Well done to the Herc boys and girls
 

And all the others involved.

BBC News - RAF Hercules planes rescue 150 from Libya desert

hear hear well done all involved

Once again the capabilities of the British armed forces is proven to a government and general public that simply does not seem to understand the need to sustain equipment levels and capabilities to cope with the unexpected.

No criticism of the British Army intended, but the wisdom of today’s near constant focus on armoured vehicles for Afghanistan ops, at the expense of naval and air assets, surely has to be questioned.

A professional job
 

Well done to all those involved. Most impressive and slickly carried out. I would have expected nothing less from a world class AT fleet. Enjoy a beer and the plaudits that should flow. FMT

Good Shout
 

What really really grates me is all those majority Brits in Libya, did it for tax free easy money. Now my feckin taxes being used to rescue them..............Then they complain!!!

Well done chaps, (& chapesses!).

I wonder if by chance the Tories might reconsider the defence cuts in the light of this well executed mission.

Duh, wishful thinking.:ugh:

GrahamO – I am most definitely NOT criticising any of our armed forces and least of all the British Army. The point I was trying to make, clearly not well, was that we all deserve better from our national government which has, for too many years, neglected investment in equipment and capabilities.

This is not about current government policy, more about years of under investment.

Today we see decisions, albeit necessary ones, taken in response to grave situations that we find ourselves in and all too often as a result of casualties in theatre. Better strategic planning, rather than reactionary actions, is what we all deserve. Once the capability goes it becomes almost impossible to quickly bring it back!

Phew, that was lucky, we still had a couple of aircraft left . . .

Remember, in the mid 80s, being positioned in Akronelli awaiting a flight into Libya with several other TS crews.

Fortunately, all we had to do was inbibe the noble vino Kokinelli and ingest the ubiquitous kebab . . . then cope with the headache.

Well done guys, at least you got to do it.

Well done to all services involved, this would have took a lot of planning..very well executed. Chuffed.

Well done to all involved directly or indirectly .
Once again it proves while we may have idiots in charge. the people on the ground(air) at the sharp end are still the best.
Hope someone buys you a cold beer for this :ok:

Makes you proud, doesn't it.:D

but yet again the military have created good news and the politicians will ride the wave accept the praise on behalf of the services and convince themselves that it was their brilliant leadership that saved the day.
Then on monday they will go back to their desks breathe a sigh of relief and sign the necessary orders to scrap Cumberland and York and stab the services in the back. It doesn't matter which hue they are from. Until this country faces a test and fails that is when things will change. It took the defeat of the Marines on the Falkland islands and South Georgia to make the Thatcher govt change its descisions. The Image that did it was that of the marines face down in the road with the grinning buzzo tactico round them.

Well done to all involved and especially Team Lyneham! Such a shame that a Stn with so much glorious history will be consigned to the scrap heap this Summer :(

Agreed with others - Well Done to all involved both in providing both direct and indirect support.

And, yes, you would hope that this operation, as well as recent events in general, would act as a timely reminder to our glorious leaders that a balanced range of capabilities is required.

I wont hold my breath though....

Do we have the fighters left to provide top cover, I wonder?
Doesn't take 3 hours to get to Malta/Sardinia. Anybody in a pointy jet sitting there in case?

Great job....Herc and Special Forces boys and girls:D

Also the mighty C-130, 56 years in the making and still a winner. Long live the King..

Sneaky-beaky dark stuff I expect - I don't think Arabs fly at night, at least not to any great effect.

just these in this thread, having defence aids fitted

FighterControl • Home to the Military Aviation Enthusiast • View topic - Malta Luqa 25-26th February, 2011

The 'special' is simple.

They had TWO lumpy boxes each with an extra Mars bar as it takes a lot of energy and effort to keep the ring piece 'sixpence' instead of 'dinner-plate'.

You never know, perhaps they called up 'Cat's Eyes Cunningham' to help . . .

