the Cyprus attack, many talking about it with each other on their commute, people started suddenly collapsing in one of the city’s major underground stations.

Emergency crews quickly set upon the station and sealed it, but over 100 people had fallen victim to toxic gas that had found its way into the tunnels. The ensuing investigation revealed conclusive proof that it had not been an accident, but an intentional attack.

As the city was still absorbing the shock, local authorities and media received messages claiming to be from the group responsible, they claimed to be sympathetic to the General and his ideals for Israel.

The city erupted in rage, accusations were leveled and denied, the former Israeli ambassador who had been loyal to the overthrown government was now living in exile in Vienna. When asked about the event and the possible connection to the general, he stated firmly that the general was very well connected internationally and very possibly could have the connections for such an attack to be carried out successfully.

It was enough for the East Austrian president and minister of defense to send the order to the commander of the Warsaw Pact forces waiting in Syria to cross into Israeli territory fully armed an in earnest.






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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #29 on: January 16, 2012, 04:11:43 PM »
Back Home:

As the Warsaw Pact and free Israeli regiments drove across the Syrian border into Israel, a great deal of unease was gripping not only the East Austrians, who were still absorbing and recovering from the Vienna gas attack, but also any Warsaw Pact nation that had given safe haven to Israelis who were loyal to the fallen government.

On an everyday basis, life went on; however, a slight but noticeable air of distrust and suspicion had taken grip of many people in those lands. The asylum seeking Israelis had been welcomed with open arms, but now many shops the Israelis frequented became targets for vandalism.

Police presence in many cities was stepped up to prevent matters from escalating into violent demonstrations. Military Mi-17 helicopters, often with door guns, became a frequent sight over areas known to have higher incidences of anti Israeli vandalism.

The East Austrian air force was still training Israeli pilots and aircrew. The only difference was that now it was training and helping to organize the free Israeli regiments rather than the regular Israeli military.

The Changing face of LOVA:

While many of the Su-17s and MiG-21s of LOVA were deployed to Syria, the fleet of MiG-23s was keeping the skies at home safe.

The LOVA MiG-23 differed slightly from a standard Soviet built one in antenna fit. The well-known “ODD rods” type IFF antenna so typical to Soviet aircraft of the time was absent from LOVA machines in favour of a domestically produced IFF system.

Additionally, the LOVA Floggers featured an IRST ball just ahead of the cockpit on top of the aircraft’s nose in place of the more typical Soviet IR targeting system on the underside of the nose.

While the IR targeting system introduced on the Steyr St-150 was absent from LOVA St-190s and MiG-21s, the system had been quietly developed and vastly improved at Klagenfurt in the years between the Bolzen and MiG-23. It was considered generally superior to its Soviet counterpart system.

Zeltweg was the home of the LOVA MiG-23s. The MiG-21s that had been there were initially sent to Klosterneuburg before either being put in storage there or handed over to the free Israeli regiments that had been given the active portion of that base to operate from.

The base at Obergrafendorf and its associated ranges were busier than usual with all the extra strike training being carried out by Su-17s and MiG-21s.

Linz was also getting very busy. Civil flying operations had come to a virtual standstill around Linz in order to accommodate the Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopters that had entered LOVA service in the early 1980s.

Preparations were being made at Bad Leonfelden for the arrival of the first LOVA Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot, scheduled for early 1982.

New Toys for the OL:

Just as the early 1980s saw LOVA take on new gear, the story was similar for West Austria’s OL.

The development of West Austria’s technology sector, particularly the avionics branch of it, was paying great dividends to the country. The avionics suite developed for the F-104S was of Austrian origins and made that variant of the F-104 one of the most potent western interceptors of it’s era. It also assured West Austria a place at Panavia’s table as a partner nation in the development of the Tornado.

West Austria cooperated largely with the Italian part of the Tornado program; however, the Austrian developed avionics figured prominently in all Tornado aircraft regardless of whose flag they operated under.

OL put priority on getting the IDS variant of the Tornado into service, though also planned to take the ADV variant on by the mid 80s.

The retirement of the Mirage IV O in 1980 left a large gap in OL strike abilities that the Mirage F.1 and MB.326 fleets couldn’t completely cover. The Tornado was a much welcomed sight when the first ones started arriving at Reid in 1981.

By the end of 1982, the Tornado was becoming an increasingly common sight to Austrians. The OL base at Reid had seen the last of its F-104s transferred to Bad Ischl and was a pure Tornado IDS base. At the same time, the RAF Zell Strike Wing was nearning completion of converting from Buccaneers to Tornados.

New Macchi for Old:

The Macchi 326 fleet was getting flown into the ground almost literally. A workhorse aircraft for advanced jet training, weapons delivery training, light strike and hack duties; the type was easily the most active in OL service and an easily recognised shape over West Austrian skies.

However, all the intensive flying took a toll and the fleet was grounded after a rash of accidents between late 1981 and early 1982. Investigations showed that all of the accidents were caused by structural failures of one sort or another brought on by high use. The aircraft had to go.

MB.326 activities were sharply curtailed until the replacement MB.339s could be delivered and made active in late 1982.

The very last OL MB.326 flight was at the beginning of the 1983 airshow season, when a mixed formation of MB.326 and MB.339 in the colours of the OL display team did a special flypast to open the 1983 Salzburg Air Festival.

The display team’s MB.326s were still relatively new compared to the rest of the OL’s fleet of the type and so had some saleable value. With the exception of one aircraft earmarked to become a gate guard at Braunau; the other nine were sold mostly to civilian warbird enthusiasts.

Starfighter Slowdown:

As the MB.326 breathed its last in OL colours, the F-104S was entering its twilight years in the service.

All Austrian F-104 operations were conglomerated at Bad Ischl from 1982 onwards. In anticipation of the arrival of the Tornado ADV in late 1983, the OL Starfighter fleet was going through a notable reduction in size. Higher time airframes were being put into storage at Braunau.

Canadian Starfighter activities were also drawing to a close. The first CAF unit with the new CF-18 Hornet had already arrived at CFB Lienz. The Last Canadian Starfighter would leave Austrian territory in late 1983.

Wake Up Call for the West:

In December of 1981, a lone Israeli L-39 Albatros jet trainer from the training academy at Beersheeba crossed the border into Jordan and landed unannounced at a small airbase just inside the border in the southern part of the country.

Base security surrounded the aircraft while it was still on the runway; the two occupants of the aircraft quickly opened the canopy and raised their arms to show they were not a threat.

The crew, two quite senior flight instructors, were taken for questioning while their aircraft was impounded and inspected. The pilots stated they were seeking asylum, nothing more or less than that.

Their aircraft was not such a simple matter. In passing, it was a standard L-39C by all appearances. In the cockpit, it was an entirely different matter. The cockpit was much more modern looking than what was expected of a training aircraft and much of the technology, including two largish CRT screen displays in each cockpit, looked to be more of western origins than anything known to come out of the Eastern Bloc.

As the cockpit was dismantled, many of the instruments bore signature features of West Austrian component design philosophies. Almost at once, a call was put through to the West Austrian Embassy in Amman and the defence attaché was dispatched to the base the next day.

All hell broke loose at the West Austrian parliament when the news reached Salzburg. The president and trade minister demanded a meeting with the Israeli Ambassador for immediate answers as to why West Austrian technology, or technology based on it, had found its way into military hardware. Diplomatic ties between Israel and West Austria were frail at the time and the fact that the ambassador could provide no satisfactory answer did nothing to improve matters on that front.

West Austria had provided a great deal of technical expertise to Israel through the 70s, but it was all for the intent of improving infrastructure and services. There was never any permission granted from West Austria for Israel to alter or adapt the technology for purposes other than what was directly stated in the trade contracts. Military applications certainly were not an element of the contracts.

With no satisfactory answers forthcoming, the West Austrian president summoned the minister of defence and the commanders of the armed forces for a closed-door meeting.





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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #30 on: January 16, 2012, 04:29:02 PM »
The Tornados of OL


The upper aircraft is shown in mid 1980s standard OL camoflage. It bears the nose badging of aircraft used by OL to train Jordanian crews after Jordan purchased a fleet of the aircraft.

The lower aircraft is representative of the current appearance of OL Tornados. Overall grey became standard in the early 1990s after Operation Anvil had concluded.


Both aircraft show typical schemes of OL Tornados deployed to Israel during Operation Anvil.

The upper aircraft is typical of earlier deployments. The single colour camoflage was quickly applied alkali paint over standard camoflage that weathered quickly and heavily in the desert environment.

The lower aircraft is more representative of later deployments. While the camoflage was still painted over the standard scheme, the paint was somewhat harder wearing and applied with more care before deployment.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2024, 06:03:15 AM by upnorth »
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #31 on: January 16, 2012, 07:23:30 PM »
Investigations and Insinuations:

While the West Austrian parliament deliberated over what precisely should be their next step, A C-130 with a specialist crew had been dispatched from Salzburg to Jordan in order to take a closer look at the L-39 and its cockpit avionics that were causing such a commotion.

What the investigators found was that the avionics and electronics that seemed to be of West Austrian origin in the L-39 extended much further into the aircraft than just the cockpit.

The C-130 had its cargo hold refitted as a mobile diagnostics laboratory. As such, the investigators were able to determine a good deal more about the true nature of the Israeli aircraft’s equipment fit than the defense attaché from Amman was able to determine.

