Russian Military Analyst. 46 years Russian airplane chaser. Cold War mentality. Можно по Русский. 8000+ hours RC-135.
Joined March 2022
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CONDOR lights to Damascus are not uncommon. RA-82040 flew there on 30 Mar, 02, 06, 10 Apr & 07 Sep. It was at K-Grad from 01-03 Sep but I do not know if that flight was connected to the 07 Sep flight to Damascus. RA-82037 flew there on 18 Jun. I thought at the time they may have delivered/taken out air defense systems.
Perhaps the first flight carried the team and the second spectators? However, there seems to be a problem as the second flight is orbiting over the Persian Gulf. Flight clearance problems for the second flight?
On 24 Oct Il-76MD-90AE CANDID RA-78650 took off from Moscow (likely ZIA) and flew to Belaya Airbase. RA-78650 is an export version of the Il-76MD-90A (hence the 90AE) and was refitted for air-to-air (AAR) refueling at the Aviastar SP Factory at Ulyanovsk between Oct 2024 and Mar 2025.
In May it flew to Nagurskoe Airbase on Franz Josef Land with Il-114 RA-54116 for testing in Arctic conditions and was noted with the United Aircraft Corporation logo on its tail.
On 21 Oct SFS An-124 CONDOR RA-82035 departed Moscow (CKL) and after a stop at Khmejmim Airbase SYR continued on to Benghazi LBY on 22 Oct. On 23 Oct as RFF704 it landed at Bamako MLI departing later to the east still as RFF704.
On 22 Oct Gelix Airlines Il-76TD CANDID RA-76360 took off from Dubai UAE and appeared to land in eastern UKR. It did not; this is more spoofing. On 23 Oct it took off from Moscow (SVO) and is eastbound.
On 20 Oct VKS Il-76MD-90A CANDID RF-78658 flew to Accra GHA. It departed on 22 Oct and was tracked as far as BFA, later tracked climbing eastbound over BFA. I suspect the CANDID stopped at Ouagadougou BFA.
On 22 Oct Il-78M-90A MIDAS tanker RF-78741 took off from Ulyanovsk, flew to the east before returning to base and may have conducted air-to-air refueling operations.
There was an interesting flight by Air Koryo An-148 P-671. On 22 Oct it flew from Pyongyang to the airport at Samjiyon returning to Pyongyang later. Samjiyon is near to Mount Paektu, the alleged birthplace of Kim Jong Il and a mythical location for the citizens of the PRK, kind of like the nativity for Christians.
Given the rumors and the Internet outages, this odd flight to Samjiyon becomes even more mysterious! If Kim Jong Un is dead, did the new ‘Dear Leader’ go to Mount Paektu to ‘get the blessing’ to be new leader?