Isnt the special fit designed to carry all the dictaphones and manuscripts that the SF carry with them for their next book?

Fun listening to the Sky News security analyst making out that we've got AC130s flying top cover!

Well done guys and gals, especially under the coalition handicap.:D

I've no doubt that at some point the boys and girls involved will grace this page and i just wanted to say good job. I seem to remember a few months ago when SDSR was being drafted some government monkeys talking about "tomorrows defence challenges" "and flexible" when all along it was an obvious "defence is an easy kill for a few billion" i wonder how many briefing papers will have had this scenario in it? Goes to show they have no idea what will come next. What is the point in paying taxes if you can’t defend your borders / interests? Defence first, i hate to say it but i think history may well teach us a lesson again soon, i hope we are ready for it? once again congrats on a job well done, i feel an outbreak of moral surfacing havent felt that in a while

Very well done to the RAF et al.

Perhaps also a kind word for Malta Airport ATC, who are efficiently managing a lot of extra movements.

To say nothing of the Maltese population, who are largely supportive, despite potential retaliation by the regime against some Libyans on the islands, with the risk of colateral damage.

some of the boys and girls involved know their efforts are appreciated !

Well done to all involved....but I'd hate to think what the Libyan equivalent of South Cerney is like!! Presumably they had Movers to make sure that the evacuees all had to turn up 40 miles away from the aircraft 6 hours beforehand as well!!;)

Well done to all. I am sure that there is quite a bit of detail that isn't going to come out in public, and long may that be so. This was clearly not a simple AT flight.

Per Ardua.

So the closing of RAF Luqa was a good decision then?

Well done to all concerned, :ok:

I was there at the time. The then Maltese government were glad to see the back of us. At the time they were busily climbing into bed with.............................. Col Gaddafi!!!

What goes around..........

Well done to all involved in the rescue.

There are a couple of spare Mirages sitting in Malta doing nothing ;)

As 4fitter says, we can be assured our message is received. A stunning success, well done - and our thoughts to those still 'in theatre'.

It did, however, give me no joy to see 'the fox' on TV making 'the announcement' - he was either relishing his moment of glory in having got the SDSR 'just right':ugh: or sweating like a pig in case what was probably an organisational shambles at his level became public under journos' questioning.

Thank the Lord it is finally down to the military to implement all this.

BOAC,
Fox is just crowing because he has made Hague look incompetent and will probably get his job at the next reshuffle:ugh: Nobody wants Defence as a politician - bit like being the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter - no-one ever lasts more than a year in post. I wonder how much the MOD will charge the FCO for the use of their hardware and expertise(even though it all comes out of the same budget in the end).

Well done to the hercs(from a rotary mate) enjoy the headlines in todays papers.:D

PERRIN
 

As a ex USAF serviceman I know how much work it has been for the people that will not get into the papers. Very well done boys I was in the other war zone in Asia and found the public did not give credit to the armed forces and its going that way here (I now live in Scotland).
One question where do they get these *{**! they put as head of the MOD?
ie Fox,Reid etc. Well done again!!!:D

Top work Albert and crews (ground and air) doing what they do best :ok:

Well done all concerned, not over yet but as usual, when it gets tough we rely on our servicemen and women and they don't let us down. Despite frequent comment in these pages regarding the lack of interest and comitment by the civilian population, I don't really think that is a universal trend, many of my age group are truly interested in the future of our armed forces.

Just a thought and not trying to introduce a note of dissent - I would have thought the Special Operations folk at Mildenhall might well have been involved in all this plus the USN has significant assets down in the Med afloat and at Sigonella. There's mention this morning of Hungary getting involved today and, I think Romania, and even the Irish Air Corps has stepped in but I have heard virtually nothing about American help.

TJ

I guess the only drawback of rescuing so many is all those handshakes required back at base:ok:

Sweet work.:D

Where was the rescued dog that was highlighted?