The CRT screens and a large segment of the aircraft’s sensor suite were determined to have been modified from systems intended for civil police work and nearly identical to equipment seen in second hand West Austrian national police helicopters that had been given to the Israeli national police in the late 1970s. The software was not of West Austrian origin in the L-39, but the hardware most certainly was.

Upon closer inspection of the aircraft’s exterior, a blister type fairing was found just behind and to the left of the nose landing gear. The front of the blister was flat and had a blanking plate on it as if there had once been a window for some sort of optical system housed in it. The fairing was found to be empty after it was removed; however, there were some cables leading from the fuselage into the blister. A cursory inspection of the plugs on the ends of the cables led the inspectors to strongly suspect the device in the fairing had been a laser of some sort. The only laser technology West Austria had shared with Israel was medical lasers.

The results of the investigation were not wholly conclusive, but compelling enough that the investigators felt justified in carrying out their own interview with the crew that flew the L-39 to Jordan. As the two Israeli airmen were in holding in Amman, pending further investigation, interviewing them would be easy.

The men were interviewed separately and both initially told the West Austrian investigators the same story they had told the attaché; they were nothing more than senior instructor pilots looking for asylum.

Such a point of view from older, more senior, members of the Israeli military was unusual to say the least; they tended to be rather more conservative and old school in their thinking, voicing views of skepticism if not outright sarcasm at any notion of a “new Israel” of the sort the overthrown government had promoted. The typical asylum seeker was usually in their early thirties or younger; these two men were both only a few years short of 50.

The investigators pressed further with their questions; eventually the two men’s stories diverged substantially.

The Colonel who had actually piloted the aircraft into Jordan swore that there was nothing more to his story than a request for asylum, specifically in France. He broke down in tears during the “interview”, which was all but a full out interrogation at that point; he said there was nothing left in Israel for him.

His wife had been killed in the naval shelling of Haifa while she had been there visiting her family. Beyond his wife, the only family he had was his two sons who were living in Toulouse and neither of them had any intention of returning to Israel in its current state. He cared about nothing anymore other than keeping what was left of his family together.

He claimed no specific knowledge to how the Austrian based technology got into a military aircraft or exactly how widespread such technology might be in Israeli military hardware.

The second man, a Lieutenant Colonel, claimed to want asylum in Australia. He said that his fiancée was an Australian journalist who had been evacuated from Israel not long after hostilities broke out. He went further to say that most of his immediate family had left Israel in the late 1970s with no intentions of returning permanently; as such, he had no reason for staying.

As with the Colonel, he claimed no deep knowledge of the origin of the equipment in his aircraft.

The men were put back in holding while their stories were scrutinized.

Through the French Embassy in Amman, the Colonel’s sons were contacted and were able to confirm their father’s story. Their mother had indeed been killed in the Haifa bombardments and their father had made no secret to them of his growing disenchantment with the direction Israel was going in.

As for their father’s career, they had been born into a military life and with the exception of a short assignment to a tactical reconnaissance unit, they could remember their father doing nothing but flying fighters and then training pilots. According to them, he never worked in anything secretive.

Satisfied with that, the investigators and Syrian authorities handed the Colonel over to the French Embassy where he could begin his asylum application process.

The Lieutenant Colonel’s story didn’t check out so well.

The Australian Consulate was able to contact the woman that he claimed he was engaged to. She confirmed that they’d had a romantic relationship, but that they had never been engaged. She plainly stated that the secretive nature of his work at the time put a great deal of strain on the relationship and that they’d been having regular arguments at the time she was evacuated. As far as she was concerned, their relationship ended when she left Israel. He had made attempts to keep in contact with her, but she hadn’t reciprocated.

According to her, he was assigned to a research and testing unit at the time of their relationship. However, she wasn’t able to say what he’d been involved in, as he would never speak about it.

Confronted with the fact that he actually had no tangible connection to Australia, the man requested the investigators attempt to contact family he had in Canada on the chance he could be granted asylum there.

The Deal:

The investigators agreed to contact the Lieutenant Colonel’s family in Canada, on the condition that he tell them about his time and the projects he had worked on while assigned to the research and testing unit.

Knowing that they had already spoken with his former girlfriend about him; he made no attempts to deny that he had been assigned to such a unit, but maintained his claim of no knowledge about how West Austrian derived equipment had found it’s way into Israeli military equipment.

When the investigators asked him about the blister on his aircraft and their suspicions that it had at one point housed a laser, he confirmed their suspicions. He did, however, swear that the laser had been of Soviet origins and was simply being tested to determine the feasibility of the L-39 as platform to designate targets for laser guided weapons of other aircraft and as a carrier aircraft for a laser guided bomb of domestic design currently under development.

Once the tests had been finished, the aircraft was refitted for trainer work and he received his new posting as an instructor pilot; he and the aircraft arrived at Beersheba together. The blister had not been removed as refitting the cockpit for training purposes had been seen as the higher priority. Many of the training academy’s aircraft were getting dangerously close to their airframe expiry points and lower time L-39 airframes were being diverted there from wherever they could be spared. No new L-39s would be coming in from Czechoslovakia any time soon.

A closer examination of the connector plug found in the laser fairing of the aircraft was not entirely conclusive. It was not identical to any known designs of western or eastern origin, but generally closer to western designs. It certainly wasn’t a NATO standard connector arrangement; but if the laser had been West Austrian, it would have been based on civilian medical designs, not military standard ones.

The man was questioned once more about the origins of the laser. Again, he swore it was of soviet design and that he had clear memories of seeing the laser unit before it was installed in the aircraft and seeing manufacturer’s placards on it with large amounts of Cyrillic text on them. He claimed to have attended a briefing on that particular laser system by representatives its manufacturer and the Soviet military. He had no reasons to doubt the origins of the unit.

As to what extent Austrian based technology was in service with the Israeli armed forces; the man conceded that it was in service but rather limited so far. Training and strike units of the air force were equipped with the technology and it was being developed further for the air-to-air work of interceptor units. He couldn’t speak for Austrian technology in army or naval applications.

The man was returned to holding while the investigators mulled over his latest story. They had to come to some sort of a conclusion soon. The Jordanian authorities were eager to have something concrete done with the man, preferably removal from Jordanian territory. Jordan saw no shortage of Israeli asylum seekers at its borders, but had such a backlog of requests and high percentage of suspicious or outright dubious asylum applicants, that they were left with no choice but to close their borders to any further requests from Israel.

A Call and a Counter Proposal:

The Lieutenant Colonel’s family in Canada was contacted, but stated that they had had no contact with the man since they left Israel in the late 1970s. They said that relations within the family had been poor at the time; he had been loyal to the conservative idea of Israel taking back its former glory while most of the rest of the family were embracing the more liberal, but now fallen, “New Israel” ideology. They stated quite emphatically that they considered him a closed chapter in their lives and were not inclined to help him naturalize in Canada.

Faced with this, the man claimed to have mellowed in his personal ideologies since his family left Israel. He felt the chances of “Israel for the Israelites” were just as slim as any notion of a “New Israel” had ever been. He was tired, disillusioned and craving a new start in life.

Under pressure from the Jordanians, the investigators requested and received clearance from the West Austrian Embassy to take the man to Salzburg. Custody of the man was formally handed from Jordanian to West Austrian officials and he was on a DC-9 of the OL the next morning. He was, however, not a free man.

Unwanted in Jordan, nobody willing to sponsor him in Canada or Australia and certainly no going back to Israel; the man had agreed to go to Salzburg. His asylum there hinged on his willingness to fully brief the West Austrian defense force chiefs and the president on the uses and applications of Austrian derived technology in the Israeli military.

West Austria’s government was feeling intense pressure from both inside and outside its borders to explain what it’s civilian technology was doing in the military hardware of an unstable nation, such as Israel was. The President and Trade Minister were facing increasingly harsher scrutiny from the national and international media and accusations of negligent and irresponsible trade practices from several international organizations. There were daily public demonstrations outside the parliament building demanding the President and minister resign immediately.

The President and Trade Minister desperately needed an explanation to give to the public at home and the world in general. The Lieutenant Colonel was their best bet for that explanation.

The now former instructor pilot was provided with whatever resources he needed to put together his briefing. Over the space of two weeks, he had been able to find and contact some former acquaintances and friends that had served in the other branches of the Israeli military and was able to piece together a fuller picture of how widespread the use of Austrian technology was throughout the Israeli armed services.

As his initial briefing neared completion and he was preparing to inform the president, trade and defense ministers of his findings; the East Austrian military and the rest of the Warsaw Pact force was about to face that technology in combat first hand, for the first time. 





 





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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #32 on: January 16, 2012, 07:33:05 PM »
Tooth and Nail to Nazareth:

October of 1982 marked nearly two years since the Warsaw Pact forces crossed the Syrian border into Israel.

While Warsaw Pact naval forces had largely secured the northern coast of the country, land and air forces had been concentrating on points inland. It had been a perilous campaign all around. Contending not only with the regular Israeli armed forces, but also a myriad of guerilla and para-military groups willing to work with them, or against them; the Warsaw Pact forces never knew fully whom they could trust.

The cost had been high for what had been gained in two years. The naval forces had secured the coast from Hadera northward and air and land forces had secured most points north of the West Bank.

The securing of Nazareth had been a particularly hard won battle as it was the first time the Warsaw Pact forces came up against Israeli machines refitted with Western derived avionics systems. It was a rude awakening that sent a shockwave back to Moscow.

