RAAF off to UAE

[TBM-Legend]

Eight Super Hornets plus a KC-30A and an E-7A heading to UAE for operations vs. ISIS. Additional C-130 and C-17's in line as well plus SAS unit.

Stay safe chaps and chapesses!

[junior.VH-LFA]

Best of luck to everyone involved, including many friends of mine.

Stay safe.

P.s "fast jets don't deploy."

[BBadanov]

Yes, stay safe.


The PM said the coalition (so far) with Australia includes US, UK (unsure about Scotland!!), Canada, France, UAE and Jordan.


It would be good to see Saudi, Qatar, Kuwait and Egypt too, to provide more ME support to the Western forces. Otherwise, it's a case of here we go again...

[L J R]

All the Best to them all. Stay Safe Ladies and Gents...Also same to my Tonka Brethren.

[Boy_From_Brazil]

Am I alone in believing the US made a serious mistake in not agreeing that Iran should be part of the anti-IS coalition? At times like this old enmities need to be buried. What a great opportunity for Iran and US to shake hands and get on with the job of wiping out these sadistic thugs.

[rh200]

If it was only going after ISIS in Iraq yes, but since we might be going against them in Syria without Syrian permission maybe not. Who knows its to complicated.:ugh:

[Captain Sand Dune]

God speed.

One hopes that their RoE is....(ahem)...'appropriate.. '.:E

[TBM-Legend]

Rather ironic that 1 Sqn returns to the desert..

No. 1 Squadron is located at RAAF Base Amberley, Queensland, and controlled by No. 82 Wing, which is part of Air Combat Group. Its mission responsibilities include air-to-air and air-to-surface combat. The squadron is nicknamed the "Fighting First". The blazon of its crest is "the Australian Kookaburra in a diving position superimposed on the cross of Jerusalem", which symbolises the Victoria Cross-winning action of No. 1 Squadron pilot Frank McNamara in Palestine during World War I. The unit motto is Videmus Agamus ("We see and we strike").

[BOAC]

What resources are other members of the 'coalition' providing? UK in particular.

[tartare]

Good luck boys and girls - good to see Australia has the cojones to commit and kill.
And good hunting too.
Finally all that training gets put to use for real.

[Boudreaux Bob]

Did the USA make a mistake by not allowing Iran to participate?

With Obama, Kerry, Hagel, and Dempsey running things.....what could possibly go wrong?:ugh:

The one thing we know for a fact is the Australian's have proven yet again what reliable Allies they are. Hopefully, we shall be so in the future when y'all need Us.

[HaveQuick2]

What resources are other members of the 'coalition' providing? UK in particular.


Google "Operation Shader"

[Kitbag]

What resources are other members of the 'coalition' providing? UK in particular.


Google "Operation Shader"

Interestingly I just did, not a lot comes up. I know it exists and what it is as I'm on the periphery but sometimes Google isn't your friend


Posted from Pprune.org App for Android

[cattletruck]

The Oz government has moved the country to a higher security alert level so I'm guessing there is some intel on ISIS et al that needs to be sorted out with a friendly introduction.

[BOAC]

Google "Operation Shader" - I meant in terms of bombing the barstewards, actually, which is what I assume Oz/the 'coalition' is looking at.

[241ocu]

Google RAF Operation Shader

Ex RAF SAC David Haines lost his life earlier today.

Let's hope we can get back at those who carried out this horrible act.

RIP

[smujsmith]

I would wish our mates of the Aussie forces the best of luck, but they don't need it. Professionals all they will make their own luck, and hopefully make major inroads into the IS guano. Thanks as well to a country that steps up to the plate when our own PM seems to be hand wringing and discombobulating to avoid having to explain why Britain no longer has a serious war fighting capability. Go Aussies, make Camoron look like the wuss he really is.

Smudge:ok:

[Minnie Burner]

To Binnie's boys and girls:
Stay safe and kick ass.
MB

[MPN11]

Best wishes to a great bunch of professionals.

I have memories of listening in on tactical frequencies when 75 RAAF went 2v2 or 4v4 against 74 RAF. Whilst 74 made a lot of noise on frequency, all we heard from 75 was "Fox 2, splash one" etc etc.

The RAAf flypast over Kuala Lumpur in (69) was good too ... 32 Mirage III from 3 and 75, with a couple of spares/whippers, who recovered to Tengah gently drifting into 4-ships at 5-mile spacing for run and break. I was in Local, and occasionally got the chance to say ... "Magpie 8, land in turn, 6 ahead and 8 on the runway". They were cooool operators, and I doubt much has changed.

Respect :ok:

[GreenKnight121]

Did the USA make a mistake by not allowing Iran to participate?

