A LASA T-Bird for Libya in Cyprus

YU-TSH: How a light surveillance and attack aircraft ended up in a Paphos hangar

Sep 26, 2021

YU-TSH, a LASA T-Bird (converted Thrush 510G) without pods at Larnaca Airport, Cyprus, 19 Jul 2019.

On 21 Sep 2021, Cyprus Mail posted an article1 “Aircraft under police guard over possible links to arms smuggling”. In my first article on this platform, I will shed my light on the history and identity of the aircraft, which was previously mentioned in U.N. Panel of Experts on Libya report S/2021/2292 (hereinafter: “the Report”), and which was to be used in a private military company operation in Libya, named “Project Opus”. Then, I will identify her movements since late 2018, and will show how she ended up in Paphos, Cyprus.

The identity of the aircraft

Back in June 2014, a Thrush 510G agricultural aircraft carrying United States registration N62082 (serial: H80-161DC; Mode-S: A819C8), was deregistered from the FAA aircraft registry3. The aircraft was deregistered because she was exported to San Marino (aircraft registration prefix: T7). According to the Report, she was then registered T7-SAX. The aircraft was later leased and finally sold to LASA Engineering Limited in Bulgaria on 10 Mar 2017, and re-registered LZ-SAX. Somewhere over this period, LASA Engineering converted the aircraft into a light surveillance and attack aircraft4 and added various pods specified below. Through the years, she was operated by several companies led by Erik Prince (founder of Blackwater) and Christiaan Durrant.

LASA Engineering’s LZ-SAX, a Thrush 510G/LASA T-Bird at Paris Le Bourget, France, 24 Jun 2017. Photo taken by Anna Zvereva, Wikimedia Commons.

Two months later, she was spotted at the Le Bourget Air Show in Paris, carrying various modifications made by LASA Engineering, as listed in the 10 Jun 2015 dry lease agreement taken up in the Report:

1.       Self Contained Aerial Reconnaissance Pod (SCAR POD)
a.       FLIR ULTRAFORCE 350HD
b.       ECS Downlink
c.       Video/Data recording system
2.       Persistent Systems Wave Relay Datalink
3.       Churchill Augmented Reality Mapping System (Software Integrating FLIR Video and Moving Map and displaying on GETAC T800 Tablet Displays)
4.       Public Address System

The Report adds that “six removable weapon hard points under the wings were fitted”. They identify the weapons fitted as “1) UB 16-57 mm Rocket Pod; 2) UB 32-57 mm Rocket Pod and 3) UBK-23 gun pod fitted with twin 23mm cannon inside” on both wings.

According to the Report, the aircraft was transferred to GAS-Aviation d.o.o. in Serbia on 16 August 2018, and received her last known registration YU-TSH. Serbian Aircraft Registry dated 28 Jun 2019 states that aircraft YU-TSH was entered on 25 Oct 2018, just over 2 months after the transfer. Serbia’s earlier Aircraft Registry dated 23 Aug 2018 does not list the aircraft.

Part of Serbia’s Aircraft Registry of 28 June 2019, listing YU-TSH.

On 19 Jun 2019, LASA Engineering sold the aircraft to UAE-based L-6 FZE, a company led by Christiaan Durrant, described by abc.net.au5 as “fighter pilot, mercenary boss and warlord”. In this month U.N. Experts identified a “well-funded private military company operation, named “Project Opus”, which was designed to provide HAF [Haftar Affiliated Forces] with armed assault rotary-wing aviation, intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, maritime interdiction, cyber, unmanned armed vehicles, and intelligence fusion and targeting capabilities.” L-6 FZE was one of three UAE-based companies used for planning, management and finance of this operation. Long story short: via various intermediate companies, the aircraft was destined to be used by Haftar Affiliated Forces in the war in Libya.

However, the aircraft never arrived in Libya. Just how did she end up in Paphos, Cyprus?

Figure 76.P.1 from U.N. Report S/2021/229 showing the history of LASA T-Bird/Thrush 510G serial H80-161DC (YU-TSH, former LZ-SAX, T7-SAX and N62082). The title contains a typo: YU-THS should be YU-TSH.

The flights

The flights: The LASA T-Bird, registered YU-TSH, flew from Wiener Neustadt, Austria to Amman, Jordan on 24-26 Jun 2019, continued to Larnaca, Cyprus on 18 Jul 2019 and finally to Paphos, Cyprus on 31 Jul 2019. Corresponding Flightradar24 screenshots are presented at the end of this article. Photo taken by Anna Zvereva.

