I have a strategy. - It's been raining so I've gone for Pandorama e/w at 9/1

Buff Bombing concentrates everyone's mind within sonic/seismic distance of the event! Load'em up with JDAM's and one x one works....as you Teabags say....Bob's your Uncle!

I also had Long Run to win... Cashback!

:ok: What a week!!!! Cheers Henry :D/ Cheltenham Festival next week the Runners from Knockeen on: March 12, 2011, 10:58:26 am Tuesday 15th
Our first runner of the week will be Sizing Australia in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase on the Tuesday. He's in great form at home and we've been delighted with his preparation so far. He ran a fine race when third over the cross country course back in November and a similar run should hopefully see him go there with every chance.

Wednesday 16th
Sizing Europe will run in the Queen Mother Champion Chase on the Wednesday. Andrew Lynch came down to school him yesterday and
we were delighted with his jumping. He always seems to come into himself in the Spring and this drying ground will most definitely be to
his advantage. Last year's Arkle was just over a second shy of the Champion Chase so you'd like to think that a reproduction of that effort
would put him in there as a serious contender.

Thursday 17th
Loosen My Load is spot on ahead of his intended run in the Jewson. He also schooled yesterday under Andrew and touch wood his jumping to date has been foot perfect. We've always felt that he'd appreciate a step up in trip and this race looks to be ideal for him after some fine efforts over inadequate trips this term. We can't wait to get him back on some nice ground as we feel he's a much better horse on better ground.

The intention at this stage is to opt for the Pertemps Final with Queiros Bleu. This has been the plan for him since he finished second in a novice hurdle at the course back in October. We were delighted with his prep run at Naas a few weeks back and he's another one of ours who'll enjoy the predicted good ground. He won a novice hurdle on good ground at Killarney over 2m6f''s and we're hopeful the step up in trip will suit. He's in really good form at home and again I've been very happy with his preparation to date.

written by dead_pan

Somehow I don’t think that situation will ever be portrayed to us through our politicians or media. Mr G and his troops are the bad boys; and that’s the way it will be shown to us…..regardless of what is really happening on the ground.

Propaganda can work both ways, whether we want to admit it or not.

Danes are sending a squadron of F-16s for the show and a Herc-J for the logs.

Denmark to send squadron on Libya op - Politiken.dk

Have the terrorists (or "freedom fighters", if you prefer) agreed to a cease-fire?

If the government abides by a cease-fire which the terrorists/freedom-fighters choose to ignore, then which side should we bomb in the civil war?

How long do we ignore the use of tanks and APCs by the Khalifa and Saud crime families against the people of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia?

Nauseating double standards at play again as Libya oil reserves are so closer to Europe.

Egypt already arming the Rebels and no doubt lots of "Retired" Senior Officers offered training opportunities to train these rebels up in equipment supplied by Saudi's ala Croatia getting German used equip in the 1990's with US trainers.

Did anybody remember the history of Afghanistan from 1975 to 9/11/2001...........I see history repeating itself.

Racedo
 

My thoughts exactly - DEJA VU somewhat.

Did someone feed orack babama a coffee, he seemed to wake up rather to quickly:*

What range for our jets - Zimbabwe-oh silly they have no oil:\

Assuming the no-fly zone actually goes ahead, it will be good for the Typhoon force finally to shake off the abuse thrown its way in recent years by those with a less-than-full understanding of air power. And yet another deployment for Tornado GR gives it the perfect chance to justify its survival in SDSR - I can see important roles for Stormshadow, ALARM, RAPTOR and Dual Mode Brimstone, all unique to the TGRF. 'Normal' Brimstone could make an appearance as well, as highlighted earlier. All in all, a broad range of options, with far less political risk than sending in the troops...

To answer an earlier question, assuming 7nm / min transit, these are the times from the closest European operating locations to the main Libyan cities (very rough distances measured on Google Maps):

Sigonella - Tripoli 280nm = 40 mins
Luqa - Tripoli 195nm = 27 mins
Sigonella or Luqa - Benghazi 330nm = 47 mins
Souda Bay - Benghazi 280nm = 40 mins

Given that Tornado used to take part in Op TELIC from Qatar, over 1 hour's flying time from Basra, you can see that land basing is perfectly feasible in this case. Operating in concert with Nimrod R1, it brings a decent SEAD capability to the table, as well as the overwatch and low-collateral precision attack currently being practised on Op HERRICK.