We had a choice: Iran or Saudi Arabia.

SA informed us that if Iran was in, they were out.

SA is much more aligned to our overall political goals than Iran - Iran supports Assad keeping control of Syria.

We also don't want Iran & Iraq becoming "best buds".

[Lookleft]

I think they should be referred to as the Mesopotamia Half Flight. An appropriate historical connection.

[Bushranger 71]

Political and military folly.

[ozbiggles]

Why B71?
Should they only be taking an updated Huey?

[tartare]

Riding home in car tonight with number one son aged 13.
"Dad, the kids at school say ISIL are going to bomb Sydney Harbour Bridge."
Sad.
"No they're not," says I. "In fact, ISIL don't even appreciate what's going to happen to them in the next couple of weeks."
Long discussion then ensues about laser designators, special forces and what a GBU does to a technical with a.50 cal on the back.
Or a scrawny bully with a blunt knife and an AK47.
I think the comparisons with Vietnam are foolish and my adopted country is doing the right thing.

[Hempy]

Political and military folly.

With respect B71, would you care to expand on this? Do you mean that the deployment is stupid in its intent, or that there is stupidity in how it's equipped?

If it's the former, I respectfully disagree. Morally it's the most 'decent' thing we've done since Timor. Politically Tony Abbot is gaining credit on a world stage.

If it's the later, what would be a better load-out? ...with equipment that we actually have, I mean..

[tartare]

Agree Hempy.
You're a bit more reasoned and respectful than I.
I think he meant stupid in intent... to which I add my disagreement.

[Bushranger 71]

Pathetic sniping OB. Am still in Russia after time in Crimea so a brief response.

On BBC TV a few days back, a respected Arab entity informed that IS is 80,000 strong, not 10 to 20,000 as estimated by the US and growing in strength with Sunnis disaffected by the foolish US disbandment of the Iraqi Army. They are also apparently well organized and strongly financed.

History tells us it is nigh impossible to counter para-military movements that blend at will with local populations and the respected Arab opined that any Western nation nvolvement will invite reprisals.

The more Australia dances with the US and Brits, the more we risk pariah status with the ASEAN Bloc Plus Three group of nations, which includes our 2 major trading partners, China and Japan. Both the US and Brits have worn out their welcome in SEA.

PM Abbott has zero military acumen and is repeatedly making an arse of himself trying to grandstand on the world stage. A pretty sure bet in my view that this adventure could have adverse consequences for Australia.

[Hempy]

A pretty sure bet in my view that this adventure could have adverse consequences for Australia.

Pray tell the consequences for Australia if we don't be 'adventurous'?

You seem to suggest that if we just leave them alone they'll waste all their energy on the US/UK and 'we'll be right mate'.

I'm suggesting that if there was ever a good reason to send Australians overseas to fight, this is it. This 'group' is as lawless, violent, brutal, and morally obscene as any regime in modern history. At least Amin, Pol Pot and their ilk generally only had local designs, and their slaughter followed accordingly. This vermin kill for fun, and want to spread it everywhere.

They need to be eradicated now at all cost. The longer it takes, the harder its going to be. But it has to happen eventually...the behaviour is intolerable to a civilised world.

You can't sit on your hands on this one mate, regardless of politics.

[LT Selfridge]

I'm with B71.

If Aussie participants want to avoid future disillusionment they might like to consider the following:

1. IS, like its predecessor Al Qaeda (the database), is 'Orange Force' funded by Saudi, Turkey and Qatar (and hence, indirectly, the US) that's why these countries can't join the coalition. Gotta have at least one degree of separation.

2. The prize is Syria. For an Oz angle research Woodside and the Leviathan Project. Pipelines vs shipping.

3. The ADF bosses know this but the US sugar daddy of protection and technology trumps any ethical argument. Just following orders.

4. Pictures of a few western innocents dying are deliberately splashed around to whip up people like Hempy. How many pictures of the 495 children and 253 women killed in Gaza recently are splashed around in western media. Ultimately does it really matter how you die?

5. We are not the good guys - just extras in a bigger production.

Good luck gang - watch out for Patriot and don't get captured.

[tartare]

Well if there's in fact 80,000 of them as said respected Arab entity says, then isn't that even more reason to get involved?
What's the alternative?
Taken to an extreme, let IS overrun Iraq?
What happens then?
I think the arguments about our involvement inviting reprisals ignore reality.
I believe that sooner or later, regardless of what we do, there will be a Islamic extremist terror attack on Australian soil.
The fact is that Australia is inextricably linked to the United States.
It has been since WW2.
Those links extend into domains and down to levels that the general public is broadly unaware of.
We've been part of Five Eyes since 1946 when UKUSA was signed.
Pine Gap is the US's eyes and ears at the bottom of the world.
Australia owns a satellite in the WGS constellation.
And I think that's a good thing.

