Clifford Maersk is making her final approach into port of NYNJ, arriving here from King Abdul Aziz Seaport in Damman, KSA. So what? Check out the non-containerized cargo near the front center of the load.

See it?

As the container ship approached, I managed to get some closer up photos. I have my theory, but I’ll leave it to you to state yours in the comments


Do you see the “squiggle” on the camouflage just right of the red panel, above the rightmost blue container marked “45”? I call that shape “ithnayn,” Arabic for the number two.

Again, I’m not putting into words what I see here, but I will say it’s poorly wrapped, or formerly wrapped.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen intriguing cargoes. Remember these Oshkosh trucks with Hebrew writing on them? And then there have been other military hardware . . . military trucks and other vehicles atop the boxes previously here, here, here, and here. Once I even spotted a cigarette boat way up there.
All photos, WVD. After your guesses, I’ll show my hand. And since I’m not trick or treating or dancing tonight, here’s your second post for today.
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October 31, 2020 at 5:36 pm
Fairlane
The plane on the left looks like something from the Dassault Mirage family. Not too sure about the partial roundel, either ex-Royal Jordanian or UAE air force by my guess.
October 31, 2020 at 5:42 pm
Anonymous
It’s two Mirage F1 Fighter jets. I can tell by the fuselage. Iran and Iraq had them.
October 31, 2020 at 6:25 pm
mike
They look like F4 Phantoms to me.
October 31, 2020 at 7:53 pm
Christian Herrou
For me it’s Mirage F1 – the american compagny ATAC (Airborne Tactical Advantage Company) bought a massive stock of former French air force and foreign Mirage F1 plus spare parts
November 1, 2020 at 6:33 am
tugster
OK, I never showed my hand until now, and I’m glad I didn’t. Key for me, when I first took the photos, was the engine intake. That reminded me of IAI Kfir. Here’s what that looks like: https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=152 I did make no sense that a poorly wrapped Kfir would be on a box ship coming from Saudi Arabia, but Kfir had been my choice. Reading your better-informed answers tells me what I saw were two Mirage F.1s. The pre-Kuwait invasion Iraqi air force had them, and in fact they had performed well against the Iranian F-14s. Read about it here: https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-the-giraffe-missions-and-how-iraf-mirage-f-1-fighter-bombers-were-able-to-shoot-down-four-iriaf-f-14-tomcats/ The Kfir v. Mirage confusion makes sense, because, as I understand it, the Israeli air force developed the Kfir to compensate for a Mirage deal that had been canceled. Christian’s answer explains why these jets are on this ship: they are on their way to an ATAC facility to be either cannibalized or rehabbed. The fact that a visor is open tells me . . . likely that one will be cannibalized. ATAC is one of the companies that sells “aggressor” aircraft to the USAF for training, as in the movie Top Gun where “MiG-28s” were used. Actually the “MiG-28s” were F-5s and F-Tiger IIs modified with the magic of movies. Here’s more info on the F.1s purchased by ATAC: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29527/the-first-flight-of-a-mirage-f-1-belonging-to-a-private-aggressor-company-has-occurred
Thx all for contributing to a fun discussion of a surprising piece of cargo yesterday.