March 28, 201115 yr Six UAE F-16 Desert Falcons now operating out Decimomannu AB in Sardinia. And six UAE Mirage 2000-9s operating out of Souda Bay AB, in Crete. Interesting that their contribution has been (geographically) split like that.
March 29, 201115 yr From Aviation Week's Ares blog [excerpt] Libyan SA-24 Can't Be Used as MANPADSPosted by M Pyadushkin at 3/29/2011 8:05 AM CDT A top official from Russian KBM Machine-building design bureau confirmed it was his company that supplied the Libyan government forces with the truck mounted short-range anti-aircraft Igla-S (SA-24 Grinch) missiles recently spotted by the international media.
March 29, 201115 yr From AFRICOM [excerpt] US Navy P-3C, USAF A-10 and USS Barry Engage Libyan Vessels USS MOUNT WHITNEY, In Port, Mar 29, 2011 — A U.S. Navy P-3C Maritime Patrol aircraft, a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt attack aircraft and guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52) engaged Libyan Coast Guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller crafts after confirmed reports that Vittoria and accompanying craft were firing indiscriminately at merchant vessels in the port of Misratah, Libya, during the evening March 28, 2011.
March 29, 201115 yr Here is a news report from yesterday about the seven Libyan aircraft destroyed by French forces (it seems the aircrafts were destroyed in the ground in the zones of Misrata and Zintan). In short: - Artillery destroyed (near Ajdabiyah) by GBU-12 launched from Mirage 2000D-R2 (variant in use from 2001). - Five Galeb destroyed. - Two Mi-35 Hind destroyed. http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=115743
March 29, 201115 yr From Aviation Week's Ares blog [excerpt] Libyan SA-24 Can't Be Used as MANPADSPosted by M Pyadushkin at 3/29/2011 8:05 AM CDT A top official from Russian KBM Machine-building design bureau confirmed it was his company that supplied the Libyan government forces with the truck mounted short-range anti-aircraft Igla-S (SA-24 Grinch) missiles recently spotted by the international media. I have to wonder how hard it would be to build the missing trigger mechanisms for MANPADS use...
March 29, 201115 yr I have to wonder how hard it would be to build the missing trigger mechanisms for MANPADS use... Was chatting about that very issue with Brains earlier. As I understand it, the 'gripstock' typically contains not just the launch mechanism, but the necessary electronics; sometimes an IFF; usually the coolant for the seeker; and sometimes the battery or a connector for the battery. With the truck mounted Strelets, all of this appears to be built into the launcher pedestal, as can be seen in these photos. Without all of this, the missile in a tube is really just a round of ammo.
March 29, 201115 yr Author From Aviation Week's Ares blog [excerpt] Libyan SA-24 Can't Be Used as MANPADSPosted by M Pyadushkin at 3/29/2011 8:05 AM CDT A top official from Russian KBM Machine-building design bureau confirmed it was his company that supplied the Libyan government forces with the truck mounted short-range anti-aircraft Igla-S (SA-24 Grinch) missiles recently spotted by the international media. I have to wonder how hard it would be to build the missing trigger mechanisms for MANPADS use... Until they do, they will be easier to spot and take out on a truck.
March 29, 201115 yr Some pics from the Charles de Gaulle ... FS Forbin, as seen from the Charles de Gaulle And a pic of how nice Gadhafi was to line up his jets (looks like those Galebs) in a row at Misratah: And some bombing video starting to emerge ... Tornado GR.4's in action (Paveway IV?) ... F-15Es and GBU-12s ...
March 31, 201115 yr Nice pics of the De Gaulle and the Canadian jets. Thanks for posting. Concur. Great pictures. Thanks!
April 3, 201115 yr Very enlightening and short article evaluating recent air campaigns and comparing they with the Lybian one, from a not specialized media (finded the reference by hazard in Google News), but written by a deep-thinking professional (Major General Perry Smith, U.S. Air Force (ret) Secretary of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. He flew 180 combat missions over North Vietnam.) : http://chronicle.augusta.com/opinion/opini...t-air-campaigns To be successful in Libya, NATO and air forces from non-NATO nations -- such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- must continue to put significant pressure on Gadhafi's forces for four important reasons: - to diminish the ability of Gadhafi's military -- both his regular army and his militia forces -- to engage in combat; - to reduce the morale of Gadhafi's soldiers to the point that many desert their posts and abandon their weapons; - to embolden the anti-Gadhafi soldiers and give them the sustained hope that they will prevail; - to give the fence-sitters among the population the strong sense that the Gadhafi era soon will be over.
April 4, 201115 yr The weapons demo continues, with Swedish Gripens arriving at Sigonella over the weekend. The 'recon aircraft' is reportedly an S102B Korpen SIGINT jet. Sweden sends Gripens to join Unified Protector
April 4, 201115 yr Is this the first usage of the US SSGN in combat? Yes, I believe so. At least the cruise missile part of the platform (dunno about spec ops). The US Navy is claiming that this is the first time that an Ohio SSGN has fired Tomahawks in a conflict.
April 5, 201115 yr This particular mission didn't seem to be widely reported by the mainstream media. From Air Force Times, 2 April 2011: B-1B crew recalls epic mission to Libya [excerpt] The attack was the first Lancer mission to take off from the continental U.S. to strike targets overseas. ... Two B-1Bs assigned to the 28th Bomb Wing left Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., early March 27 to take part in the United Nations-backed no-fly zone over Libya. They returned three days later after hitting almost 100 targets in North Africa. Too bad the Bone fleet is steadily shrinking. Due to decline to 60 airframes this year, IIRC.
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