Warsaw Pact and Free Israeli MiG-21s were falling to Israeli fighters and SAMs at an unsustainable rate and the order had been given to withdraw the type entirely from the theatre of operations. MiG-23s fared better than the MiG-21 in the air-to-air arena as long as the combat was kept at missile range, they were ordered to avoid getting into cannon ranged dog fighting at all costs.

The Su-17s, 22s and 25s along with MiG-27s were also taking considerable losses, not only the predictable ones given the high risks inherent to low level strike, but also the less expected higher attrition rate to Israeli anti aircraft defenses that had been enhanced through adapted West Austrian technology.

Nazareth eventually fell, much thanks to guerilla groups sympathetic to the old, overthrown Israeli government. Many say that without those groups, the city would not have been taken.

After Nazareth, the commander of Operation Constrictor ordered the advancing forces to halt. The next objective was to be Nabulus, a mission that would see them enter the West Bank and certainly encounter new variables both for and against them in the campaign.

The commander was facing a desperate need of fresh equipment and fresh troops, the attrition in terms of both men and machines had been wildly underestimated to that point.

A new strategy was also needed.


Egypt’s About Face:

Egypt, while Socialist friendly, had maintained a staunchly non-combatant stance in regards to the conflict in Israel.

Despite pleas from the Warsaw Pact to take an active role in the matter, Egypt refused to budge on their stance. This, of course did put strain on relations between them; however, Egypt was already feeling strains of a different sort as a result of the conflict.

Egypt had keenly felt the economic hit of being close to a war zone: foreign investment was down, tourism was suffering and any revenues from shipping in the Suez Canal were also falling.

Militarily, Egypt was also suffering. With the Warsaw Pact taking such high losses in Israel and the Soviet Union doing the same in Afghanistan, spare parts for the Soviet made machinery Egypt’s military operated were becoming very scarce indeed. Equipment of all manners was going unserviceable at an alarming rate.

Egypt resolved to get control of itself, starting with the Suez Canal. In early 1983, with UN assistance, Egypt successfully took sole control over the canal and all other waters in their national sovereignty zone. The Soviet and Warsaw Pact shipping would see no further preferential treatment or influence over Egyptian waters.

As the country saw its economic fortunes turn once again to the positive, it pondered its next step.

Weary Jordan:

Like Egypt, Jordan was feeling the economic impact of being in such close proximity to a combat arena. Foreign business was stagnating, tourism profits were plummeting and young people were leaving for greener pastures as a result.

Jordan had to find a way to keep its young, educated people at home and in the domestic workforce. The economy depended on that as much as anything else.

Jordan’s military was small and in many ways out of date. Jordan approached the UN with a proposal that they would be willing to increase their work share in policing and peacekeeping duties along the Israeli border if the UN would grant them assistance with the procurement of new military gear that was up to the task and training on it.

After brief deliberations, the UN accepted Jordan’s proposal.






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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #33 on: January 16, 2012, 07:44:25 PM »
Whale Watching:

The inigmatic and elusive Israeli submarine was still a much wanted vessel by both Warsaw Pact and Western militaries. Since the destruction of any known Israeli ports that could house and support a submarine; the ship itself had been particularly scarce. Some even speculated that the crew may have taken the ship out of the area entirely and sought asylum somewhere.

With the recent warming of western relations with Egypt, a NATO military presence was placed there until the country could re-equip and retrain on western military hardware. Part of the presence were Panavia Tornados and Secbat Atlantics from Italy. Both types were there primarily to secure Egyptian waters and protect shipping lanes.

Their secondary task was to confirm if the submarine was still in the area and to bring it to the surface if it was. This was largely in the interests of West Austria, as they had since learned that the ship did indeed contain a considerable percentage of equipment directly taken, or derived from technology they gave to Israel.

Though that task was officially secondary, it was becoming increasingly critical to neutralise the submarine. While it had not attacked any surface ships in over two months, much less given any evidence that it was still active in any way, Israel was fracturing in a very clear way of late and it was not clear where the ship would be taking its orders from if it was still taking orders at all.

The north of Israel was a mess of skirmishes on various levels. If it was not the official battle between the Israeli military and the increasingly demoralised Warsaw Pact forces; it was between civilians on the streets or civilian paramilitary insurgent groups working for or against either the Israeli and Warsaw Pact militaries.

The south, however, was a notably calmer place. The Warsaw Pact forces had shown little interest in it and Israeli military presence there was generally light. According to many Israelis living in asylum, the south of the country was often seen as the place where cooler heads did indeed prevail. It was a much more liberal and tolerant place than the north tended to be.

It was also said that there was a growing movement in the south to separate from the north and pursue independent statehood as the needs and desires of the north and south could be vastly different on many issues.

Fresh Talons:

From late 1982, Nato and the UN saw it as a critical objective to secure the southern portion of Israel and prevent the spread of the fighting in the north.

To this end, both Jordan and Egypt received assistance in rearming their respective militaries. Both nations would be provided Panavia Tornados in both IDS and ADV variants and training on them from Itay and West Austria. Italy would be given prime responsibility for  training the Egyptians while the Jordanians would get their training from the Austrians.

In addition to the Tornados, both countries were offered options on other aircraft and equipment.

The Jordanians jumped at the opportunity  to refresh their Mirage F.1 fleet, which was quite literally on it’s last legs. As the F.1 was a type the Jordanian pilots were familiar with, they were able to quickly take a major role in air cover for Austrian Tornados that were positioned to fly into Israeli territory when the call went out to do so.

Egypt also took on the Mirage F.1 in the fighter role. Additionally, the Egyptian navy took on a small fleet of Atlantic 2 patrol aircraft which were newer and more capable than the ones the Italians had brought with them.

Jordan and Egypt also took fleets of surplus Italian and Austrian Macchi MB.339s for the trainer and close support roles.

Securing the South:

As 1982 drew to a close, a formal plan was drawn up to enter southern Israel, secure it and bring it under decisively western influence.

The plan was to divide Israel into north and south by establishing a buffer zone running from Asquelon on the coast to En-gedi on the Dead Sea.

Through various informants and Israelis living in asylum throughout Europe, it was not difficult for the involved nations to find out who they could and couldn’t trust in southern Israel and where the seats of genuine power in that region were located.

In late January of 1983, the West Austrian special forces parachuted into key points in southern Israel from Buffalo transports and set about making contact with parties they had been told they could trust.

The units that had dropped near Gaza and Dimona located their target groups with relative ease and set about determining just how trustworthy they might be.

Unfortunately, things did not go so well for a third unit which dropped near Hazeva. Despite dropping at night, they were spotted before they landed and shots were taken at them, two were injured and all were quickly surrounded and taken prisoner at their landing zone.

As it turned out, approximately two weeks before the drops, the group in Hazeva that was said to be trustworthy had lost significant power in the city after a large scale street skirmish with insurgents from the north.

Fortunately, the insurgents saw their Austrian prisoners valuable as both media fodder and bargaining chips. The injured men had their wounds tended too and the entire group was kept in spartan but livable accomodations.

As news of the captured Austrian men spread, the group that had been contacted in Dimona proposed a plan to help liberate them. Several of the group knew Hazeva very well and had many contacts in the city who could help them further once they arrived. The members of the Austrian special forces unit were somewhat aprehensive about the offer as trust was still being built and tested; however, they could not escape the reality that the Dimona group was the best bet they had for freeing their compatriots with minimal bloodshed or more overt military action. The proposed plan was accepted; within a week the captured Austrians were free men and Hazeva was the first Israeli city directly under UN policing.

Hazeva had a small but disused airfield just outside the city limits that would soon come back to life with the thumping of Chinook and Puma rotor blades.

After initial scepticism had lessened, trust between the Israelis and the UN and NATO forces grew swiftly. What little of the official Israeli military that existed in the south of the country was either unwilling or unfit to counter to foreign presence. From many points of view, the north cared little for the south beyond the port city of Elat.

Generally speaking, the average Israeli in the south turned out to be quite happy to help anyone who could bring a better standard of living and better infrastructure to that end of the country. If the possibility of independence would be the reward for helping such people, there was no reason not to.

With established trust came the Declaration of Dimona. Among other things, the declaration established an official military and strongly encouraged citizens to enlist in it as opposed to joining one of the myriad unofficial paramilitary cells that existed. Indeed, a longer term goal of the declaration was to abolish all such groups.

The declaration also spelled out quite clearly the willingness of the populace to help and support a move to independent statehood and any officially sanctioned foreign help provided to accomplish that goal.

With Dimona as the de facto nerve centre of all cooperation between the Israelis and foreign forces, the establishment of the planned Asqelon/En-gedi buffer zone could begin in earnest.

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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #34 on: January 16, 2012, 07:57:46 PM »
Harpooned:

In the early hours of March, 20, 1983; an Italian navy Atlantic gently lifted off of the runway at Gaza airport, unarmed.

The routine morning patrol Atlantic had departed Gaza forty five minutes prior. This particular Atlantic was being flown back to Italy by a skeleton crew for deep maintenance and a systems upgrade; it’s replacement aircraft having arrived in Gaza the day before.

The aircraft’s flight plan would take it within visual range of the border region of Egyptian and Warsaw Pact waters but still keep it a comfortable distance inside Egypt’s territory.

Looking down from the aircraft onto the sea, there was certainly no shortage of vessels to watch going about their business. Looking skyward, the morning patrol Atlantic could just be made out in the distance while pair of indistinct dots closing in grew to take the form of a pair of  Italian Tornado ADVs conducting their own patrol.

