Bit of a typo there - but perhaps near to the truth. Meaningless and shallow
PR being very much in vogue. Bah!
Anyway, the
Ocean based Apaches (and presumably Lynx and Sea Kings) have been busy once again
this week:
BRITISH Apache helicopters have launched their fiercest blitz yet on Colonel Gaddafi’s forces... to protect a town of civilians.
The choppers unleashed rockets, missiles and cannon fire to stop troops killing locals in a rebel-held town.
The Apaches were scrambled on Tuesday night, after a Nato spy plane spotted Gaddafi’s men stopping civilians leaving Al Khums.
As they closed in, HMS Liverpool fired illumination artillery rounds.
Major General Nick Pope said: “Apache helicopters, flying from HMS Ocean, struck checkpoints and vehicle patrols which were restricting civilian freedom of movement along the main coastal road around Al Khums.”
They also were in action on Friday:
Beeb Story
British Apache helicopters targeted a military base being used by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. The raid, on Friday night, targeted the al Mayah military camp, near Az Zawiyah, west of the Libyan capital Tripoli. It came as Col Gaddafi threatened to carry out attacks against civilians in Europe unless Nato halts airstrikes...
The word "scrambled" suggests that they were launched at very short notice to deal with urgent targets. If we had Harriers deployed there, they would have done the job. All of this shows the value of shipborne aircraft - which brings me back to my point about the issue of how will
Charles De Gaulle be repaced on station.
On another note, at least one person seems to have understood the skills issue
elsewhere on PPRuNe.