The Sultan's Air Force were perhaps best described as part timers. If they got more than two hours flying in a month they considered themselves lucky or perhaps if you were unlucky. If you got more than two hours in then something usually was going wrong and the hour you'd spent sat on the nations single airfield used by the Air Force had been interupted by some clown of an Air Traffic Controller mistaking a flock of birds for some invading bomber. Today for Flight Liutenant Nizar El-Hashem things were a little exciting for a change. He found his F-20 Sirocco (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAI_Kfir) loaded not with bombs and missiles but a camera. The Sultan and his commanders were keen to see that things out in the deep desert were not getting out of hand. A tribe fencing off parcels of land for their own ends was against the agreements made by all the tribes in the early 1700's. The flight across the desert was rather simple as Waddan was as flat as a pancake for the vast majority of its land mass and by sticking at around 500 feet you would avoid everything. All that was to do was to fly on a set bearing from the airfield to Murqquab take a few pictures, reverse the heading and land. It should have been a routine operation.
Nearing the village Nizar lowered his airspeed as much as possible so that the aircraft was flying just a few knots above its stall speed a move that gave him a chance to view the scene and see if he could spot any areas worthy of taking pictures of. He jinked the nose of the plane slightly to the left having spotted what to his fast moving eye appeared to be building work. He lined the jet up and pressed the button to begin the camera. He imagined that if some fancy pilot from Tamora or Royal Seleucid were doing this work the camera would roll digital images into a memory bank but instead he could hear a mechanical whirl as film shot through the camera at high speed. He made several passes from different angles until he believed he had got everything. It was probably good that he had as the film had just about run out when he turned for home back across the desert.
As the aircraft departed the milita men in Murqquab were concerned. "What will happen if they have seen our fencing?" One young man asked.
"The Sultan will likely send people to negotiate, they will likely make a show but our Chief will talk for us and we'll get the Sultan's support in matters." The elder said confidently.
"What is this junk?" Wing Commander Sulayman Abbas screamed in the face of the Corporal who had brought him the images. "Either I have developed cataracts or somebody has messed up my film." He tossed the hazy picture back at the NCO and shook his head. "How am I supposed to tell the Sultan what is going on in the desert when we can't even film it."
"Sir the camera is from the 1970's, the film left over from the 1980's. I think our whole supply is ruined if I'm being honest." The Corporal suspected this answer was not what the Wing Commander would approve of but facts were facts.
"You mean that useless bastard Kuliqma didn't bother to keep a decent stock?" Abbas had inherited his role as head of Air Force Intelligence just a month ago and this had been his first actual sortie. He had a list of jobs he needed to do and checking supplies of film was rather low down on the list of priorities and now it had come back to bite him. "He better pray I don't bump into him at the Palace." Abbas placed the images into a folder and tossed them into a briefcase. "For all the good that it will do us." he stormed out and to the palace.
"Wing Commander I do not hold you responsible" The Sultan half smiled at seeing the images. "The aircraft has written on the side of it the name "Sultan's Air Force" it therefore should be my responsibility to ensure those serving in it can do so to the best of their ability. You can be assured that when we can I will provide you with the newer equipment you need. One issue remains though and that is that we have no way of getting out there. I do though hope that I may be able to rectify that but it is one that will shame me." The Sultan called for his scribe to come in and dictated a note to him that would be transmitted accordingly. "It is my hope Wing Commander that we may soon have a solution to your problem."
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To:- His Majesty King Heydar of Royal Seleucid
There are two purposes for me writing to you at this time.
The first is naturally of greatest significance. On behalf of all the tribes of Waddan and myself I wish to offer congratulations to the Soter family on the birth of Prince Aali Akakois. It is pleasing to see you blessed with another son and we hope with another on its way. In honour of the birth we have put aside a newborn stallion from the royal stables and each tribe have gifted a breeding pair of camels as a gift to the newborn Prince. We shall naturally ship these as soon as arrangements can be made so that the Prince's guardians can utilise them as best as possible to ensure the Prince has a strong start in life. In our culture a man is only as strong as the herds he owns and we hope to help establish a strong foundation for little Aali Akakois' herd.
My second reason for contacting you is more of a diplomatic nature and is frankly embarassing. We have currently some potential disputes between tribes in the desert however due to the fact they are deep in the desert we sent aircraft to take images of the area to help us ascertain whether there is need for our intervention. Unfortunatly the aircraft tasked with the job failed to get accurate images of the area because of the age of our resources. A failure to take sufficent care of our imaging systems means we are unable to take viable pictures. I am afraid therefore that I must ask for your nations support. I would request that we could perhaps loan aircraft capable of taking accurate imaging of the area. I know this is a significantly large request but any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.
Blessings to your family.
Sultan Yahya IV of the Unified Tribes of Waddan
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To:- Sultan Yahya IV
I am grateful to the generous people of Waddan for their gifts to Prince Aali Akakois and hope that in the New Year myself and our expanding family can visit Waddan in person.
In regards to your situation regarding aerial photography you can expect four of our F-21 (https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/f-21.html) to arrive in the next 48 hours. They will be carrying aerial reconnaissance and electronic monitoring equipment and will fly sorties as directed by your military, they will not however carry weaponry in your nation.
We hope this helps you solve the issues that your currently face.
Best Regards
King Heydar