With two other mysterious spy planes now retired, U.S. Special Operations Command appears to have fully transitioned to using newer, modified de Havilland Canada Dash-8s for certain discreet persistent surveillance missions. At least one of these planes is already becoming a regular feature over Libya, where American special operators continue a secretive hunt for terrorists, including individuals with links to the infamous Benghazi attack, like reported by thedrive.com.

According to the U.S. military’s latest budget request for the 2019 fiscal year, which it released in February 2018, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) operates at least two of the twin engine Dash-8s as part of a fleet of aircraft known as SOCOM Tactical Airborne Multi-Sensor Platforms, or STAMP. That program also oversees at least three smaller twin engine Beachcraft King Air B300s.

We don’t know the exact configuration of these Dash-8s. Federal Aviation Administration records only shows SOCOM as having registered one aircraft of this type, which carries the U.S. civil registration code N8200L, so the exact status of the other plane is unclear.

But we do know that N8200L’s previous owner was Dynamic Aviation, a contractor that had operated the plane as a surveillance platform on contract to the U.S. Army. Dynamic flew a number of Dash-8s for the Army in two configurations, known by their program names Desert Owl and Saturn Arch.

Desert Owl’s primary sensor was a PedRad 7 synthetic aperture radar capable of creating images across an area nearly two miles wide depending on the aircraft’s altitude. It also had a sensor turret with electro-optical and infrared cameras.

The Saturn Arch aircraft carried a “Mission Sensor System,” as well as another sensor called “Big Green.” We don’t know exactly what these pieces of equipment did, but at least one of them could have been a laser imaging system.

Those aircraft also carried a secondary camera turret, as well as another hyperspectral camera, which could create pictures based on an object’s electromagnetic signature, and compact wide-area optical camera system.

It is possible that the Desert Owl planes had additional sensor suites, as well. All of the aircraft, which looked similar externally regardless of configuration, featured satellite data links to transmit information back to ground exploitation stations or share it with troops on the ground in near real time.

With this equipment on board, both types of planes had the mission of performing persistent surveillance missions across relatively wide areas, using their sensors to build larger maps of entire regions. From there, analysts could examine the imagery for items of interest, potentially establishing so-called “patterns of life” for specific terrorists or small groups of militants.

The Army primarily employed them to hunt for improvised explosive devices and, by extension, to trace insurgent movements back to bomb workshops or other base camps. That same wide-area surveillance information can help U.S. forces determine when the best most might be to try and kill or capture a particular individual with as little risk to nearby innocent civilians as possible.

It seems very likely that SOCOM’s Dash-8s have a similar combination of wide-area sensors given that the U.S. military routinely tasks special operations forces with tracking small groups of terrorists across vast areas where the enemy might be able to use the terrain or local populations to otherwise hide their movements. The aircraft may also have additional signals intelligence equipment to detect and monitor enemy communications, especially cell phone signals, in order to help refine their search areas.

The Pentagon’s 2019 fiscal year budget request includes $5 million for SOCOM’s STAMP aircraft, but all for upgrades to the smaller B300s, including the addition of a piece of equipment nicknamed “Tincup.” It is entirely possible the Dash-8s may also carry that system, whatever it is.

We already know that from details regarding the Army’s future Dash-8-based RO-6A spy planes that the platform is big enough to carry a robust combination of cameras, radars, and signal grabbing systems, which you can read about in more detail here. That service bought a number of the other Desert Owl and Saturn Arch aircraft from Dynamic in order to turn them into the RO-6As.

These aircraft will eventually replace all of the Army’s older EO-5C intelligence gathering aircraft, which use the de Havilland Canada DHC-7 airframe. The Canadian planemaker, now part of Bombardier, stopped making the aircraft in 1988 and built less than 120 of them to begin with, meaning they’ve been steadily more expensive to operate and difficult to support.

Bombardier continues to make versions of the Dash-8 family, meaning there is more ready source of common spare parts and support services. And though it only has two engines, each one of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 turboprops on the newer aircraft is twice as powerful as that company’s older PT6s found on the DHC-7, giving them better range and endurance.

It seems that SOCOM came to a similar conclusion and when it decided to send two DHC-7s of its own to the Bone Yard at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona in August and September 2017. Pictures of those aircraft also suggested they carried a diverse combination of sensors.

The FAA’s online database says SOCOM formally took ownership of N8200L in September 2017. As of February 2017, however, plane spotters and online flight trackers had begun picking up that aircraft, now wearing a more discreet civilian-style paint scheme, flying missions over eastern Libya from Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete in the Mediterranean. The island is home to a U.S. Navy base, which serves as a common base of operations for American forces in the region.

