A new civilian registered Dash8-300 operates for US Armed Forces (AFRICOM?)
The US Armed Forces has a contract with various aviation companies for all kind of missions in area’s like Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa. Aircraft fly Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance to gain information on terrorists or on drugs mafia. Other civilian registered aircraft perform transport duties.
Dash 8 N706XT is likely operating for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). AFRICOM is responsible for all U.S. Department of Defense operations, exercises, and security cooperation on the African continent
A new aircraft on the scene is a Dash 8-300 registered N706XT (hex mode-s A96CF7) . The aircraft arrived at Faro airport in Portugal on July 23. 2021. The trip started in Lake City airport in Florida at July 21. The aircraft made stops at St. John’s and Santa Maria, Azores(night stop). Flights of this aircraft are blocked by flight tracking website like Flightradar24 and Radarbox. Which is an indication of the purpose of this aircraft. It is not just a civilian registered Dash 8. Also the airlinecode and the company to which the code was assigned to indicates a dodgy, non commercial operation.
According to Skyliner Aviation the aircraft is owned by Darkwing Aviation. There is no information on public sources available on Darkwing Aviation which makes this aircraft extra interesting.
A similair aircraft is Berry Aviation Dash 8-200 N541AV. The purpose of this all white painted aircraft is not certain. It is based at the USAF base Al Udeid Air Base (AR Rayyan) near Doha in Qatar and did flights in the region to Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordania.
The previous registration is N505CL. Before that the aircraft flew passenger services for Austrian airline Intersky. N505CL was flown from Europe to Manchester-Boston airport in February 2019. It made a stop at Prestwick at February 3, 2019. There are hardly any pictures of N505CL.
It stayed at Manchester-Boston airport for probably two years ! at Pro Star Aviation. Not sure what this company did to the aircraft. Not likely heavy maintenance as the company seems not certificated for the type. Likely modifications where done to install for example satellite equipment. The aircraft does not have all kind of wierd looking bulbs or antennas which are typically for ISR aircraft. At March 30, 2021 it made a first test flight. Next to the door on the left a sticker ‘experimental‘ was applied. The reason is probably because the aircraft had a provisional certification.
At June 6 2021 the aircraft finally departed Manchester-Boston and flew to Stallion Army airfield near the White Sands missile range
at June,14,15 and 16, 2021 the aircraft flew an interesting pattern above the White Sands missile range. On June 17 the aircraft flew to Lake city airport in Florida. The aircraft could be involved in the Big Safari program although it lacks any indication of observation equipment like this Dornier 328 has.
This Department of State Dash 8 -300 N568AW is all white and was operating out of Kabul in July. It can be tracked on flightradar and does not seem so suspicious at N706XT.
The aircraft arrived at Malta from Faro at August 12. It remained on the ground for 1,5 hours and left direction southeast. (Libya) At August 16 it returned to Malta.
It left Malta in southeasterly direction at August 18 as flight DCM2706
At September 2 the aircraft flew to Malta probably from Libya. It arrived the from the southeast indicating the aircraft came from Benghazi.
At September 18 the aircraft departed from Malta in a southeasterly direction probably to Libya using flightnumer DCM2706.
At September 27 the aircraft returned to Malta using flightnumber WVE822. After a short stop at Malta the aircraft departed as WVE820 and landed at Tunis in Tunesia. After a stop of less than an hour the aircraft departed Tunis heading to Libya again. It landed at Mitiga airport.
at September 29 the aircraft departed Mitiga and landed at Malta. It stayed at Malta for around 1,5 hour and then departed heading southeast direction Benghazi.
The code WVE is assigned by the FAA to a company called Cimex Environmental, LLC. The website of the company is empty except a page for contact. On Internet there is no information at all about the company and what is does. So very suspicious. The domain name of the website of this company was registered at April 8, 2021. The owner of the domain is hidden and set to DOMAIN PRIVACY SERVICE FBO REGISTRANT. So this is another indication the operator of this Dash 8 does not want others to know what the aircraft purpose is.
While the aircraft was at Mitiga (near Tripoli), the AFRICOM commander at the same time visited Tripoli. U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend before vistied Tunis. Also a place N706XT was.
In November 2021 the aircraft flew frequently between Benghazi, Misrata, Tripoli and Tunis, Many times at Malta a stop was made. At October 28 the aircraft flew from Misrata in Libya to Malta. Stayed on the ground for 1 hour an left for Tripoli. This could indicate that crews are changed in Malta. At November 1 the aircraft flew from Misrata to Malta. It seems the aircraft flew from Tripoli to Misrata but because of coverage of ADSBexchange this flight was not spotted. Until November 18 the aircraft probably had some maintenance at Malta. At november 18 it flew to Benghazi. On November 19 if flew Benghazi to Tunis. Remained on the ground for about an hour and flew to Malta. After a stop of about an hour it continued to Benghazi.
The aircraft was all white when it was registered N505CL. It became a new livery between March 2021 and July 2021 at an unknown airfield. Likely the aircraft was repainted at the HAECO facilities at Lake City in Florida. There was enough time to apply the cheatline. The aircraft stayed at Lake City between June 17 and July 21.
The new owner is not known. The owner on paper is TVPX AIRCRAFT SOLUTIONS INC TRUSTEE. Challlenger 604 N100XV which does ISR missions for the USAF is also registered by TVPX. TVPX is a paper company with the purpose to hide the real owner.
