just another jocky - Carrier-based missions are flown i.a.w. the ATO too. Reportedly the 20 or so FJ from the
Charles de Gaulle have been conducting 35 to 40 strike sorties per day over Libya (
link), weather permitting. These have constituted over a quarter of the 4,050 NATO strike sorties up to 11 June (
link) (
link).
Accepting that the carrier-based a/c and the similar number of RAF a/c based in Italy require air tanking to different degrees, what apart from the two-hour 1,200 mile round trip between Gioia del Colle and the Libyan coast accounts for the land-based FJ having a significantly lower sortie rate than their carrier-based counterparts? Lower in the pecking order for some reason?