This isn’t particularly surprising. Before then, SOCOM’s two shadowy DHC-7s – often mistaken for Army EO-5Cs – had made regular flights in the same areas of Libya.

We don’t know who the planes may be looking for, but it’s very possible they are a continuing the search for individuals who participated in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on the night of Sept. 11-12, 2012. Militants killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, as well as three CIA contractors – Glen Doherty, Sean Smith, and Tyrone Woods – setting off a manhunt, dubbed at least in part Operation Jukebox Lotus, that continues to this day.

In June 2014, U.S. special operators captured Abu Khattala, who the U.S. government accuses of being instrumental in planning the attack, in Benghazi. In October 2017, another raid into Libya bagged Mustafa Al Imam, in connection with the incident. Persistent aerial surveillance would have been essential in planning both of those missions.

It is also possible that N8200L could be supporting continued American operations focused on preventing ISIS-linked militants from establishing a firm foothold in Libya. In 2016, the United States launched a brief aerial campaignto help Libyan government forces retake the eastern city of Sirte, with special operators on the ground reportedly helping coordinate those air strikes and monitor enemy movements.

Since then, the U.S. military has continued to launch sporadic targeted strikesagainst ISIS-affiliated terrorists in Libya. Between September and November 2017, U.S. Africa Command publicly announced 10 separate strikes in the country, which could have been the product of intelligence from special operations elements in the air or on the ground.

Whatever the case, it seems safe to assume that we’ll be seeing more of N8200L, as well as the other STAMP aircraft, flying discreetly over Libya, or perhaps other hotspots, in the near future.

Egypt’s military said on Sunday four soldiers and 10 jihadists were killed in a military operation in Sinai against Islamic State group jihadists, like reported by news24.com.

The deaths raise military casualties to at least 16 dead, along with more than 100 jihadists, since the start of the operation on February 9, according to previous army tolls.

The army launched the campaign after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is standing in elections for his second term this month, gave them a three month deadline to crush IS in Sinai.

Sisi issued his ultimatum in November after suspected Islamic State gunmen massacred more than 300 worshippers in a Sinai mosque associated with Muslim Sufi mystics.

IS in Sinai has been among the group’s most resilient affiliates, killing hundreds of soldiers, policemen and civilians in Sinai and elsewhere in Egypt.

It has killed scores of Christians in church bombings and shootings, and bombed a Russian airliner carrying tourists from an Egyptian resort in 2015, killing all 224 people on board.

The military says it has evidence IS has sought to move members to Sinai following its defeats in Iraq and Syria.

A United Nations team of experts said they have documented operations at a base run by the United Arab Emirates in eastern Libya, like reported by middleeastmonitor.com.

According to the report the team of experts has issued, Al-Khadim military base which is managed by UAE forces, near the city of Marj in eastern Libya, has witnessed a remarkable development during the period from March 2017 to November of the same year, according to satellite images which have been annexed to the report.

The report confirmed that the size of the southern aircrafts’ apron has doubled, with the paving of the side ground of the airport between two maintenance hangars, in about eight months.

According to the report, the entrance of the airbase has witnessed an increase in the number of checkpoints and buildings which are believed to be part of the airbase’s checkpoints, as well as an increase in the number of fixed vehicles which are likely to be included in securing the entrance, according to Arabi21.

In late 2016, a British website specialising in military matters said the UAE had established an advanced military base in the city of Marj (100 km in east of Benghazi), from which light AT-802 attack aircrafts and drones take off.

The base, which was established during the rule of former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, has an approximate area of 10 square kilometres. It contains several aircrafts, including two Antonov aircrafts, spy aircrafts and marching aircrafts, which are believed to have taken part in the military operations against the city of Benghazi and its Revolutionary Council.

Earlier, the British website Middle East Eye revealed a series of leaked recordings confirming the involvement of the UAE Air Force in carrying out air strikes in Libya in support of Haftar against his rival armed groups in the East of the country.

On the other hand, the report referred to the visit of the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar to Tunisia on September 2017, saying that he went on a Falcon 900 airplane, owned by a UAE-based company, named Sonning International Group, which is operated by the Dubai-based company Golden Eagle, but registered in the Dutch Caribbean islands.

According to the report, the members of the protection of Haftar were heavily armed with a huge number of weapons during his visit to meet with the Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi. A team of specialists analysed the pictures and videos published by the information office of Operation Dignity and revealed the existence of about thirty self-loading rifles, two precise grenade launchers, more than 30 9-mm pistols and one hand-made anti-explosive device that were mounted on the roof of Haftar’s car, which is a major violation of the arms embargo imposed on Libya.