As stated before, the aircraft was sold to UAE-based L-6 FZE on 19 Jun 2019. On 18 Jun 2019, the day before the sale, the aircraft was flown from Belgrade, Serbia, where it had been on ground since 06 Dec 2018, to Flugplatz Wiener Neustadt Ost, a small airport located some 40 km south of Austria’s capital Vienna. At the time, the aircraft was registered YU-TSH, and was using Mode-S code 4C4E47.

This airport hosts Airborne Technologies GmbH, which according to the Report is linked to LASA Engineering of Bulgaria. These companies did the conversion from a regular Thrush 510G to a LASA T-Bird light surveillance and attack aircraft.

The aircraft subsequently remained on ground in Austria for about a week, and was flown to Heraklion, Crete, Greece on 24-25 Jun 2019, with an intermediate stop in Sofia, Bulgaria. On 26 Jun 2019, the aircraft continued her journey from Heraklion to Amman Marka “Civil” Airport in Jordan.

Over 3 weeks later, on 18 Jul 2019, the aircraft was seen active again, and was tracked entering the Red Sea from Jordan, heading South around 08:40 UTC. Because the aircraft was not using full ADS-B and did not transmit its position, at least 4 receivers must receive signals from the aircraft simultaneously in order to calculate a position. Hence, no complete route information is available.

Because the Thrush 510G/LASA T-Bird is a light and slow aircraft cruising around 160 kts, the journey from there to Larnaca (<700 km) should take some 2.5 hours. However, the aircraft was tracked landing in Larnaca on 18 Jul 2019 around 13:45 UTC, over 5 hours later. This tells us that the aircraft did not fly to Larnaca in a direct route, but may have made an intermediate stop or be otherwise delayed. According to Cyprus Civil Aviation Chief Operations Officer Haris Antoniades, the plane was en route “from Jordan to Libya” and “asked to land at Larnaca airport instead due to the situation in its destination”.

According to the Report, a flight plan for the flight to Larnaca was submitted on 17 Jul 2019, and a flight to Larnaca took place on or around 22 July 2019. Mode-S record prove that the flight took place four days earlier, on 18 July 2019.

The Report furthermore states that “this information is likely inaccurate as Cyprus air traffic control have no records of the aircraft landing there”. However, a picture of YU-TSH was taken on ground at Larnaca International Airport on 19 Jul 2019. My geolocation, presented below, confirms the image was indeed taken at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus, and was taken no later than 20 Jul 2019.

According to the Report, “Jordan” instructed “Christiaan Durrant to remove all Project Opus A assets” in late June 2019. The picture presented in this post, taken at Larnaca, Cyprus, confirms that T-Bird equipment, such as the pods below the wings and the sensor below the fuselage, has been removed.

Geolocation of LASA T-Bird registration YU-TSH points to Larnaca International Airport, Cyprus (34.885006, 33.631444), taken 19 Jul 2019. The aircraft in the left background has been identified as A6-HMS, which was present on ground 16-20 Jul 2019. Bottom right Sentinel-2 satellite images were taken on 18 (before YU-TSH arrived) and 23 July 2019 (after A6-HMS left).

The aircraft remained on ground at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus for almost 2 weeks. On 31 July 2019 around 09:30 UTC, she was flown from Larnaca to Paphos. According to Cyprus Mail, the aircraft is currently located in a hangar at Paphos Airport “with a private foreign company paying the fees”. This article also states that the aircraft has been immobilized and is being guarded by police, in order to make sure the aircraft cannot be flown away.

In June 2019, the LASA T-Bird (YU-TSH, serial H80-161DC, Mode-S 4C4E47) was listed in the Serbian Aircraft Registry as navigable until 04 Jun 2020, over a year ago. The current Serbian Aircraft Registry no longer lists YU-TSH. No new registration is known. I therefore expect the aircraft in the hangar in Paphos Airport to be physically carrying registration YU-TSH, which is no longer valid, and I expect her to be not carrying any LASA or Airborne Technologies GmbH equipment, since it was removed in Amman.

According to Cyprus Mail, “a team of U.N. experts are expected to arrive on the island in November to inspect the plane”. Needless to say, I am looking forward to find out the results of the their investigation, and will keep posting updates when I have any.

This research would not have been possible without the help of my various sources, all of whom wish to remain anonymous. Thank you very much for your help!