safetypee

Re #865, the video appears to show at least four incoming trails – ground to air, which originate from different (vehicle) locations.
SA-24 Grinch ?

Easy Street

FB11, Uncle G,

I am well aware that there are boots on the ground - let me quote my own post from a couple of days ago:

The 'airmans utopia' you mention is exactly this - we intervene using nothing but air power (except perhaps a supporting role by SF) and achieve our aims without the need for a politically-expensive UK ground intervention.

500N

" Re #865, the video appears to show at least four incoming trails – ground to air, which originate from different (vehicle) locations.
SA-24 Grinch ?"


Very Interesting and clearly visible.

.

Caspian237

The recent gains by the Anti Gaddafi rebels mean that the opposition now controls much of the country's oil infrastructure. If there is a stalemate now then one might question the long term viability of Gaddafi's regime.

If, as the media would have us believe, that Gaddafi is heavily reliant on foreign mercenaries then it does not bode well for him that his enemies hold the economic cards. If this situation occurs then the international community will need to ensure that the roles of abuser and abused are not reversed. We can only hope that the situation is resolved one way or the other before too long.

FB11

Easy Street,

Do you work in media or PR?

So it's not an air only campaign then unless we are now a 'UK air for hire' to other armies around the globe.

Whilst it might not matter on the front of RAF News to make 2+2 = 5 it is quite an important distinction.

Air and maritime forces enable ground forces, UK/coalition/indigenous, to achieve their objective.

high spirits

The rebels don't appear to have had to fight for any of the towns they have taken in the last 48 hours, they have simply driven in and claimed victory. That would suggest that the utopia of air only is fairly close to the truth....now tripoli will be a different matter and one in which air will find it difficult to get involved in especially with rules of engagement, human shields and the UN mandate.

Tourist

Those "ground to air" trails I took to be artillery rockets, not SAMs

dead_pan

I concur - the vehicle looks like one of those low-tech "MRLS" trucks.

This is going to get very interesting now that the rebels have reached Sirte. There are lots of loyalist pro-Gaddafi civilians in this city. I hope the western news media are on hand to make sure the rebels don't go from house to house themselves.

outhouse

Just reviewing the news and latest events, I guess that for the mission planers identification of viable ground targets is getting harder. Without on ground intelligence and the difficulty of identification of targets of choice and not hitting the rebel forces, the decision is placed more and more on the actual crews on the mission. Recon and the available high tech assets has advanced greatly over the years but maybe now as years ago, the final decision is still the chap who pressed the needed tit.

Tashengurt

At the risk of seeming a complete buffoon, these projectiles didn't seem to have much 'oomph' about them or perturb the Tonka crew overly. Could they even have been something along the lines of RPGs?

draken55

FYI. Rafale M armed with the SCALP Cruise Missile being launched from the carrier FNS Charles de Gaulle "somewhere" in the Med.

draken55

And here is one of the French Air Force Rafale B twin seater being armed with SCALP for the same mission.

TEEEJ

Safetypee wrote

The video at #865 shows firing from tubed artillery (rocket launchers) mounted on vehicles. The longer version of the tape shown on the news shows them ripple firing.