In April 2017, the UAE called for lifting the imposed arms embargo on Libya to facilitate the functions of what it described as “the army in the fight against terrorism”, asserting (Abu Dhabi) that “standing alongside Haftar is a right choice which goes in line with the international community’s goal in the war on terrorism.” This came during a meeting between a high-profile US figure with Khalifa Haftar, under a UAE mediation, in Abu Dhabi, during the latter’s visit to the UAE.

The UAE has emerged as a political and military supporter of Haftar in Libya since early 2015, despite the fact that it welcomed the peace agreement that the Libyan parties reached and that led to the formation of a national unity government.

Haftar, just like Mohammed bin Zayed, is known for his antagonism to political Islam. He is also known for his extensive history in coups, including the coup that brought Muammar Gaddafi to power in Libya in 1969, before later on trying to coup against him in more than one occasion.

Since a popular uprising overthrew Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, several armed factions have been fighting in Libya, and three governments are now competing on governance and legitimacy.

Two of these governments are in the capital Tripoli (West), namely the internationally-recognized Government of National Accord and the National Salvation Government, in addition to the interim government in the city of Bayda (East), emanating from the House of Representatives in Tobruk, affiliated with the forces of Khalifa Haftar.

At least six civilians have been killed in clashes between rival tribes in the south of Libya that saw a hospital get hit repeatedly, the United Nations said according to news24.com.

The violence over the past month in the southern town of Sebha, some 600km from Tripoli, is the latest flare-up in a region regularly wracked by tribal violence.

The UN mission in Libya said on Twitter that it was “deeply concerned by the escalation of armed conflict in Libya’s Sebha, where at least 6 civilians killed and 9 injured.”

“The hospital was hit repeatedly. Indiscriminate use of weapons in densely populated areas must be stopped.”

A spokesperson for Sebha hospital, Oussama al-Wafi, told AFP that a girl of 15 and a woman of 35 were among the dead from the clashes which started in early February.

Wafi said 12 people had been wounded, including 10 civilians.

The latest clashes in the marginalised Fezzan region – known for its smuggling routes – have see the Awlad Suleiman tribe pitted against the Tubus.

Since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Fezzan has been embroiled in conflict involving the ethnic Tubus and Tuaregs, as well as two Arab tribes, the Zuwaya and the Awlad Suleiman.

Libya has been gripped by chaos since a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed Gaddafi in 2011, with rival administrations and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.

A UN-backed unity government based in the capital has struggled to assert its authority outside the west, and a strongman commander controls much of the east.

Libya’s UN-backed government announced measures to support its forces in the southern city of Sabha to fight so-called “mercenaries”, like reported by xinhuanet.com.

The government said in a statement that “any attack on the army’s camps and headquarters is an attack on the national sovereignty as a whole.”

“All Libyans will not give up their duty to defend the south, and will thwart all attempts aimed at creating a new demographic reality,” it said.

The government also called on the people in southern Libya to support the army.

The Libyan National Human Rights Commission on Monday confirmed that two civilians were killed and another was injured in armed clashes between rival tribes in Sabha, some 800 km southwest of the capital Tripoli.

Two days ago, Hamed Al-Khiali, head of the municipal council of Sabha, said the airport of Sabha was “occupied by an armed group that has nothing to do with Libya.”

Al-khiali said the armed group carried the flags of African countries.

Sabha is controlled by both the government’s forces and the eastern-based army led by General Khalifa Haftar.

The city has witnessed unprecedented insecurity due to the rise in crimes and kidnappings by armed groups, as well as frequent tribal clashes.

Three Egyptian army officers and 11 militants were killed in the recently launched “Sinai 2018” major anti-terror campaign, the military spokesman announced on Tuesday, like reported by xinhuanet.com.

“Three army officers were killed and other four soldiers were wounded in exchange of fire, in the past four days” said military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay in a statement.

“The air forces destroyed 20 targets used by the terrorist elements as a base for launching attacks, as well as two explosive-laden vehicles,” he added.

The forces also raided 185 targets used for sheltering terrorists and for hiding their weapons, it added.

Also, 641 militants have been arrested, raising the number of detained to 2,235 since the beginning of the operation, the army spokesperson added.

Since the launch of “Sinai 2018” operation on Feb. 9, ten army men were killed 13 were wounded, while the death toll of the terrorists reached 82.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the armed forces in November to uproot terrorists within three months after an attack on a mosque killed more than 300 people in Sinai city of Arish.

Bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip, Egypt’s North Sinai province has been the center of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.

