{"id":14276,"date":"2021-07-26T07:32:26","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=14276"},"modified":"2021-08-16T09:30:29","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T13:30:29","slug":"new-faa-airspace-warning-for-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/new-faa-airspace-warning-for-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"New FAA Airspace Warning for Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The FAA has issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.faa.gov\/air_traffic\/publications\/us_restrictions\/media\/KICZ_Prohibitory_NOTAM_A0020-21_Afghanistan.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">emergency order<\/a> for Afghanistan\u2019s airspace which <strong>bans all US operators below FL260<\/strong> throughout the OAKX\/Kabul FIR.<\/p>\n<p>KICZ Notam A0020\/21 has the details but essentially there are only three exceptions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Flights in and out of OAKB\/Kabul are allowed to continue.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If a flight has a special approval from either the FAA or the state.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If you have an emergency and have to land.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>What&#8217;s the risk?<\/h4>\n<p>Due to increased extremist activity on the ground, civil aircraft are increasingly exposed to a number of threats. <strong>Aircraft at low levels and those taking-off and landing are especially vulnerable.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The first is indirect fire caused by militant groups targeting airports with mortars and rockets. <strong>OAKB\/Kabul<\/strong> was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2020\/12\/12\/one-killed-as-multiple-rockets-hit-kabul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attacked<\/a> in December last year by ballistic weapons which damaged a parked aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>The second is direct fire from a variety of sources. Militia are known to have access to multiple weapons that can be used to target low level aircraft. These include rocket propelled grenades and <strong>man-portable air defence systems<\/strong> (MANPADS) which are capable of reaching aircraft as high as<strong> FL250<\/strong>. Even small arms fire has been actively used to target aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years there have been several reports of anti-aircraft fire incidents from both military and civilian traffic. Tragically in two cases, military aircraft were actually shot down.<\/p>\n<h4>So why now? What\u2019s changed?<\/h4>\n<p>While the threat from militant activity in Afghanistan isn\u2019t new, the FAA has been closely monitoring the situation there for changes in safety and security. And things are changing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>As US forces begin to withdraw, two groups are now engaged in an <strong>escalating conflict<\/strong> there \u2013 the Taliban and Afghanistan\u2019s own military, which may lead to a<strong> civil war<\/strong> if no agreement can be met. Essentially the Taliban seek to regain power, while the existing government is defending itself.<\/p>\n<p>For aviation this means an increase in <strong>exposure to known risks.<\/strong> The situation is volatile, and no one really knows where the conflict is headed. But with increasing extremist activity on the ground and a <strong>possible intention to make an international statement<\/strong>, the FAA appears to have decided that a simple caution is no longer enough.<\/p>\n<h4>What about above FL260?<\/h4>\n<p>US operators can continue to overfly the OAKX\/Kabul FIR above FL260 but is recommended you<strong> stay on established airways.<\/strong> It\u2019s also important you continue to monitor the situation on the ground which may change with little warning.<\/p>\n<h4>What are other countries saying?<\/h4>\n<p>Several long running airspace warnings remain in place, and it is likely we will see these changed in the near term as the situation in Afghanistan continues to evolve.<\/p>\n<p><strong>France<\/strong> follows similar rules and requires all operators to remain at or above FL260 throughout the Kabul FIR. Both <strong>German<\/strong> and <strong>UK<\/strong> operators are advised to consider the risks of operating below FL330 and FL250 respectively.<\/p>\n<h4>Stay safe up there.<\/h4>\n<p>As US troops withdraw the real question now is whether the Afghan Government (or another international force) can put the brakes on a resurgent Taliban.<\/p>\n<p>Until that happens, the situation remains unpredictable. You can keep up to date with airspace risk changes as they happen over at <a href=\"https:\/\/safeairspace.net\/afghanistan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SafeAirspace.net<\/a> \u2013 our conflict zone &amp; risk database.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/safeairspace.net\/summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Click here<\/a> for a full global briefing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The FAA has issued an emergency order for Afghanistan\u2019s airspace which bans all US operators&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":14278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[166,1288,1044],"class_list":{"0":"post-14276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-afghanistan","9":"tag-airspace-warning","10":"tag-conflict"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14276"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14579,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14276\/revisions\/14579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}