Roughly halfway across Egyptian waters, one of the aircraft’s crew members gazed out a window and caught a glipse of a ship that stood out from the others. A military ship of Soviet design carrying out some clearly aggressive manouvers and traveling at a high rate of speed. Considering how close the ship was to the territorial border, it was more a cause of genuine worry that hightened interest for the crew.

The crew swiftly contacted the patroling Atlantic and a pair of  smaller Egyptian frigates in the nearby vicinity and then adjusted their own course further from the border region.

The seemingly aggressive ship turned out to be in a state of some distress as the growing morning light illuminated a trail of oil streaming from it’s aft section. The morning light also illuminated a large, dark shadow under the water closing in on the stricken ship.

The Ship, which was so close to the border that it  could visually be identified as Turkish by the Egyptian frigates was clearly having control problems and was about to cross the border whether it’s crew intended to or not.

Nearby, a Greek Il-38 had just arrived in the area. No sooner had it slowed it’s speed than it opened it’s weapon bay doors and dropped a torpedo into the water.

The approaching morning patrol Atlantic watched as the torpedo from the Illyushin exploded just aft of the submarine. The Sumbarine’s shadow slowed, but still chased it’s Turkish target which was nearing the border. By all appearances, the submarine likely would follow it into Egyptian waters without hesitation.

As the Illyushin prepared another run against the submarine, the crew of the patroling Atlantic were preparing to do battle with the beast themselves.

From the safety of Spanish airspace, a NATO E-3 Sentry announced that it had detected two fast jets departing Crete and closing quickly on the submarine’s position. The two Italian Tornado ADVs on patrol were directed to the scene and an additional two were scrammbled from their base near Alexandria.

As the second pair of Tornados made their way to the area, the E-3 reported the launch of two further fast jets from Cyprus.

Landing the Catch:

As a second torpedo from the Illyushin contacted the water, another was just leaving the bow of the submarine.

The Turkish crew hurriedly abandoned their ship as fire engulfed the entire aft section and was rapidly moving forward. The death blow to their ship had been a decisive one.

The Illyushin’s torpedo had exploded very close to the submarine’s tail section. Close enough and powerful enough to sunstantially damage the ship’s propulsion and rudders.

The Turkish ship had managed to cross just inside the Egyptian side of the border and the Egyptian ships were moving in to begin rescuing the crew. At the same time, the submarine seemed to be carrying forward on momentum and whatever limited power it could generate toward the border.

Aboard the Atlantic, warning systems started going off; one of the Cyprus based jets had locked onto it and launched a missile. Moments after the missile had been launched, the attacking aircraft was destroyed by a missile fired from one of the Tornados in the area.

As the Greek pilot ejected from his MiG-23 moments after it had been struck; the countermeasures on the Atlantic were successful in evading the incoming missile. The Tornados fired two more missiles at the other MiG-23, which subsequently altered its course back to Cyprus.

The Atlantic recovered it’s course and returned to the scene to watch the submarine begin to surface just as it was about to cross into Egyptian territory. As the ship crossed the border, it was transmitting a distress signal and opened the crew access and escape hatches. Smoke came pouring out of open hatches near the rear of the machine as the crew inside fought to supress fires breaking out in the engine section from spreading further forward in the boat.

Two larger ships, one Egyptian and one Italian, had entered the area in the meantime and began taking on sailors from the submarine. A larger transport vessel was also dispatched to tow the submarine to an Egyptian port. It was clearly a Yankee class, but a closer inspection was certainly warranted as were interviews with the crew.

On the other side of the border, the Illyushi Il-38 was flying a circuit from which they could clearly see events unfold on the Egyptian side. It’s weapons bay doors had been closed; with the submarine safely in Egyptian and Italian hands, no more shots would be fired at it.

New Predators:

The two fast jets dispatched from Crete had brought themselves into visual range and were clearly, and shockingly, Sukhoi Su-24 “Fencer” aircraft with two anti shipping missiles each and, even more shockingly, full Greek markings.

The Su-24 was a very much enigmatic machine at the time and subject to much speculation in the west. It was known to be a variable geometry type, ostensibly a strike type on par with the F-111 and Tornado. However, it had existed mostly in grainy pictures and questionable artist concepts in the west up to that time.

This was the first clear view of the type in actual operation and also the first proof that the Soviets had exported it. The brief opportunity to photograph them at relatively close quarters from the Atlantic and also surface ships was most certainly not squandered.

With four Tornado ADVs in the vicinity and only two short range AAMs each for self defence, the Su-24 crews remained unprovocative and turned their aircraft back to Crete.

However, the presence of such an aircraft in the area was certainly cause to increase air patrols along the border region and over southern Italian waters.

Catch of the Day:

Nearly as soon as the submarine had been moored at a remote Egyptian port, teams of investigators were preparing to secure and board it.

On exterior inspection, it was confirmed as Yankee class. However, it had several irregularities on the hull in the amidships region that indicated something had once been mounted to it, but then removed.

Though the ship bore no markings on the outside, the crew was fully Israeli and declared the ship was indeed property of the Israeli navy.

Internally, the ship was largely of Soviet orgins in all aspects. On closer scrutiny, inspectors found approximately 20% of the ship’s navigational system to be of direct or partial western derivation.

Initial findings seemed to indicate that, while this was not the infamous submarine that everyone was looking for, it did prove that western technology had not been limited to air force applications in the Israeli military.

After much questioning of the crew, the investigators found that the ship was indeed the much sought after submarine, but in refitted form.

The tactical crew explained that the irregularities on the hull were remnants of the mountings for scabbed on fairings containing an experimental version of a torpedo with a far superior guidance and targeting system to what was standard on a Yankee class ship. The fairings had contained not only the torpedos but also a large amount of electronics specific to them.

Further, they said that the investigators would have found a higher percentage of western derived electronics prior to the removal of the fairings as most of those electronics were directly connected to the experimental torpedos and were removed at the time of refit.

The refit had been carried out quietly at a small commercial port not far from the ship’s home port of Gaza. The entire torpedo program had been cancelled in favor of redirecting money and resources to the growing air and ground campaign in the north.

The torpedo fairings, torpedos and associated systems were all destroyed and the ship reverted to a near standard Yankee class configuration.

While it comfortably explained why the ship had been quiet the past few months, it did deny the investigators a large amount of quite damning and concrete evidence that the Israelis were using western technology directly in the development of offensive weapons development.

However, The crew had also explained that their primary targets were Warsaw pact ships because the crew was almost entirely from the south of Israel and, as most southern Israelis, felt largely marginalised and ignored by the north and resented taking orders from higher authorities who cared little for the south. Their rationale was that their ship, being Soviet by construction but Israeli by signature, would be the ideal tool to keep tensions between the Warsaw pact and Israel high. The continuation of hostilities, which were primarily in the north, would eventually weaken the north and put the south in a position where it could be at some point strong enough to break from the north and take on independent statehood.

With  Israel quickly dividing itself and the south becoming a trustworthy ally, the missing evidence was not so much and issue as it might have been at an earlier stage in matters. The ship’s crew, being almost exlusively from the south had their testimony taken largely at face value and were returned to their homeland when the investigation concluded.

The ship, considered to be beyond repair, was taken out to sea and swiftly sunk by a well placed Kormoran missile from an Italian Tornado.







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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #35 on: January 16, 2012, 08:19:59 PM »
The Long Wait:

Encamped since October 1982 within striking distance of Nabulus, the Warsaw Pact forces and what little was left of the Israeli Free Regiments awaited response from higher powers to their requirements for more men, machines and supplies. A negligible supply of spare parts and rations had been trickling to them, but they needed much more to mobilise properly again.

Desertion and a growing apathy among the troops had grown to become very serious. Mostly this was due to the fact that they no longer knew concretely who they were fighting. The Israeli military had all but ceased to operate as a cohesive fighting force and the bulk of its membership and equipment had been absorbed into the growing number of paramilitary groups in the north of the country. Clearly, the strategies used to fight an organised military could not effectively be used to combat insurgent groups.

The commanders themselves had trouble keeping their own morale. With the knowledge that the UN had established a clear and internationally recognised frontier dividing the north and south of the country; the goal of gaining any meaningful victory over Israel had gone from being exceedingly difficult to being outright impossible regardless of any new strategy they might devise.

They waited, they could do little else until their request for resupply was fulfilled.

A Darkness at Home:

Across the Warsaw Pact nations, citizens were tiring of seeing their men return home dead, maimed and psychologically broken.

Demonstrations had been staged in almost all of the countries which had troops in Israel calling for an immediate pull out of all Warsaw Pact forces from the area. Some also called for the complete deportation of all Israelis living in asylum in the Warsaw Pact.

Many people  in the Warsaw Pact nations felt a sense of betrayal. That the Israelis, whom they had helped rebuild and rearm, had turned on them. Many buildings, neighborhoods and businesses that could be connected to Israelis were vandalised across the Warsaw Pact nations. Actual acts of physical violence against the Israelis themselves were relatively low compared to the property damage and general social alienation they suffered. Still, a clear message was being sent that they had largely worn out their welcome.

Through a variety of international treaties and agreements, the majority of Israelis in the Warsaw Pact spent the mid 1980s relocating to points outside of it. This included a large number which moved directly from East Austria to West Austria.

Western Worries:

In both West Austria and Italy, the influx of Israelis migrating from the Warsaw Pact was just the latest piece of ammunition that the increasingly uneasy public in both countries could use to further question the wisdom of their countries getting so deeply involved with matters in not only Israel, but the Middle East in general.