Attacks later expanded to reach several other provinces including Cairo and started to target the Coptic minority via church bombings and shootings.

A military zone affiliated to the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Libya’s southern city of Sabha came under attack by foreign armed groups yesterday, the Anadolu Agency reported quoting the city’s mayor, Hamid Al-Khayali.

Al-Khayali said that the GNA military’s Brigade 6 has been dealing with the attack. “The foreign forces’ shells and rockets are still attacking the army’s headquarters in the south,” he added.

On the identity of the foreign forces, Al-Khayali noted that they were waving Chad flags, stressing that they occupied Sabha airport.

The Libyan official pointed out that the foreign forces aim at “invading Sabha and the whole Southern area,” calling the Libyan government to support the army in the south.

“Libya’s south is in danger … the whole country is in danger,” he warned.

Since the overthrow of the longtime Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in a popular uprising in 2011, Libya has been involved in a power struggle which has led to security chaos. There are currently three governments in the country with Brigadier General Khalifa Haftar heading one in Benghazi, the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli headed by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj, and the Tobruk-based government of Abdullah Al-Thinni.

The Islamic State has released photos over the Telegram chat application of jihadists who took part in an attack against Egyptian army headquarters, where the terrorist organization says the military operations are run against Wilyat Sinai, the Egyptian branch of IS.

The photos show four organization members labeled in a caption as “kamikazes” who carried out “an extensive attack against the 101 Brigade at El Arish.”

Wilyat Sinai also said in the release that dozens of Egyptian soldiers were killed and wounded in the attack and that the four armed men in the photos detonated their suicide vests after running out of ammunition.

Two of the suicide attackers were said to have been Egyptians and the other two Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

According to Abu Baker al-Maqdesi, a senior jihadist in Gaza, the two Palestinians used to be members of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ so-called military wing. Al-Maqdesi identified them as Abdelrahman Banat, from the neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan in the north of Gaza City and Tareq al-Sheiq, from Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The two defected from the ranks of Hamas one year ago and joined IS in Sinai, he said.

Lebanese intelligence arrested a man they believe was a financial official for Islamic State in Syria, a security source said according to reuters.com.

The Syrian, arrested in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, was responsible for collecting money for the militant group in Albu Kamal, a city in eastern Syria, before Islamic State was routed from the area, the source said.

In November, the Syrian army and its allies recaptured Albu Kamal, Islamic State’s last significant town in Syria. Most IS members withdrew from the town during the battle.

The arrested man, whom the source identified only as Saud, entered Lebanon through a legal border crossing using his brother’s identity. It was not clear when he entered the country and whether he was planning any militant activities, the source said.

Lebanese authorities say they have disrupted a number of IS plots in recent months. The last very big jihadist attack in Lebanon was a suicide bombing in Beirut in November 2015 which killed dozens.

The United States and Israel successfully tested the Arrow 3 weapons system to defend against ballistic missiles, like reported by breitbart.com.

Israel Aerospace Industries, in collaboration with the Israeli air force and the United States’ Missile Defense Agency, conducted the test at 2:30 a.m. Monday at an unidentified site in central Israel, the U.S. Defense Department said in a release.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense confirmed the test, posting on Twitter that the exercise “designed to defend against ballistic missile threats outside the atmosphere.”

Two previous test attempts were called off. In January, a communications glitch resulted in a data transfer problem. Previously, in December, a test was canceled because safety concerns arose when the Anchor-type target missile — which was fired from a jet — malfunctioned.

“The experiment we conducted today was very complex,” Boaz Levy, deputy CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries and manager of its Systems, Missiles & Space Group, told Fox News. “In the experiment, the interceptor simulated a full military scenario and the rocket did the route in full. And, if it had a real target, would have hit it. We are very pleased with the result.”

A more advanced test is scheduled in Alaska later this year, said Moshe Patel, the director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization.

“The Arrow-3 is designed for long-range threats, as well as unconventional threats,” said Patel, appearing to hint at Iran’s ballistic capabilities. “We are aiming for 100 percent success rate.”

The Arrow 3 weapons system has been in development for nearly a decade starting in 2008. The system was handed over to the Israeli Air force in January 2017 and includes four layers — Iron Dome and David’s Sling, and the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems.

“The success of this test is a major milestone in the operational capabilities of Israel and its ability to defend itself against current and future threats in the region,” the Pentagon said in a press release.

The was handed over to the Israeli Air force in January 2017. In March 2017, Israel used the Arrow-2 system for the first time when it intercepted a surface-to-air missile launched from Syria the was headed toward Israeli fighter jets returning from an operation over Syria.