On August 27, an Ilyushin Il-76 took off from Aqaba Airport in Jordan and appeared on Flightradar24 as UR-ZAR. The aircraft had not flown since June 2023 and was probably parked at Aqaba throughout that period. After flying for almost three hours, it returned to the airport. The sortie was a post-maintenance test flight. The…
A previously unknown cargo airline operating the Ilyushin Il-76 has emerged, with evidence suggesting it is conducting flights on behalf of the United Arab Emirates government. On 19 July, an Il-76 operating as flight VAF2034 flew from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. The aircraft’s registration remains unknown, but it transmitted the Malawi-allocated…
Notorious Kyrgyz cargo carriers New Way Cargo Airlines, Fly Sky Airlines, Skyline Airlines and Sky Jet have lost their operating licences after an audit by the Kyrgyz authorities. Two of these airlines, which reportedly flew weapons to several African countries on behalf of the government of the United Arab Emirates, lost their Air Operator Certificates (AOCs)…
A previously unknown Ilyushin Il-76 carrying the Lesotho registration 7P-HAR unexpectedly appeared at South Africa’s Waterkloof Air Force Base on 29 June. The aircraft departed Ras Al Khaimah at around 13:45 on 28 June for Abu Dhabi, operating as flight SXV9101. During the evening of 28 June, it departed Abu Dhabi for Nairobi, again using…
A previously unknown Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft has surfaced on flight-tracking websites, raising fresh questions about the use of Malawi’s aircraft register by operators linked to the United Arab Emirates. On Friday, June 26, 2026, an Il-76 carrying the registration 7Q-VAA was observed on Flightradar24 for the first time. The aircraft appeared to operate a…
At the same time, two aircraft that had been parked for a long period in the United States are also being flown to Africa for a new owner. What exactly these aircraft will be doing there remains unknown. On April 28, the former Kalitta Boeing 727 freighter N725CK began its ferry flight from Oscoda toward…
A newly registered airline in the Central African Republic is in fact a method for the UAE to transport weapons. The UAE has for many years flown war materiel, mainly using Ilyushin Il-76 cargo aircraft, to support troops. This concerns forces of Haftar in eastern Libya and the RSF in Sudan. The material is transported…
On Friday, February 27, an Antonov An-12 cargo aircraft flew from Tunis, Tunisia, to N’Djamena in Chad — a route that is drawing increasing scrutiny from observers of covert logistics networks in conflict zones. The aircraft, tracked on Flightradar, carried the registration XT-ABR and operated under flight number BTO4200. The callsign belongs to Batot Air,…
A Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules—the civilian variant of the military C-130—long associated with covert U.S. government operations has recently been observed flying without any visible registration markings. The aircraft, formerly registered as N3755P, was spotted without tail numbers, an unusual and noteworthy development given that virtually all civilian-registered aircraft are required to display registration identifiers. According…
Rada Airlines IL-62 EW-450TR flew since February 13, 2025 multiple flights out of Mombasa, Kenya to an yet unknown destination. Based on the route the destination is likely D’Djamena in Chad. Later also sistership EW-505TR flew this route. The series of flights started at February 13 with a departure from Mombasa towards the northwest. Flightradar24…