The Israeli act of adapting West Austrian technology to military purposes without any form of permission was, of course, a lingering thorn in the side of West Austria. A similar feeling of betrayal gripped West Austrians over that matter as was currently gripping the East Austrians over matters in northern Israel.

Such sentiments in West Austria had been somewhat eased by the establishment of the line between northern and southern Israel and that southern Israelis were working very cooperatively with the UN forces and showed a clear interest in not letting their end of the country spiral into the chaos that the north had become. However, Israel was still unstable; That much could not be denied.

Military aid to Egypt had been controversial as well; the act of providing a recently Soviet friendly nation with the still new Panavia Tornado was irresponsible in the eyes of many. Providing the most advanced strike aircraft in western Europe to a nation that was an ally to the Warsaw Pact scarcely a year before was seen as very questionable indeed by many. There were notable protests in Great Britain and Germany as many in both countries felt, as partner nations in the Tornado, more should have been done to prevent the sale of it to Egypt.

Demonstrations against further aid to Israel or Egypt were becoming very routine in West Austria and Italy. The demonstrations were usually centred on military instalations where southern Israeli military personnel were being trained on western equipment in preparation for the establishment of a formal military and government in that region.

The west was taking a vested interest in the successful independent statehood of southern Israel and no amount of protest was going to keep that vision from being realised.

Paving the Road:

August 1, 1983 saw the establishment and international recognition of southern Israel as the North Sinai Protectorate with Dimona as its provisional capital.

The first stone in the road to statehood had been laid. Under UN supervision, a new nation’s road to independence would hopefully be a smooth one.

With West Austrian and Italian Tornados constantly patroling the northern buffer zone and Jordanian Mirage F.1s patroling the skies overhead; all seemed well and safe for the new nation to gestate and eventually be born.

The air base at Beersheba was gradually being refitted to handle the maintenance facilities for the Marchetti SF.260 and Macchi MB.339 aircraft that would become the workhorses of the new nation’s air force training academy while the naval port at Gaza was systematically being rebuilt to accept western ships.

All but the hardiest of paramilitary cells had been eradicated from southern Israel. They had been hunted down mercilessly and their members given the option to renounce the insurgent way of life and serve in the newly established national militia or be sent to prison indefinitely.

The new nation would stop at nothing to show the world at large that it could be trusted.

However, controversy would touch it again more than once on the way to self determination.

The Salzburg Summit:

In late September of 1983 a meeting with many delegates from around western Europe as well as delgations from Egypt, Jordan and the newly founded North Sinai Protectorate; was held in Salzburg.

The meeting was to officially recognise the existance of the North Sinai Protectorate at the international level and lay a firm foundation for it’s security and eventual independent statehood.

The highlight of the event was seen by many to be the signing of a tri-national Sinai Alliance between Egypt, Jordan and North Sinai. Given the tensions that were known to pervade the Middle East, many proclaimed a profound sense of disbelief at what they were witnessing as not simply a non aggression treaty, but a full alliance was signed.

After the signing of the Sinai Alliance agreement, Egyptian and Jordanian delegates cited the importance of stabilising and rebuilding their economies, which had seen significant negative side effects from the continued conflict in Israel. Ultimately it was felt, by those two nations at least, that harbouring ancient hostilities was less important than tending to modern needs and that it was better all around to have good relations with North Sinai if at all possible.

Needless to say, the alliance did not at all sit well with other Arab League nations and Egyptians and Jordanians in those nations were advised to leave quickly. In light of  the high degree of foreign presence in North Sinai and the protectorate’s obvious willingness to cooperate with those helping it; the Arab League eventually, if begrudgingly, accepted the Sinai Alliance.

Not everyone in Europe was happy about North Sinai. Many Israelis living in asylum were very vocal in their objection to Israel being split and having part of it recognised as a different nation. Many others had consigned themselves to the belief that the revival of Israel in modern times had been a pipe dream and should be accepted as such.

North Sinai had been internationally recognised and accepted by all of western Europe and the bulk of the Middle East. The UN at large was set to do so shortly after.

The Berlin Bargain:

North Sinai spent the Autumn of 1983 seeing in the official establishment of its own domestic armed services and the stationing of equipment and vehicles.

The first groups of SF.260 and MB.339 aircraft had taken up residence at Beersheba after their crews had completed training in Italy.

Elat had seen the arrival of the first Gazelle helicopters and crews freshly trained from France and were awaiting the first Puma helicopters, due in december 1983 and January 1984.

Further negotions for the arming of the North Sinai Armed Services (NSAS) would be held in November of 1983 in Berlin. The location was rather a surprise to many. Even more surprising was that it was requested by North Sinai themselves.

Many speculated that the location was chosen out of an interest in resumed war reparations being given to Israel by Germany; those reparations had been officially suspended due to the continued turmoil in Israel.

However, North Sinai delegates categorically denied any such intent to revive the reparations and requested Germany as the location to show the world that North Sinai was a forward looking land with equally forward looking people. The North Sinai delegation came to the table in Berlin with the slogan: “We cannot change the past, so let’s built the future together”. To underline the sincerity of that slogan, North Sinai officially excused Germany from any further war reparations to them.

The Berlin talks largely centred on the transport and surveilance needs of the NSAS and to a smaller degree on land force requirements. The tactical transport requirement was a forgone conclusion; NSAS crews had been training in Italy on the G.222 transport. The German offer of ex-Luftwaffe C-160 Transalls was all but symbolic in the procedings. The deal for refurbished Italian G.222s was made official in Berlin.

The surveilance requirement was not so clear cut. North Sinai had been approached by Spain’s Casa and their C.212 aircraft in both transport and surveilance platforms. The had also been approached by Brazil’s Embraer, who were hoping to find a new market for their EMB 110 Bandeirante transport and it’s maritime patrol offshoot, the EMB 111 Bandierulha.

The Embraer aircraft narrowly beat out the Casa when Embraer included the construction of assembly and maintenance depot facilities for the NSAS aircraft in North Sinai itself. The employment potential of such facilities was too good to pass up.

For Germany, the payoff to hosting the event came in the form of a sizable selection of land vehicles, both softskin and armor, of German origin taken on as the nucleus of the NSAS land forces. This included the Leopard 2 MBT, which was seen as a better alternative to second hand Chieftains from West Austria or second hand M60s from Italy. NSAS could have a modern MBT without waiting for the Challenger or Ariete MBTs still in development.

Scepticism and optimism had filled the air in equal measures at the beginning of the Berlin talks; optimism and relief were the prevailing emotions at the the end.

The Road Ahead:

According to various plans and agreements, North Sinai would make the transition from protectorate to independent state in September 1987.

While seen by some as a wildly optimistic short time, North Sinai was determined to do it’s part to see that date met.

The provisional government had been marketing North Sinai to the rest of the world as meeting place for east and west, eager for investors, foreign companies, tourists and a potential host venue for international events of all sorts.

Some in the international community felt that North Sinai’s ambitions were beyond it’s resources. However, there was a queue of nations willing to help the fledgling nation. The willingness of Embraer to place facilities there was evidence of that. Additionally, the port city of Elat was starting to see some popularity with tourists. As tourism was starting to pick up again in Egypt and Jordan, people were taking notice of Elat along the way.

Italy and West Austria had committed to keep a military presence in the area at least until statehood could be established. NSAS had yet to be granted access to tactical combat jets of any sort, the Italian and Austrian Tornados would be tending to that requirement for the time being.

A Thousand Nails:

As the world seemed to be rejoicing, or at least observing with guarded optimism, the development of North Sinai; an event in the embattled north of the former Israel in the following days would put everything back on edge.

Mid morning of December 1, 1983 heard the echo of jet fghters across north Israeli skies. This was unusal as the air war had essentially ended. More unusual was that the noise was coming from the area still not controlled by Warsaw Pact forces when general belief was that the air element of the Israeli forces was no longer existant. Surely insurgent cells would have no way to bring combat jets into operation.

The Warsaw Pact force had made their way very close to Nabulus. They had seen enough resupply to make some meaningful progress, though morale was still low.

Syrian based radar station were reporting a large number of aircraft moving quickly towards Nabulus. The Warsaw Pact forces manned their anti aircraft guns while fighters were scrammbled from Syria and points further north in Israel.

Aboard a battered Antonov An-12 holding station high over the Israeli held territory, a large crew stood by at their monitor screens in the modified cargo hold. As the mass of fighters cruised high and neared Nabulus, the crew’s order was given.

En masse, the unmanned and heaily explosive laden MiG-21s were directed downward at the Warsaw Pact troops from the safety of the Antonov.

As the news of the event quickly rippled across the world and the footage of the ensuing carnage went along  with it; many demonstrations in Warsaw Pact countries turned into full scale riots. The public demanded their troops home immediately.

The event did cast a clear shadow of scepticism across North Sinai that would simply have to be lived with for some time.

With Moscow’s consent, the Warsaw Pact force were quickly withdrawn from northern Israel, leaving what was left of that country and it’s people to their own devices.

West Austria would be the first of many called upon to send peace keeping troops into the north on the UN’s behalf.



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Offline apophenia

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #36 on: January 17, 2012, 05:57:49 AM »
Going great 'north. Keep it up!

Hopefully as things go on, later instalments might give you some inspiration for profiles of machines later in the story.

Try and stop me ... I dare ya  ;D

BTW, do we know yet what the North Sinai scheme/markings would be?
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #37 on: January 17, 2012, 02:08:07 PM »

Try and stop me ... I dare ya  ;D

BTW, do we know yet what the North Sinai scheme/markings would be?

