Deployed to Kandahar (Afghanistan), a Rafale C flew always with a Mirage 2000D its mission as the Rafale was - at that moment - not cleared yet for laser-targeting operations. So the Mirage 2000 set the beam for the weapons of the Rafale. This Rafale carries four GBU-12 Paveway IIs (each Mk82 weights 500lb) underneath its wings, quite a heavy load.

This Black Hawk, assigned to B company of the 5th Batalion / 101st Aviation Regiment is normally based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky but here seen deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom to Kandahar.

This C4 of the Lyneham Transport Wing (LTW) was deployed to Kandahar (Afghanistan) in support of British and coalition troops during Operation Enduring Freedom

Hilarious: This Dutch Chinook had a bird strike over Afghanistan. That caused a clear visible dent in the black radome. The little damaged and robust built Chinook could continue its flight. Later during my deployment to Kandahar, I told this story to an F-16 pilot on QRA duty. With a complete astonished but spontaneous look he said: "Huh, how's that possible?? Birds can only hit the rear of a Chinook in flight!!". On the picture, the concerning H-47 is seen over one of the few lakes in Kandahar province. Chinooks stole my heart during the deployment. So versatile and such a dangerous mission!

Leaving deploment location Kandahar on high speed, and on request the pilot banked left for the picture. This Mirage 2000D with two GBU-12s under the centreline on its way to a Taliban target.

With British Gulf International's "BG" logo on the tail.

In December 2007, the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, Task Force Destiny, deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The B/5th Batalion "Lancers" supported the 101st with dozens of Black Hawks, like this 90-26303. This Black Hawk was written off on 17 April 2017 when the helicopter went down on the Breton Bay Golf Course (near Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD).

Parked in front of a by war devastated hangar at Kandahar air field, this C-130H of the Royal Australian Air Force. The Hercules was bought by the RAAF in 1978 and withdrawn from use by late November 2012. In 2016 it was selected by the government of Indonesia and started a new career as A-1335 within their Air Force from October in that year.

This 1970 built An-12BP started after 37 years of operations a new life with Transliz Aviation as ER-ADG in October 2007. It was reregistered by the company to S9-KHF in November 2007. Unfortunately, the An-12 was last seen in August 2014 at Chisinau (Moldavia) where it was fully scrapped by early 2015.

This long Beech shows it can fly low-level during a tactical take-off from Kandahar. Retracting gear, continue low level, building up as much speed as possible and then zoom into the air, in this way the crew prevents (a little) being shot by Taliban (and it's fun too...). The Beech was operated by Norse Air Charter that cancelled its operations by late 2011. The Beech was then transferred to Sahel Aviation Service as TZ-PJO.

This 278 is the second An-26 of the Afghan Air Force carrying this serial. The first was construction number 13409, but this airframe was probably hijacked to Pakistan by followers of General Tanai after the failed coup attempt of 05 March 1990. 13409 is now in a aviation museum in Karachi (Pakistan). The An-26 278 with construction number 13902 of this picture was first seen in a camo jacket in March 2002 in service with the then new-born Afghan National Army Air Corps (ANAAC). The An-26 became grey in 2006 and is withdrawn from use at Kabul in 2013.

A view from above when buzzing this old seven three with a helicopter over the end-of-the-runway at Kandahar. The 737 was for many known as N245WA with Western Airlines and Delta Airlines, before it went east. In May 2007, Kam Air started to operate the aircraft, in 2009 East Air took it over. Then it went from an Asian owner to an African owner. The 737 was flown in southwestern direction in 2009 where Jubba Airways (Somalia) became the proud owner.

This 1970 built An-12BP started after 37 years of operations a new life with Transliz Aviation as ER-ADG in October 2007. It was reregistered by the company to S9-KHF in November 2007. Unfortunately, the An-12 was last seen in August 2014 at Chisinau (Moldavia) where it was fully scrapped by early 2015.

A 319th Special Operations Squadron (319 SOS) U-28A Spectre being prepared for another mission over Afghanistan

Although very white, this Metro was operated by Blackwater in 2008. The Metro started its career as N3013L with Fairchild Aircraft Corp in Jan'93, and carried XA-SHE with Aeroponiente-Aerovías de Poniente since Mar'93 and with AeroLitoral since May'95. Its dark career started in Jan'03 as N821JB with Lambert Leasing Inc and was assigned to Horizon Airlines that did not excist. Since Oct'04 is was registered N821JB with Presidential Airways and N955BW with again Presidential Airways since May'05 and N955BW with AAR Airlift since Nov'10. The regi was cancelled on 20 Apr'17. Current whereabouts?

Nice study of a U-28A during its take-off from Kandahar. The U-28A provides a manned fixed wing, on-call/surge capability for tactical airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) in support of special operations forces.

The history of the 319th Special Operations Squadron (319 SOS) dates back to Sep'44 when it was activated as a C-46/C-47/C-123 Troop Carrier Squadron where it served in the China-Burma-India Theater during WWII within the civic action and counterinsurgency missions (also flew T-28 Trojans). Since then the squadron was activated, redesignated and deactivated several times, but on 1 Oct'05, the SOS was activated as part of an overall expansion of the USAF Special Operations Command. It started to fly this secretive Pilatus U-28A that provides intra-theater support for special operations forces.