Malta returned two Mirage F1 jets on February 21 that it had kept in its possession for exactly a year . . . Libyan air force pilots flew the planes to Malta and sought political asylum  . . .  the pilots defected after they were ordered to bomb Benghazi . . . Malta has promised to help support the new Libyan government . . . Malta returned the jets as a gesture of goodwill as it expands ties with the Libyan government . . . the jets will be critical to Tripoli’s air force which was decimated by the NATO bombing campaign and no-fly zone over Libya.