One British submarine, three US submarines and two US destroyers apparently participated in the Tomahawk strike.

First wave: 112 cruise missiles

 

Barry was among the Tomahawk shooters.

Gadhafi forces will need to be supplied and reinforced by way of a long, exposed road along the Libyan coast. Once SAM defenses are down, that road can be made a VERY difficult and expensive place to travel.

But how British and French pilots will distinguish civilian transports from military? Supplies can be easily camouflaged. And this once again raise the question of some kind of overland presence.

But how British and French pilots will distinguish civilian transports from military? Supplies can be easily camouflaged. And this once again raise the question of some kind of overland presence.

 

Moving heavy weapons should be readily apparent, but yeah, small arms and such would be difficult to discern.

 

The rebels are going to have take on the role of establishing checkpoints to oversee and control that road traffic.

 

Given France's apparent close air support mission earlier today, I expect the 'coalition' is already in contact with rebel leaders and/or friendly forces on the ground.

Tomahawk shooters are apparently the fast attacks Scranton, Providence, the SSGN Florida, and the Burke destroyers Stout and Barry, and a British submarine.

 

No word on which British boat afaik.

 

Apparently a mix of Tactical Tomahawks (Tactoms) and older TLAMs against 20 odd targets.

Next up, RAF Tornado GR.4s and their Storm Shadows, flying all the way and back from RAF Marham. Impressive stuff.

In yesterdays action took part some 20 french planes. 8 Rafales from Saint-Dizier (4 in AAW role, 2 in recon role and 2 in strike role), 2 Mirages 2000D from Nancy, 2 Mirages 2000-5 from Dijon, supported by 6 C-135 flying tankers from Istres and an E-3F AWACS from Avord.

British media reporting the HMS Triumph is the Trafalgar class submarine involved.

US confirms that three B-2s dropped 40 bombs on a Libyan airfield.

 

When I heard that VADM mention "unique capabilities", I did wonder if he meant stealth aircraft.

US confirms that three B-2s dropped 40 bombs on a Libyan airfield. When I heard that VADM mention "unique capabilities", I did wonder if he meant stealth aircraft.

 

Not quite a full warload of 16x 2,000 lb JDAMs apiece, unless they were mixing ordnance.

 

Either way that should be sufficient to put an airfield out of action, busting runways, taxiways, shelters, fuel and weapons storage, etc, etc.

 

You may recall they used the B-2 to shut down Obvra (Serbia) back in '99.

This is a round up of recent military operations in Libya for March 19th and the early part of the 20th

 

Libyan time zone is GMT+2 so noon GMT is 1400 Libyan time

 

Air strikes began against the loyalist forces on March 19 and lasted into the early morning and night of March 20. The first strike was reportedly a French air attack against a single vehicle, with some reports indicating that it took place near the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi. Further air strikes involving planes reportedly from the French air bases of Dijon and Saint-Dizier, were mounted against Libyan ground troops in the area of Benghazi. The package consisted for 8 Rafale and 4 Mirage 2000 fighters and reportedly destroyed 4 Libyan AFVs. According to the French MOD, it struck Libyan ground troops that in the process of threatening Libyan civilians.

 

The second phase of the attack consisted of U.S. and U.K. naval assets targeting radar, communications, fuel storage, command and communications and air defense with over 110 cruise missiles. Particular attention was paid to SA-5 SAM sites of which there are at least 3 in Libya. Following this, RAF Tornado jets armed with Storm Shadow missiles were used in an Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) role against a number of Libyan air-defense targets that are apparently close to the shore.

 

Earlier today in Libya, a larger package of 19 aircraft including AV-8, F-15 and F-16s conducted strike operations into Libya. B-2 bombers were also involved dropping some 40 conventional munitions. It is now close to 4 PM in Libya and initial reports indicate that the attacks damaged a significant amount of the Libyan air defense network. Details have yet to be released into the public domain however. The initial air strikes stretched from Tripoli to Sirte and Sabha deep in the South.

 

There have been no reported losses among NATO aircraft.

 

Later

D

Yes, good point.

 

The UK codename for this is Ellamy, the French appears to be Harmattan and the Canadian MOBILE.

 

Live footage on Sky News of AAA fire in Tripoli.

Lots of good pics - including the tanks and vehicles (including what looks to be an SA-8 Gecko TELAR) destroyed by the French yesterday - can be seen here.

 

MilitaryPhotos.net

Four F-15E Strike Eagles and eight F-16CJ Falcons also saw action, perhaps in combination with those B-2s or in separate missions.