Mystery flights from Azerbaijan’s Dallar airbase most likely Mi-8 helicopter training flights

Since approximately 2020, mystery aircraft have been spotted flying around Azerbaijan’s northwestern Dallar airbase, 30 km from Armenia’s border. They were spotted a month prior to the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war and had been seen numerous times since. The aircraft had not been able to be explicitly identified through open sources due to a lack of information. Nagorno Karabakh Observer looked into the matter and narrowed down the possibilities aimed at shedding further light on military-related developments in the region. 

The mystery aircraft were most likely military helicopter training flights, possibly Mi-8 gunships/transport or even Turkish T-129 gunships (recently seen in Azerbaijan during the “Mustafa Kemal Ataturk 2023” military drills.

Two such aircraft were spotted flying on 31 October 2023. Neither aircraft had registration numbers according to @flightradar24, but did have call signs according to the flight tracking system (SMK701 and SMK702), as well as 24-bit ICAO addresses (176448 and 176438 respectively). No other information on aircraft type was available through online registry archives.

Previously, an aircraft with call sign SMK701 (ICAO 176448) was spotted flying around the same airbase a month before the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war, although a direct connection with the conflict was unable to be established.

Satellite imagery of the airbase from 2022 reveals three aircraft types spotted outside the Dallar airbase hangers, Turkish-procured Bayraktar TB2, Pakistani PAC MFI-17 Mushshak trainer aircraft and Mi-8 gunships/transport. Of the three, only the latter aircraft type meets the criteria spotted on FlightRadar24’s flight tracking system (i.e. low airspeed during flights, reaching as low as 94 km/h.)

 

 

 

 

Given the mentioned facts and more information available through open sources, we can now adequately conclude that the two mentioned aircraft under the call signs SMK701 and SMK702 (ICAO 176448 and 176438) were more likely than not military helicopters housed in bunkers at the airbase. Given that Mi-8 gunships/transports are known to be readily used by Azerbaijan’s Air Force, more so than Turkish T-129 gunships, whose acquisition by Baku has not yet been confirmed, the mystery flights appear more likely than not Mi-8 helicopters.