I hope some of the land-centric crowd (Max Hastings etc) get forced to eat their words regarding the utility of fast air. I would particularly enjoy seeing Dannatt, Richards et al commenting on the "wonderful RAF"!

Finally, how's PR11 going now?!?

Easy Street

That means it's also 27 minutes from Tripoli to Malta! What if the Colonel does as he is told and retains control over most of the Country. Do we then force regime change.

If we go in to degrade his AD capability when he might be at least perceived by some at the UN to have complied with their Resolution we may open up a whole new can of worms!

Irony
 

Not to get too heavy, but I walked from the puter, turned on BBC, Comic Relief Red Nose, images of poor kids starving and dying in Africa, whilst our 'leaders' spend another few billion on planning war with Libya:bored:

'Get off your knees human race':cool::cool:

We deserve better, much, much, better to lead us

Slight but significant snag in the suggested use of Sigonella - the only aviation fuel available is F44, despite what the ERS says. Now guess which was the ONLY fast jet that used to be available in the UK stable, that could use F44, and indeed any aviation fuel - yep,the Harrier. I know i know, it's gone but it would have been useful eh?

Mmm - and while we are at it - the VC10 is no longer allowed to use Jet A - and guess which is the most used aviation fuel at civvy bases is -

Sooooo - planned use of NAS Sigonella for Typhoon or GR4 - delete.

Hoop.

I spent 2 weeks on det with 617 at Sig

Malta say, "No!", according to BBC R4 PM news at 6... (1800Z)

Piggies

Hoop my arse - tried to use it recently and i am telling you they have only F44 - just ring and ask fella - your det cannot be that recent.

Jet A1...........

Jet A in the USA - JET A1 rest of the world - and i guess you know the only diff is the higher freezing point of Jet A.

Justanopinion
 

Fair cop. It was 14 years ago...;)

Of course. There's no facetious smillie.

Malta

The Mediterranean island of Malta grants use of its air space to enforce a no-fly zone on Libya. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi however says that Malta "will not be used as a military base for the enforcement of the no-fly zone."

Just been watching the news with respect to comments by Mr Cameron and the speech made by Barrack Oblimey in the States.

As a matter on interest how many countries in the League of Arab States, that will be part of the NFZ coalition, are democracies and how many are ruled by the will of the “free” people. How many of these countries are actually having their own difficulties with demonstrations and uprisings (admittedly on a much smaller scale).

I think most of us know the answer to these questions but, with this NFZ, could we be sending the wrong message to the people of Bahrain, Saudi and other countries. The message being if you are not in a democratic country, rise up against your leaders and we will come and support you.

Let’s stop beating about the bush and stop using democracy, when it suits us, as an excuse to get rid of the bad people of the world, especially when oil is involved. The hypocrisy of this policy has sent the wrong message around the world, which has in turn led to an increase in radical beliefs within the Muslim world and an increase in terrorism. (anybody read the book written by Peter Arnett)

Let’s just say it as it is……..”Libya is full of oil, Gaddafi is a bad bloke, we don’t like him and he has to go. It has nothing to do with democracy, but his ruling is a danger to world stability”. “Oh, and by the way if we like your ruling party or you don’t have oil then tough cr@p, we cannot and will not intervene in the internal problems of another country”.

With the kind of hypocrisy shown by our “free world leaders” we will never have a peaceful and stable world. On the contrary, it will only create more problems in an already pretty f%%ked up world.

The term “lessons learnt” don’t seem to exist in the politicians minds and history books certainly do not exist.

Finally (and I hope I don’t get run down by an unmarked black car for saying this) but has anybody noticed how Mr Cameron is enjoying that feeling of power now that he is on the world stage. And during his speech today about the NFZ, he was so desperate to say that it was his idea a few weeks ago.

Yet another PM that wants to be as great as somebody like Win C or Maggie T. Sorry mate, but like Tony B, you are nowhere near in their league of being a truly inspirational leader like they were.

