The SAAF Forum

Been quite a bit of Il-76 movements at FAWK - apparently repatriation of Rooivalks and other equipment from DRC and other goodies from Moz. I have yet to get the Blue/white Il-76 operating from Goma but got these two :

Kyrgyzstan registered Il-76TD registration EX-76025 seen on 27 November 2024 in late afternoon gloomy conditions in from Moz:

147A2152 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A2162 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

DRC registered Il-76TD registration 9T-TIB seen on 3 December 2024 in from DRC - looking a bit tatty. Note variable colour panels on the two starboard engines :

147A2332 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A2338 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A2350 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Good spotting, thanks for posting.

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How come every time my ship comes in, I'm at the airport?

Another one - Kyrgyzstan registered Il-76TD EX-76008 arriving at FAWK on 2 February 2025. Seems to be a current regular doing DRC duty.

EX-76008 - 147A2930 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Here's one from 2 November - nice colour scheme - DRC registered IL-76TD 9S-PRR. According to AI ( ), 9S-PRR is an Ilyushin Il-76TD cargo aircraft that was formerly operated by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Emergency Situations as UP-17604 before being sold to the Democratic Republic of Congo's Air Force in early 2024. How can it be that the DRC can operate one of these, but SAAF has only one C-130 in operation

147A7379 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Here's another from 16 September - Kyrgyzstan registered Il-76TD EX-76017 :

147A1155 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Same aerie, similar pose - this time 18 September 2025. Eiash - apologies for size variations

147A1217 - 800 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A1316 - 2000 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Some more Il-76 movements the past two weeks at FAWK. There have been at least three different airframes :

Firstly TL-ATD (Central African Republic registered ) seen in lousy conditions on 21 June 2026

147A0335 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A0350 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A0360 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Then on 26 June taking off from FAWK, AT-ABN, Burkino Faso registered

Apologies, photos taken into the sun :

147A0463 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A0491 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

And finally from 30 June, Lesotho registered ( ) Il-76 7P-HAR :

147A0765 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

147A0769 - 1300 by Malcolm Reid, on Flickr

Why all these odd locations to register an aircraft.