[LT Selfridge]

How far would you go with them tartare?

All the way?

[tartare]

Yes LT - sitting on Mr Martin Baker - I would.
All the way.

[Rosco22]

I can't help but think that the ADF would have been pushing the Super Hornet/Wedgetail/KC-30 combination to the Government quite strongly. What better environment to test 3 platforms so close to IOC than a turkey shoot with air superiority.

The fact that we are being seen to do something to stem the spread of the abomination that is ISIS is incidental in holding up our end of the alliance.

Best of luck to all our men and women using their shiny new toys in anger for the first time.

[tartare]

...widespread anti terror police raids being reported across east coast cities this morning.
I rest my case.

[BBadanov]

LT Selfridge: How far would you go with them tartare?


Hi Selfridge. I guess yesterday was an anniversary for you?
17 SEP 1908, Orville fared better than your namesake...

[LT Selfridge]

BB

The report of my death was an exaggeration.

Dempsey: I know of Arab allies who fund ISIS - YouTube



"I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few."

[BBadanov]

thread drift, but that Chairman of JCS sure sounds like Kevin Costner !!


And he is telling it the way it is (despite the denials of POTUS this morning)... if air power can't win it alone (and it can't), then he will go to the President and ask for ground troops. Obvious.

[TBM-Legend]

meanwhile in Australia this morning:

Terrorism raids carried out across Sydney, Brisbane (http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/terrorism-raids-carried-out-across-sydney-brisbane-20140918-10igft.html)

News here says that these morons were planning a Lee Rigby style campaign here.

Fight fire with fire..

[LT Selfridge]

That certainly would have been good timing...

[josephfeatherweight]

Whilst I support the deployment the disgustingly obvious coincidental timing of the "anti terrorist" raids is laughable. Not saying the raids shouldn't have taken place and I'm happy these bad dudes are presently locked up, but really... So staged!

[BBadanov]

And, your point?


You seemed to have missed the gravity of the situation, which is not as you describe as "laughable".


If our security people and the police have information for them to act, then they should act immediately within the newly approved powers - and I would go even further, perhaps not even wait for the niceties of the courts for warrants.


"Staged" to you, but let us avoid a Rigby type situation being perpetrated here on our streets.

[TBM-Legend]

Staged my ar$e. An associate in the Federal security world told me this afternoon that it was real. These guys had been under surveillance since May on this deal and it was two days ago that the ring leader received a call from his overseas "minder" to execute the plan. this was direct evidence linking the plotters and was needed to ensure prosecution of these guys.

The conspiracy theory mob need a reality check as ISIS and its hydra mantel are real...

Safe passage and good hunting to our ADF girls and boys many of whom left today...:D

[BOAC]

I would stake money on the call from the 'minder' being triggered by the deployment announcement, so if 'staged' by anyone, it was 'staged' by ISIS/IS/ISIL.......delete where applicable.

[Treg]

Has there been any discussion about CSAR for the Hornet crews? Just wondering if they have dedicated aircraft operated by US (or other nation) during RAAF sorties, or are they reliant upon a shared capability?

[josephfeatherweight]

Righto, "staged" not the best word - "deliberately timed" would be better, and yes, I believe the extraordinarily coincidental timing was quite deliberate and that people cannot see that that was so deliberate is, in my opinion, "laughable". I never said the terror plot was, and I reiterate that I'm glad these people have been locked up. I strongly believe there was political influence to have these raids happen TODAY, but of course I have no proof of that. That's my opinion, I wasn't attacking anyone else's ideas here. Play nice.

[LT Selfridge]

Joseph's right this whole deployment has been 'socialised' for quite a while. The proof will come when the tales of these desperadoes are heard in court (only one 22 year old charged so far?). By then it will be propaganda job done and 'we've got a war to fight no time for old news'.

[TBM-Legend]

RAAF will buy two more C-17's to take the total fleet to eight.

Delivery is planned for early next year. These are two of the "white tails" that Boeing has now at the end of the production line.

There will also be an order for a couple more Airbus KC-30A's announced shortly taking that fleet from five to ~7...

[BBadanov]

That 7th KC-30A I believe will be a VIP fit.
Presumably tanker capable - but with a permanent VIP cabin, and possibly a further cabin for the travelling journos.

[rh200]

and possibly a further cabin for the travelling journos.

I'm gathering that will be with a ejection mechanism, oops I mean quick release:E.