IIRC, the Tornado is cleared to refuel with F-34, F-35, F-40 and F-44. At least it used to be. I'll need to check the Aircrew Manual.

Jeezus h-c-rhist you people need to get a life

Willard Whyte

So what do you do, bury your head in the sand, pretend it’s not happening, and live your life, not appreciating all those in the forces about to embark on yet another operation to keep your nice little life safe and sound.

You are not making that statement to a bunch of people who just sit here randomly talking about world affairs, you are making that statement to many who have been involved or are likely to be involved in the very near future in a war.

I should imagine that your main worry in life is how much more the price of fuel will go up rather than how many of our lads and lasses might lose their lives.

JAJ

I wish you could use F44/(JP5) - deploying you would be a bit easier. Your ILOC sent an updated list a few months ago and i can assure you it was not on it - i would be delighted if it now is and the list was wrong, that indeed would be excellent news. :ok:

Good analysis of the Libyan SAM Network. Link at the bottom of following webpage.

The Libyan SAM Network

TJ

Also www.egpk.co.uk are reporting that 4 CF18s have landed at prestwick between 2100 and 2145 tonight.:D:D

blackhand out

TEEJ
I think the Libyan defence link was originaly posted by Doctor Who, or another time traveller as it is dated May 2011:confused:

Anyone seen our "Middle East Peace Envoy" recently?

If he could be dropped from a great height onto Gadaffi it would solve two problems in one go.

:yuk:

[Dons ex-TSW CLA cap for a moment]

The majority of sites that state they only stock F44 are usually only partially right.

F44 is rarely received onto land-based facilities as such, rather it is more often than not supplied as F35 and then blended with the required FP raising and FSII chemicals on site to produce F44. This is purely an economic and ease of supply issue, F35 being far more widely available than any other type of turbine fuel.

As an aside to this I'd be fairly sure that Sig would have stocks of F35 alongside its stocks of of F44 as it is common to allow F35 to 'settle' before running it through a blending rig to ensure built up static can discharge.

All UK military a/c can operate on F35 although F34 is preferred and if this is what is required a blending rig and a a few 136k TFCs is all that would need to be set up. An easy job even in these cash and staff strapped times. We managed to operate Basrah AB and supply all UK F34 requirements in Iraq from such a setup.

RBe a sweetheart and let Sig ops on both the Italian and US Navy side know then would you - as when i asked 2 months ago if they had any other available fuel other than F44 the answer was 'no'....

Malta says no to assisting NFZ.:*

I say withdraw their George Cross and send them a bill for defending them in WW2...:=

Anyone else noticed how Northern Africa isn't really the "Middle East"?

Sky news showing footage of an aircraft shot down over Benghazi.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content...3/15955700.jpg

I bow to your superior knowledge Sir! :ok:

I was pretty sure it used to be able to use F44. :confused:

Video of the MiG-23 over Benghazi, 19th March.

BBC News - Fighter jet 'shot down' over Benghazi

TJ

So, how did that happen? No sign of the triple-A tracer we have been constantly seeing from the rebels recently.

I wonder if it is the first 'kill' to the coalition enforcing the UN resolution!

Why do I think that? Well, Benghazi is on the coast and is the main site for any action against the rebels, therefore it would be almost certain that coalition warships would be positioned off the coast there. Given the range of SAM systems on modern warships, especially SM2-ER equipped US ships, then even warships outside Libyan territorial waters would easily have both the range and radar horizon to see and engage an aircraft over the city at the altitude seen in the video. A SAM fired from 20+ miles away would be ballistic by that point, hence to obvious sign of tracer or missile motor plume. Reports from the BBC reporter in the city state that the aircraft was seen overhead for quite some time before going down - plenty of time for any Naval commander to seek clearance from above to engage.

My only concern with the above is that the aircraft went down over the city and I doubt the coalition would risk collateral damage to civilians on the ground in the city - well maybe the Americans wouldn't worry (or have thought) about that.

Just my thoughts - can't beat a bit of immediate speculation :ok:

MadMark!!! :mad:

Don't suppose there's even the remotest chance that you might consider mechanical failure, Mad_Mark?