May 31, 201114 yr From Defense Aerospace [excerpt] Rafale in Combat: “War for Dummies”(Source: defense-aerospace.com; posted May 31, 2011) By Giovanni de Briganti RAFALETOWN, Corsica --- French air force Rafale combat aircraft deployed here as part of the UN-sanctioned Libyan No-Fly Zone are for the first time making full use of the aircraft’s “omnirole” capabilities, which allow a single aircraft to carry out the full gamut of missions during a single sortie. Lots of tidbits in here about details of the Libya deployment. Meanwhile, the Rafales look to be moving from Solenzara ('Rafaletown') to Sigonella to cut flight time.
June 2, 201114 yr From CBC News [excerpt] Libyan rockets fired at HMCS CharlottetownPosted: Jun 2, 2011 4:39 PM AT Last Updated: Jun 2, 2011 6:03 PM AT A dozen rockets were fired at HMCS Charlottetown off the coast of Libya on Monday. Lt. Michael McWhinnie, who is on the vessel, told CBC News on Thursday that 12 BM-21 rockets were fired in the direction of the Halifax-based ship.
June 3, 201114 yr Hmmm ... firing rockets at a target whose maximum dimension is, at best, about 1/3 of the rockets' CEP ... Yeah, that sounds like a winning move ...
June 11, 201114 yr The leased C-2A Greyhound in the Charles de Gaulle and the Hyeres naval base: http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=116450
June 11, 201114 yr Garibaldi Air Wing: 8xAV-8B plus 2xAW-101 2xSH-3D 1xAB212 From http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=116437
June 11, 201114 yr Anyone else wondering what the Libyan end game is? I mean I'm all for kinetics, but really? If seemed like from news reports yesterday that the goverment forces were again using armored vehicles and arty/MRL to attack/besiege rebels Misrata again. Just an observation, but this seems to be dragging on while we take down much of the infrastructure that will be needed to be rebuilt once the inevitable happens. Aren't western SOF/Spotters on the ground to direct CAS. Why not focus on the Libyan forces opposing the Rebel drive(s) on Tripoli. Or are we afraid of what will happen when that occurs due to tribal and/or other considerations. "Regime Change" remains an unperfected art. If this message needs to be moved to another, more appropriate, folder or deleted outright I understand.
June 11, 201114 yr Anyone else wondering what the Libyan end game is? I mean I'm all for kinetics, but really? If seemed like from news reports yesterday that the goverment forces were again using armored vehicles and arty/MRL to attack/besiege rebels Misrata again. Just an observation, but this seems to be dragging on while we take down much of the infrastructure that will be needed to be rebuilt once the inevitable happens. Aren't western SOF/Spotters on the ground to direct CAS. Why not focus on the Libyan forces opposing the Rebel drive(s) on Tripoli. Or are we afraid of what will happen when that occurs due to tribal and/or other considerations. "Regime Change" remains an unperfected art. If this message needs to be moved to another, more appropriate, folder or deleted outright I understand. Perfectly legitimate post, Pete. I think its clear that the UN/NATO force had sincerely hoped that the Qaddafi regime would have given way by now, either through the application of force, rebel momentum, political uprising, or all of the above. I don't think they counted on Qaddafi and more particularly, his supporters/military forces, being quite this resilient to airpower. (Of course, they had already had some experience of that kind of a result from Allied Force in 1999).
June 21, 201114 yr From Aviation Week [excerpt] Fire Scout Crashes During Libya MissionJun 21, 2011 By Amy Butler LE BOURGET A U.S. Navy MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft was lost June 21 while conducting a mission over Libya, according to program sources. CV32: Back from a week away up north, good to see lots of activity on the forums!
June 21, 201114 yr From DefenseNews [excerpt] NATO Loses New U.S. Drone Helicopter in LibyaAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Published: 21 Jun 2011 12:11 BRUSSELS - NATO lost radar contact June 21 with a new type of U.S. drone helicopter on a surveillance mission over Libya and denied Libyan television claims that an attack helicopter was shot down.
June 23, 201114 yr More details of that early B-2 strike (and B-2 ops in general) ... From Aviation Week [excerpt] AFGSC To Renew Conventional CapabilitiesJun 23, 2011 By David A. Fulghum ... Global Strike Command maintains 16 B-2s and 44 B-52s, plus an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) force for operational missions. Twelve B-2s have been upgraded with advanced, low-probability-of-intercept radars and the ability to carry the massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) bomb for hardened, underground targets. On the first day of the no-fly-zone campaign over Libya, two B-2s were able to destroy “44-45 hardened aircraft shelters and took out almost the whole [of Tripoli’s] air force,” in a single mission flown from the U.S., says a Strike Command staff member.
June 27, 201114 yr Found this interesting article on an Emirati newspaper site about the rebel air force.
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