That's the spirit! :)

The NSAS scheme for aircraft is similar to the later OL Operation Anvil scheme of a two tone brown wraparound for strike aircraft and helicopters.

A much subdued pattern of the two browns, with a light grey underside, was typical for air defense and transport types.

As for the insignia:

The NSAS insignia is a chevron design similar to the current Hungarian insignia, only in blue white and gold the colours of the North Sinai flag.

The insignia was usually carried in four positions: upper left wing, lower right wing and either side of the fuselage. The fuselage position is either on the forward fuselage under the cockpit or rear fuselage somewhere between the wing and tail. The upper right wing had "NSAS" on it while the lower left wing had the inividual aircraft's three digit ID code.

The North Sinai flag was on both sides of the tail fin with the aircraft's full five digit serial code centred under it.

Patrol and surveillance aircraft followed the above insignia layout, but were painted in a two tone grey scheme. The lighter underside grey wrapped around the darker topside shade in places to create a camouflage pattern.

Helicopters usually had the insignia on either side of the tail boom about midway along bracketed by "NSAS" and the three digit A/C number. One additional insignia went on the underside of the fuselage.

Individual unit insignia were rare on NSAS aircraft and quite discreet when they were present.

Later this week, I'll post some images of the North Sinai flag and insignia from my sketchbook to give you a clearer idea of what they look like.


« Last Edit: January 17, 2012, 02:19:02 PM by upnorth »
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Offline apophenia

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #38 on: January 18, 2012, 05:57:45 AM »
Excellent. Sounds good ... and I like the ideal of Hungarian-style roundels (triangdels?)

Just to confirm on the patrol/surv scheme: there's just two greys - the upper grey and the lower grey (which also wraps around to form the 'second colour' in the upper camo scheme)?
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #39 on: January 18, 2012, 01:52:46 PM »

Just to confirm on the patrol/surv scheme: there's just two greys - the upper grey and the lower grey (which also wraps around to form the 'second colour' in the upper camo scheme)?

That's right.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #40 on: January 20, 2012, 05:47:27 AM »
I just made these quick and dirty sketches of the North Sinai flag and armed services insignia:



"maris arenam fortunaque" (Sea, Sand and Success)
Official motto of North Sinai Protectorate and later North Sinai Republic.

North Sinai put a great deal of thought and care into the design of what would become their national flag and insignia derived from it. From an early stage, it was agreed that the flag would be something that truly represented the nation in a way all within could generally agree upon. As such, any symbols connected to any religion were ruled out very early in the design process.

Ultimately, after several false starts and refinements, the above design was settled upon.

Representative of the two elements that bound all residents of the country equally: sea and sand. Whatever successes or failures the country experienced, they would be inextricably linked to one, or both, of those elements.

Similar care was taken in choosing the national motto and the language it would appear in. The motto itself reflected the same connection to the sea and desert that the flag did. Latin, rather than one of the country's official languages, was chosen as the language for the motto so as not to show particular favour to any one ethnicity in the land.

The official insignia of the North Sinai Armed Services (NSAS), shown below the flag, was designed to represent both speed and progress. North Sinai prided itself on being forward looking and responsive to events both inside and outside it's borders. With those values in mind, the national military insignia was designed as a forward pointing chevron.

In the majority of cases, the insignia was used in full colour. Even in low visibility variations the colours were kept, though quite muted, and the white often replaced with the standard underside grey colour.



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Offline apophenia

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #41 on: January 20, 2012, 09:26:50 AM »
Cheers 'north. About lo-viz insignia: which aircraft would've used them (and at what stage)?
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #42 on: January 20, 2012, 01:58:32 PM »
Cheers 'north. About lo-viz insignia: which aircraft would've used them (and at what stage)?

High viz was used on all NSAS equipment during the protectorate era. Low viz variations did not start appearing until 1988, some months after North Sinai was declared a republic in late 1987.

The first NSAS machines to get low viz insignia were the armored vehicles of the land forces. NSAS tanks and other armor were painted in an overall dust grey finish. As such, the insignia was simply muted blue and yellow with the background grey standing in for the white.

The first aircraft to be seen in low viz were Tornado ADVs. Eventually, low viz insignia found their way onto strike aircraft such as Tornado IDS, AMX and weapons capable MB.339s.

Patrol and surveillance aircraft kept high viz  until the mid 1990s.

Low viz was also experimented with on tactical helicopters and transports, but never saw fleet wide use in either context.
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Offline apophenia

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #43 on: January 21, 2012, 12:06:32 PM »
Thanks 'north. So the Embraers, for example, would be high-viz schemes whether patrol or transport versions. Okay...
Froglord: "... amphibious doom descends ... approach the alter and swear your allegiance to the swamp."

Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #44 on: January 21, 2012, 03:42:01 PM »
Thanks 'north. So the Embraers, for example, would be high-viz schemes whether patrol or transport versions. Okay...

For the scope of my story, which ends around 1990 or so, that is true.

It also holds true for all trainers regardless of era.
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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #45 on: January 21, 2012, 04:04:28 PM »
Relics and Restorations:

As dawn flooded the tarmac of the LOVA transport base at Graz on a early december morning in 1984, a delegation of senior LOVA fighter pilots boarded a Tupolev 154 bound for the Soviet Union.

They’d been carefully chosen to be the first pilots for LOVA’s new front line fighter, intended to supplement the MiG-23 that was the bulwark of East Austrian air defense and replace fully the large number of MiG-21s that had been pulled out of storage to replace aircraft lost during the Israeli conflict.

Relatively few of the pilots en route to train on the new fighter were actual veterans of events in Israel. Most veterans of the conflict were found psychologically unfit to remain in military service after returning. Those that were fit were transferred from active combat roles to instructional duties. Indeed, the majority of the pilots on board the Tupolev were high time MiG-23 pilots who had been kept at home. The rest of the group was made up of veteran MiG-21 instructor pilots who had been part of training the Free Israeli Regiments and then the training of a steady flow of young Austrian pilots to replace those lost in combat over Israel.

LOVA, along with the rest of the East Austrian military, was still very much in a reconstructive phase a full year after the Warsaw Pact pull out from Israel. LOVA’s fleets of SU-22 and Su-25 strike aircraft had taken substantial losses in Israel, to the point where there was barely a viable number of either left servicable in the inventory. Ultimately those aircraft were given to Czechoslovakia in exchange for Aero L-39Z Albatros aircraft. While the armed Albatros variant could not deliver nearly the same punch as the Sukhoi aircraft could, it was simple to maintain and obtainable in large enough numbers to make a viable interim strike force with.

While LOVA’s new Albatros strike fleet worked up at Obergrafendorf and subsequently transferred to Bad Leonfelden; the Soviet Union took up station at Ferlach with a fleet of Su-24 strike aircraft.

It had been decided that LOVA needed a new front line fighter to bring morale up in the force and to show the public that, despite the battle losses in Israel, their armed services were still dependable and strong.

All eyes on the Fulcrum:

As the chosen LOVA pilots made their way to the Soviet Union for training, all talk was of the new MiG-29 “Fulcrum”. It had already entered service in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland and seemed set to equip several other nations.

Though seasoned pilots, there was an undeniable buzz of  youthful excitement in the Tupolev’s cabin at the prospect of finally getting their hands on the stick of the latest fighter.

Shortly after the Tupolev landed and the passengers disembarked, they were rather taken aback by how quiet the base they were at seemed to be. They were assured this was indeed the base they would be training at, but that the aircraft they would be training on were out on training flights or being serviced.

With the exception of the Tupolev they had arrived in, a lone MiG-29UB being prepared for departure and an Mi-8 base rescue helicopter on stand by; the entire base seemed quite devoid of aircraft.

The curious pilots were shown to their barracks and settled in. Later, as they sat down to dinner in the mess hall, the rather subdued conversation centred on the continued apparent absence of aircraft at the base. Surely any aircraft that had been out on training runs would have returned to base by that time. Yet, the only jet noises any of them had heard since arrival were their Tupolev departing and the lone MiG-29UB departing shortly after.

As the pilots were finishing their dinner, a large number of jets could be heard in the distance. Soon, the mess hall was shaken by the aircraft passing low overhead. As the mess hall cleared and it’s occupants rushed out to see the aircraft overhead, they were shocked to see a formation, not of MiG-29s, but the larger Sukhoi Su-27 “Flanker” aircraft.

One by one, the Sukhois landed, braking parchutes streaming and mighty Lyulka AL-31 engines howling to a stop. The aircraft were all two seat variants and disappeared from view shortly after arriving.

The LOVA pilots returned to their barracks excited to have seen at least something to make this base look less like the sleepy backwater it had struck them to be so far. They were still, however, baffled that they had only seen one MiG-29 all day and it had not returned; considering the fact that it had three auxiliary fuel tanks attached to it, they hadn’t expected it to return anyway.

The following morning, their breakfast was disturbed in much the same manner as their dinner the night before had been, by the thunderous roar of AL-31 engines. A two ship of Su-27s left the runway just as breakfast was concluding and another two were being towed to the apron from nearby hangars.

The pilots were lead to a briefing room and were left utterly speechless at the news that they would be training to fly the Su-27 rather than the MiG-29. They had all assumed they would be training on the MiG, they had been given no reason by their superiors to believe otherwise would be the case. Logic itself dictated that, like their neighboring Warsaw Pact nations, they would similarly be receiving the Fulcrum.

