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The Ohrid Framework Agreement, which was signed on 13 August 2001, marked the official end to the armed conflict. In the succeeding years, the Air Brigade was reorganized. The former Greek UH-1s were taken out of service. One of the helicopters was flown to Greece for a major overhaul but ultimately remained in Greece due to financial restraints. The other aircraft has been in storage at Skopje Air Base.
LOCATION
Alexander the Great Airport is located near Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Part of this international airport is built as the republic’s only military air base, Petrovec. The air base houses the Combat Helicopter Squadron and the Transport Helicopter Squadron as well as the Pilot Training Center and Technical Maintenance Center.
TRANSPORT HELICOPTER SQUADRON
Regarding the Transport Helicopter Squadron, Colonel Malezanski explains: “The squadron has six helicopters, two of them are Mi-17, and the rest of them are Mi-8MT.” There used to be two more, but they were lost in accidents. “We’ve lost one in 2001 and the second one in 2008 on its way back from a EUFOR mission in Bosnia near the airport.”
MISSIONS
Colonel Malezanski explains the missions of the transport squadron: “The main mission of the squadron is to transport the troops of the [North] Macedonian Army. Additionally, they are trained to perform forest fire fighting, search and rescue, transport of cargo including external cargo, sling loads and of course, the training of new pilots. We don’t receive fully ready pilots in the squadron.”
Mi-8 and Mi-17 instructor pilot Lieutenant Colonel "Taurus" Bogdanoski, with over 1,100 flight hours adds: “We fly VIP transport for our government, our minister of defense, our general staff as well.” Casualty evacuation is also one of their missions, although the Mi-17 and Mi-8s are not fully equipped for MEDEVAC missions. “Because of that, we are performing just casualty evacuation, we have no medics on board, but we provide transport out of an area of conflict.” Colonel Malezanski notes: “Most of the civilian missions for search and rescue are executed by the police in the past couple of years. But we do search and rescue for the military, and of course combat search and rescue.”
The Mi-8 is configured as a combat helicopter and can carry weapons and rockets, whereas the Mi-17 is just for transport. Lt. Col. Bogdanoski adds: “We are using the Mi-8 with launchers to fire S-5 unguided rockets. The Mi-8 is not used for attack missions, the weapons are mainly for self-protection from ground troops.”
A lot of missions are flown in cooperation with special forces. Fast roping techniques, infiltration, and exfiltration techniques are trained, as well as parachute training with the special units. (Continued on Page 25)