Dubai Air Show 2005

Just thought of sharing with you a few snapshots from the event ...

AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship - The one in this photo belongs to the

UAE Air Force and was engaged in real combat situations in Kosovo

The magnificent SAAB Gripen, star of the airshow... too bad

the Swedish don't make cars that look that good!

(i took the first photo, the second is from SAAB website)

F16 Fighting Falcon - jewel of the UAE Air force.
The original F-16 was designed in 1984 as a lightweight air-to-air day fighter. It proved itself for superior multi-role responsibilities transformed the first production F-16s into multi-role fighters

F15 Eagle. Tactical fighter that played a major roll in operation desert storm (KSA AIR FORCE). Known for its extreme maneuverability advantages and for its ability to gain and maintain air superiority.

A10 Fairchild Thunderbolt, commonly known as the Warthog . Low speed close
land support tank and unit grounds hunter. Its Gatling gun in
front has the capacity of firing up to 4200 rounds/min.

MIG 29 Fulcrum, excellent maneuverability and control at subsonic speeds. Designed for Air-to-air combat with air to ground mission capabilities. Got very bad publicity after constantly being shutdown during gulf war II (I blame the iraqi pilots for that).

Front: US Navy E-2C Hawk-eye AWAC - for early warning and sky surveillance.
This aircraft is designed to operate on aircraft carriers.
Back: Lockheed C-5 Galaxy: heavy logistics transport aircraft. Can travel from Baghdad to Germany in 3 hours

View from the navigator seat in the C-5 Galaxy. It requires 3 people only to fly this huge aircraft: pilot, navigator and loader.

C-5 Galaxy can carry about 56 tons of men and/or equipment. It can be transformed to be a fully operational 100-bed aerial hospital.

B1 bomber: long-range, multi-role, heavy bomber - each costs around $200 million. Very intimidating looking aircraft.

Emirates Airbus A 380 - do I need to say more?

...hope you enjoyed the tour