Tropical Sun plus French Cuisine...

[Lyneham Lad]

For lucky(?) Odiham air and ground crews!

A trio of Royal Air Force Boeing Chinook HC5 transport helicopters have been deployed to Mali, where they will provide logistics support for a French-led counter-terrorism operation. (https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/picture-raf-chinooks-boost-french-mission-in-mali-450689/)

[VinRouge]

Wrong Mali. The one with Timbuktu and malaria. No coconuts and rum for 5000 miles

[ORAC]

you have to wonder how much use they will be. You don't really understand the size of Mali, and Africa, because of the usual mercator projection......

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/489x398/texas_and_france_73a368b9aa48fb1ef4d16875a3675753472d9a21.jp g


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/431x318/usa_and_west_africa_09edd2eb8be64d10c2bdf14236678434efc30a9f .jpg

[MPN11]

Fascinating map overlays! I assume an on-line resource?

[ORAC]

Lots of them around - here for example.

https://www.boredpanda.com/true-size-countries-mercator-map-projection-james-talmage-damon-maneice/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

[MPN11]

Cheers, ORAC ... I found one as well!

[It's Not Working]

Another thanks ORAC, so that’s why the GAFA takes so long to cross

[Economics101]

ORAC's map overlay shows France and Texas (!!) , not Mali.

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Thanks Eco - I was about to post something similar.

And Orac, why do you wonder how much use they'll be? Perfect aircraft for the job, I'd have thought.

[ORAC]

Range and transit time as much as anything. Fixed wing is preferred where possible - e.g. the C-130. The US forces are increasingly using the MV-22. It’s just the distances are so vast and the response times so long. It’s the type of region the Buffalo/Beverly/748 we’re perfect to support.

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2017/11/19/us-troops-lack-support-despite-expanding-mission-in-africa/

[ORAC]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/armed-us-drones-sent-in-to-hunt-jihadists-in-africa-gqfhshv97

Armed US drones sent in to hunt jihadists in Africa

The US military has begun operating armed Reaper drones from a base in Niger, west Africa, targeting terrorist groups that have brought violence and instability to the region.

Top of the target list will be the leaders of a group linked to Isis that attacked a patrol of US special forces Green Beret soldiers and local troops in Niger last October. Four Americans and five Nigerien soldiers were killed.Fifty heavily armed jihadist fighters from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) ambushed the patrol near the village of Tongo Tongo in Niger, close to the border with Mali. The jihadists fled across the border after an extensive skirmish. More than 20 of them were killed.

With Mali involved in a presidential election marred by intimidation from different extremist groups, including the ISGS, the American drones now fitted with a range of weapons, including precision-guided bombs and Hellfire missiles, have been engaged in day and night missions. Although the US has operated drones from Niger for some years, their role was strictly for surveillance and reconnaissance.

A Reaper drone was flying over the area during the attack on the Americans and the Nigerien troops whom they were training. The Reaper was unarmed and unable to intervene. It was as a result of this ambush and the lack of immediate back-up firepower that the Nigerien government approved the deployment of armed Reapers to the base in Niamey, the capital.

US Africa Command, based in Stuttgart, confirmed that armed drones were now operating from Niger, although officials would not say whether there had been any strike missions. The addition of weapons to the Reapers, which have a combat range of 1,150 miles, gives the US military the ability to strike terrorist targets in Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

The US military is due soon to move its fleet of armed Reapers from Niamey to a new $110 million base at Agadez, on the edge of the Sahara.......

[wiggy]

The French op started as Operation Serval, it became Operation Barkhane


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barkhane

Members of our local (French) Parachute Regiment, 1er R.C.P, have been rotated through the theatre several times over the last few years....From what I’ve heard from those who have been involved it is definitely not just a case of sitting in the sun and eating the cheese....

[ORAC]

President and PM “arrested” in Mali military coup.

Three RAF Chinook and crew/ground crew still in country.

https://www.theafricareport.com/38100/mali-coup-president-and-pm-arrested-by-soldiers-after-mutiny/

Mali coup: President and PM arrested by soldiers after mutiny

https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/uk-raf-extends-deployment-to-support-french-operation-in-mali/

UK RAF extends deployment to support French operation in Mali

[typerated]

These boys are on a pretty plum posting.

url=https://flic.kr/p/24QVby7]https://live.staticflickr.com/787/40591331094_5dfedb3a84_h.jpg

Based in Tahiti and here visiting an airshow in New Zealand.

The RAF equivalent posting is ?

[57mm]

F/A 18 exchange posting, Kaneohe, Hawaii.

[typerated]

Hmmmmm.

Don't think they have Hornets on Hawaii?

And Honolulu is more Blackpool than tropical island!

[Cornish Jack]

T & B - I share your puzzlement. ORAC's suggested alternatives would seem to offer little advantage - other than Fat Albert. Certainly, the BeverlEy (note sp), was designed for FEBA Ops, so large areas/distances were not its forte - I don't know about the others.

[57mm]

Back in the late 80s, there were 2 exchange posts at MCAS Kaneohe, for driver and WSO respectively on the F/A18; no idea if they still exist.

[SLXOwft]

I hope the coup has not increased the risk to the UK (Chinook), French and other forces trying to help stabilize Mali.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-53833925

Thread drift - when I was waiting for one of the a/c to trundle down Odiham High Street at the start of it's journey out there, I was wondering why it was being moved by road not air.

[West Coast]

Back in the late 80s, there were 2 exchange posts at MCAS Kaneohe, for driver and WSO respectively on the F/A18; no idea if they still exist.

All the Hornets there during that time frame were single seaters. Not so say there were no back seaters there, they just didn’t have a back seat to fly in.

Best duty station ever, from uniform to surfing on base in 15 minutes.

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

Hmmmmm.

Don't think they have Hornets on Hawaii?

And Honolulu is more Blackpool than tropical island!

I'd take Honolulu over Holyhead any day, and I suspect anyone else who has ever had the pleasure of Valley might agree

[typerated]

I'd take Honolulu over Holyhead any day, and I suspect anyone else who has ever had the pleasure of Valley might agree

Undoubtedly!

And that said there are worse UK mil posting than Valley - maybe!

I was pointing out I think the French crews enjoying the rustic beauty of Tahiti have landed on the money.

[BEagle]

Indeed! The Sandymount at Rhosneigr couldn't really compete with hanging loose with the Moose at Moose Mcgillycuddy's in Waikiki!

Although rumour has it that they let kids in to Moose's these days. Is nothing sacred??

[PapaDolmio]

I remember reading a magazine article yonks ago about a French Air Force det in Guadalope (sic) in the Caribbean. I think they operated a couple of Alouette II, a C160 and an Atlantique on det. Seemed like a pretty neat posting to me.