It had seemed such a forgone conclusion that the Fulcrum would be LOVA’s next fighter, that nobody involved had spoken of anything else as an alternative. The LOVA pilots in the briefing room were left waiting for a punchline that would never come. It was no joke, LOVA would get the mighty Flanker.

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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #46 on: January 21, 2012, 04:33:57 PM »
1985:

The beginning of 1985 saw West Austrian military forces at the spearhead of UN peacemaking and peacekeeping missions in the north of what had been Israel.

Salzburg was playing the role of facilitator and host to many international meetings of both political and commercial nature that would ensure that the switch from protectorate to rebublic for North Sinai would go as smoothly as possible and remain on schedule for the projected event in 1987.

Militarily, there weren’t too many changes to the West Austrian order of battle. A tender had been put out for a new MBT to replace the long serving Chieftains. This was a neccesity as there turned out to be more than a few issues with interoperability between the old Chieftains and the new North Sinai designed and built Canaan IFV the West Austrian army was bringing in.

The competition for the tender was an anti climactic event between the German Leopard 2, the French Leclerc and the British Challenger 1.

The Germans won the tender with ease. Being as how the Canaan was based on a slightly downsized Leopard 2 chassis and had, in the hands of the North Sinai military, shown no interoperability issues with that MBT, it was the logical Chieftain replacement.

The competition was seen largely as a formality by all involved and nobody was particularly surprised by the outcome.

No new aircraft types were added to the OL stable that year. However, West Austria and Italy initiated a joint upgrade program for their Tornado IDS, ADV and MB.339 fleets.

Farewell to Old Horses:

Two aircraft of particularly growing concern in OL were the SF.260 trainer and the Mirage F.1.

The SF.260, while popular, was not really an ideal trainer for a modern NATO military in the mid 80s. many NATO militaries were transitioning from piston powered to turboprop training aircraft and this was not lost on the OL.

In late 1985, the decision was made to supplement and eventually replace OL SF.260s with EMB 312 Tucanos built at the former Helwan factory in Egypt. Embraer had purchased Helwan shortly after establishing their North Sinai facilities. The purchase was primarily to have a Tucano production line to supply African and Middle Eastern markets and compete more directly with Pilatus built trainers in Europe.

The upgrades for the Tornado IDS left the remaining OL Mirage F.1s completely superfluous. The Tornado upgrade included, among other things, a very capable and modern recce package that rendered the F.1 unrequired for even those duties.

Unlike the SF.260s in OL hands, which had more than enough life left in them to make them interesting to the second hand market, the F.1s were too old and well used for resale.

The end of 1985 saw the retirement of the OL Mirage F.1. A few found their way into museums, the remainder were destroyed as either emergency procedures trainers or gunnery range targets.

The Linz Line: The Same, but Different:

The changes to air power in East Austria had certainly not gone unseen to those NATO pilots who flew border patrol along the Linz line.

Gone were the hulking Su-17, Su-22 and Su-25 aircraft; their place surprisingly taken by the armed but diminutive L-39 Albatros.

Rather more worrisome was the presence of Soviet Su-24 aircraft so close to the border. The Sukhoi aircraft was a regularly seen denizen of the border area by OL, RAF and CAF aircrews. It was so common that it was as if the Soviets really wanted the west to get a good look at the type.

Also in the gap left by LOVA’s loss of heavy litting strike aircraft was the sight of more heavily armed helicopters. Prior to the Israeli conflict, it was very rare to see an armed LOVA Mi-17 helicopter. However, after the conflict, it was very rare to see one without at least two medium sized rocket pods at all times.

LOVA MiG-23s were still the dominant air to air machine in East Austria, though the increase in MiG-21s coming out of mothballs was also noted by NATO pilots.

The MiG-29 Fulcrum was known to be making inroads into Warsaw Pact air forces at the time, though the fact that East Austrian skies seemed Fulcrum free in 1985 was of little concern to NATO in the larger picture. Of course, NATO had no knowledge that the first group of LOVA Su-27 pilots were at that very time in the Soviet Union training to fly a much more capable and threatening machine than the MiG-29 would ever be.

The usual “Antenna Farm” aircraft from Klagenfurt made their regular flights along the Linz Line, though the types had changed a bit. The Antonov An-12 was rarely seen at all from the mid 80s on; In it’s place was a regular rotation of Antonov An-26 variations and at least three different Yakovlev Yak-40 aircraft that would fly along the line at quite high speed. Each Yak-40 had a significantly different antenna fit than the others and nearly always carried underwing or underfuselage pods of one description or another.

By several reports from Canadian CF-18 Hornet pilots and OL Tornado ADV crews; the Yak-40s were all but impossible to track reliably on radar. By all indications, the aircraft were being used to assess and counter western air intercept radars.

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Offline upnorth

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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #47 on: January 21, 2012, 04:45:22 PM »
1985 The Bigger Picture:

Outside of the two Austrias; 1985 brought the beginnings of a massive shift in relations between east and west. That year saw Mikhail Gorbachev, and his various ideas for sweeping reforms, come to power in the Soviet Union.

Late 1985 saw the Geneva Summit meeting between Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev. While the summit proved little else than that east and west now had leaders that would speak to each other about changes, it did lay the groundwork for the Reykjavik Summit the following year.

While tensions between east and west were set to loosen, there was a long way yet to go.

In September 1986, after nearly two years of training in the Soviet Union, the first LOVA Su-27 regiment arrived at Zeltweg. Almost at once, they were performing regular patrols along the Linz Line, throwing NATO intelligence into a frenzy.

NATO fully expected that the MiG-29 would eventually make it’s appearance in LOVA hands and briefed their pilots in the area to expect encounters with the Fulcrum in the near future. When an OL Tornado returned to its base with its crew not only reporting the sight of the much larger Sukhoi fighter in LOVA markings, but with photographic evidence to back their claims, NATO went on high alert.

While the MiG-29 had become a rather familiar shape to NATO pilots patroling the borderlands between east and west and many of the speculations about it had been put to rest when a Yugoslav pilot defected to Italy with one in July of 1985 and briefed NATO about the Fulcrum; the Sukhoi aircraft was still very much an enigmatic beast. The existence of the Flanker was known about and its general arrangement could be determined from grainy photos. At the time, it was a truly unknown quantity that had not been expected to be seen so close to western territory and certainly not in export service.

NATO patrols along the Linz Line were increased substantially from September of 1986.

Reykjavik Summit:

The controversy of the Su-27 based so close to Western Territory on the eve of the Reykjavik Summit in early October of 1986 nearly derailed the summit before it began.

Many felt it to be at least strongly ironic, if not outright hypocritical, for Gorbachev to enter the summit on a platform of arms reduction so soon after the latest in Soviet fighter technology had been seen serving in a satelite nation’s hands directly on the opposite side of the Linz Line. The Flanker’s presence there was highly provocative and it became a topic of heated debate at the summit.

While the subject did not derail the summit entirely, it did leave an overall bitter flavour to the talks among all who participated

Strings Attached:

While no satisfactory solution to the East Austrian Flanker issue was reached, a proposal was put forth by the west to ease current tensions regarding the aircraft:

1:
 LOVA Flankers were to be withdrawn from East Austrian service in favour of the better known MiG-29.

Or

2:
LOVA Flankers had to be limited in their armaments to their cannon and short and medium range AAMs. Any ability that the aircraft might possess for long range intercepts or air to ground work had to be disabled.

The proposal was seen as veiled threat by some and an attempt to “Castrate” the aircraft and leave East Austrian territory at a higher state of vulnerability.

After the time and resources that had gone into training the LOVA Su-27 pilots, the idea of trading the Flanker in for Fulcrums was met roundly as a complete non-option.

Begrugingly, the plans to downgrade the LOVA Flankers were drawn up and put into action. Pilots were under strict orders to keep the Flankers well away from the Linz Line until all aircraft in the fleet had been downgraded and inspected by an international delegation scheduled to approve of the changes in late January of 1987.

Moves of Good Faith:

With the Su-27 Flanker debacle seemingly under control, it was felt by many in the upper echelons of the East Austrian parliament, that something extra could be done to quell tensions further in the interests of more future dialog between east and west.

A nervous proposal had been put forth from Vienna to Moscow requesting that the Su-24 Fencer regiment at Ferlach be relocated further east to Klosterneuburg if not taken out of East Austrian territory entirely.

Two months passed with no response. Vienna had begun to resign themselves to the possibility that their proposal had simply fell on deaf ears. The Soviet Fencers flew their routes along the Linz Line unabated.

In early January, a response was finally forthcoming from Moscow; the Fencer regiment was to be transferred home to the Soviet Union by May of 1987.

On the heels of that news, plans were put in motion to deactivate one LOVA base. The Soviets had kept Ferlach in very good condition to the point where LOVA could start operations from there almost immediately.

Eventually, Linz and Bad Leonfelden were shortlisted as the candidates for closure. Not only because they were both close to the Linz Line, but also because of their close proximity to each other. It was felt that two air bases so close to each other were not neccesary.

Bad Leonfelden had undergone significant refitting and refurbishment to remove the infrastructure and gear to support the now retired Sukhoi strike aircraft that had once been there to make way for the lighter L-39 strike force that was now calling it home.
While Linz was the hub of LOVA helicopter activity, it was becoming more difficult to coordinate military activity smoothly with increased commercial traffic from the civil side of the Linz airfield.

Ultimately, the military side of the Linz airport would be handed over to the municipality for civil usage and LOVA Helicopters would find a new home at Ferlach a few months after the Soviets had vacated that base.

Flankers for Good:

As agreed, January 1987 saw an international delgation arrive in Zeltweg to be briefed on and to inspect the downgraded LOVA Su-27 fleet.

It was a rather protracted affair as it was neccesary to brief the delegation on the full capabilities of a standard Su-27 so that they could have some frame of reference for the scale of the downgrades.

After a week and a half of inspections, conferences and deliberations; the delegation were satisfied with the revised state of these particular Flankers.

The downgrades did not affect the engines or flight performance and the aircraft’s IRST system was left intact and functional. However, beyond the cannon, the aircraft was limited to AA-8 “Aphid” missiles for short range along with IR and semi-active radar homing versions of the medium range version of the AA-10 “Alamo”.

Eventually, tensions loosened up enough for the aircraft to be “upgraded” to carry AA-11 “Archer” for short range and to add the fully active radar homing version of the AA-10 to its arsenal. Still, long range missiles were never approved for LOVA Flankers at any point in their service lives.

Pickled Wings, A Blog for Preserved Aircraft:
http://pickledwings.com/

Beyond Prague, Traveling the Rest of the Czech Republic:
http://beyondprague.net/

Offline upnorth

  • Distorting a reality near you.
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Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #48 on: January 21, 2012, 04:59:14 PM »
Policing “The Wedge” :

Directly north of the Ashdod/En-gedi line that formed the buffer zone between North Sinai and the remainder of Israel was an area that had come to be known to the UN policing forces patrolling it as “The Wedge”.

The Wedge was not fully the remainder of Israel, but a roughly triangular shaped segment of it with the Ashdod/En-gedi buffer zone defining it’s southern frontier and a relatively straight line from just north of Hadera to the northern terminus of the Dead Sea. This line was the limit to how far Warsaw Pact forces had infiltrated Israel before withdrawing.

The Wedge was essentially the part of Israel that the Israeli Defence Forces, and later insurgent cells, had managed to defend successfully. Jerusalem had remained the capital city.

When West Austrian led UN peacekeeping forces entered the area in early 1985, The Wedge was a truly dangerous and unruly place. Paramilitary cells were in evidence everywhere and none of them could be trusted, as they themselves trusted nobody. The structure of power was all but impossible to determine. Authority seemed to alternate between the various cells at an alarming rate and most of the politicians in the parliament had very clear connections to the various cells.

The first six months of the policing mission were quite costly in both personnel and equipment losses for the UN force. However, in autumn of 1985, their fortunes changed when they were approached by a sizable group of men and women who claimed to be the remaining members of three defeated paramilitary cells that had fallen from favour with their “connections” in the parliament.

The group presented the UN force members with their barely serviceable weapons for inspection to show that they really were no threat. Once a basic trust had been established, the group gave a briefing about a plan among the less popular cells to overthrow the parliament and weaken the stronger cells and if not completely destroy those cells, at least drive them out over the northern frontier.

Through a number of Israeli expatriates living in Europe, the group’s story was largely verified and permission to work with them was given to the UN forces.

By the beginning of 1986, the western part of The Wedge was almost completely free of major government backed cells. With the southern frontier fully secured by UN and North Sinai forces and Jordanian forces standing at the ready to the east; the parliament and the cells they backed had few options left to them by October of the same year.

Most of the smaller cells simply dispersed or surrendered to the UN advance on Jerusalem. The stronger, more fanatical cells either fell trying to hold the city or fled over the northern frontier.

In late November of 1986, the parliament collapsed and Jerusalem came under complete UN control. There was much revelling in the streets and the Israeli flags flew proudly everywhere in the territory.

However, many people in The Wedge were of the feeling that North Sinai should be reunited with them and not continue on the road to statehood. It was a contentious issue and still remains one today. North Sinai had grown prosperous and many people both inside and outside its borders were very optimistic about it’s future.

In a national plebiscite, the people of North Sinai overwhelmingly sent a message that they had no interest in reuniting with the remainder of the old Israel.

Changing the Guard:

As January 1987 started, West Austria’s Command of the UN force was transferred to American hands.

With stability taking hold in The Wedge, the UN turned its eyes to the remaining northern expanse. It was a brief, but sobering, look that left the UN deeply questioning the logic of trying to bring order to it.

A U.S. Army corporal was quoted as saying the following:

“We went up for a look into the area from a helicopter. We stayed just south of the northern frontier but we could see more than enough.

Through my binoculars, I could see that places like Haifa and Nazareth were more wreckage than structure. The area around Nabulus, where the unmanned MiGs had been used to attack the Warsaw Pact troops, was the most surreal thing I think I’ve ever seen; it was like looking at a picture of the moon. Craters everywhere, except the moon doesn’t have scorched up Russian tanks and mass graves all over it.

I saw a small convoy of vehicles heading towards the border with Lebanon. There was nothing but scattered camps, burned out towns and nothingness around. It was like a “Mad Max” film in a way.

You couldn’t convince me that there was anything worth going in there for.”

Photographic surveillance showed Syrian and Lebanese military build ups along those countries’ borders. Clearly they were not prepared to take the chance of a cell coming over their borders.

Last Details:

Meanwhile, in Dimona, Beersheba, Gaza, Elat and several other locations in North Sinai; people were getting ready for the transition from protectorate to statehood. Everything was right on schedule for the change in September. Those that had doubted it could happen so quickly were happily eating their words.

The Day Arrives:

In the presence of many international leaders, which included the surprising attendance of several delegates from Arab League nations. September 17, 1987 witnessed the birth of a new nation in the world. The transition from North Sinai Protectorate to Republic of North Sinai was happily welcomed.

The day included both military and civil parades and numerous fly-overs of military aircraft including a particularly large, international formation of Panavia Tornados led by an NSAS machine.

The mood was particularly jubilant between North Sinai, Egypt and Jordan. The North Sinai Alliance they had founded was still intact and functioning to the benefit of all three. Many had been even more sceptical of such an alliance being workable than they had been of North Sinai itself.

This was a day where sceptics were silenced on two fronts.


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http://pickledwings.com/

Beyond Prague, Traveling the Rest of the Czech Republic:
http://beyondprague.net/

Offline upnorth

  • Distorting a reality near you.
  • You want maple syrup on that Macchi?
Re: Austria Divided
« Reply #49 on: January 21, 2012, 07:45:01 PM »
A New Breed for the OL:

As the festivities in North Sinai went on, the workers at Embraer’s Helwan, Egypt facility were assembling the last two AMX aircraft in what would be the first batch for the OL.

West Austria was a secondary partner in the AMX program. Their contributions had been strictly electronics and avionics related, little evidence of their involvement could be seen on the aircraft externally.

The Helwan built AMX was, for the most part, indistinguishable from its Italian and Brazilian counterparts. However, while the Italians opted for the American M-61 Vulcan cannon and the Brazilians went for a pair of French 30mm DEFA cannons in theirs; the Helwan built examples used a pair of German Mauser BK-27 cannons.

The cannon choice was made to simplify maintenance by having a common cannon between the AMX and the Tornado fleets.

The Helwan line was the largest AMX production centre, thus the bulk of AMXs outside of Brazil and Italy have the Mauser cannons.

Thinning the Heard:

As the MB-326 before it, the MB-339 was a workhorse in OL hands and driven particularly hard in all rolls that it had.

Also, similar to the MB-326 experience, a rash of fatigue related accidents temporarily grounded the OL MB-339 fleet.

The MB-339 was a popular and very useful aircraft that OL had no interest in retiring outright. After thorough inspection of the fleet, it was decided to remove the MB-339 from front line close support work and reserve it for training purposes.

As the first AMX arrived in West Austria in early 1988, the men who would make up the first squadron of them was just returning from training on the type in Italy.

A small ceremony was held at the OL base at Ebensee to see the retirement of the MB-339 “with teeth” and the official beginning of AMX operations.

Shades of Future:

1988 saw the implementation of Gorbachev’s “Perestroika” plan, which many credit to be the beginning of the end for the former Soviet Union and European Socialism.

March 25, 1988 saw the “Candle Demonstration” in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Approximately 5000 Catholics demonstrated peacefully against Socialism before being dispersed by the police.

On March 30, 1988; at least two sizable similar protests were held in East Austria to show solidarity with the sentiments of the one in Bratislava. The largest were in Vienna and Graz. Those protests were closely monitored by wary, but peaceful police forces. The demonstrations were allowed to run their course without incident.

May of that year saw Soviet troops begin to pull out of Afghanistan after eight years.

Force of Reduction:

While the LOVA Flankers plied the skies over the Linz Line, something was amiss by late 1988. “Klagenfurt Airlines” as the various antenna laden aircraft from that base were informally known, had all but stopped flying. Only a single AN-26 had been sighted between September and November and it was positively identified as a standard transport variant from Graz.

In fact, August had seen the beginning of a draw down of military operations from the Klagenfurt airfield.

Satellite imagery had confirmed that several of the aircraft known to be based at Klagenfurt had reappeared, some in pieces, at the LOVA storage facility at Klosterneuburg. The remains of the three Yak-40s that were nearly impossible to lock onto were positively identified in among the other aircraft.

Like Linz, the Klagenfurt airfield had been handed over for civilian use.

Nearby, Ferlach would remain in military hands.
Pickled Wings, A Blog for Preserved Aircraft:
http://pickledwings.com/

Beyond Prague, Traveling the Rest of the Czech Republic:
http://beyondprague.net/