F-111 downs the PONG SU
 

No hard evidence, but does anyone know what type of weapon it used? Harpoon?
I'll leave it up to serious and non-serious answers!

News mentions a laser guided bomb.

Big political statement I would think. Bombing a North Korean flagged vessel. Well received in neo-con corridors of power.

Good job! Anyone recall the Taiwanese lack of success at similar recently? Fighters & gunships couldn't sink a vessel endangering shipping routes.

About time we got serious.

Whats the exact story?

...TC

Fighter jets down Pong Su
March 23, 2006 - 1:44PM

The North Korean heroin smuggling ship Pong Su has been sunk off the NSW coast by a bomb dropped from an RAAF F-111 jet fighter.

The 3,500-tonne freighter, which was used to import 150kg of heroin into Australia, was sent to the bottom of the ocean 140km off the the NSW south coast in a military exercise this morning.

Australian Federal Police confirmed the ship was sunk after the RAAF completed safety checks and cleared the area.

The freighter was towed out of Sydney Harbour on Tuesday, where it had been berthed since it was seized three years ago after a four-day chase by Australian soldiers, federal police and customs officers.

The Pong Su was intercepted off the NSW Central Coast in April 2003 after dropping off a cargo of drugs on the coast of Victoria.

Earlier this month, four Pong Su officers accused of aiding and abetting the importation of heroin were acquitted and released.

However four other men involved in the operation earlier pleaded guilty and two have been jailed.

The Pong Su has been costing Australian taxpayers about $2,500 a day to maintain, while the taxpayer-funded defence of the four ship's officers has been estimated at up to $3 million.

AFP commander Frank Prendergast said the sinking of the ship showed the police's resolve to fight drugs.

"The AFP is committed to working with its partner agencies to disrupt organised importation or drugs and protect the community from the devastating effects of the illegal drug trade," he said in a statement.

AAP

Why didn't they do that when they were chasing it? Could've saved a lot of time...

Do you think they were practising the other week and scared the life out of Wheeler?

Oh damn, I thought it was one coming in, not one we caught!

Time AND money it seems!


TC

Some extended footage on ABC tonight. Two strikes & a dirty great hole just aft of her bow. Strange how it was listing to Port yet both strikes were on the starboard...

You could just make out the ordinance on the thermal imagery...nice shot!:ok:

G'day all,

Here's the ABC news story:

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200603/r77978_222682.asx

Only one official photo:

http://www.defence.gov.au/media/down.../20060323c.cfm

Enjoy! :ok:

SMH story link:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...083893144.html

makes for good telly.

Actually there is some telly on this link (the ABC story):
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...3/s1599248.htm

Final shot of the ship listing shows a big bit of ventilation in the front. That must've been one fun sortie for the Pig jockeys!

Will the aircraft utilised in the sinking be able to put a little ships hull beside a Nth Korean flag underneath the cockpit window to denote their participation? :} :E

I reckon it was about 3 years and $4.8 million too late. :hmm:

Buster the strikes were to Port and probably blew dirty great 'oles in the Starboard side - hence Starboard list.

Sunfish
An old Ansett captain at his retirement booze-up was asked what was in the old shoe box that for years he always carried with him on board
After much pestering he finally relented and went and got the old box.
He opened it to reveal two old bits of yellowing paper on which was written
PORT-LEFT
STARBOARD-RIGHT.

Thanks tinpis, didn't think I had that wrong after all these years!:rolleyes:

Fantastic. After only 30 short years of operating the type we have proved beyond doubt that we can find and actually hit a large stationary object parked out on the open ocean............ amazing. Just amazing.

And what would the Kiwis do? Take photos of it from their Orions, and then do some sort of Hippy Chant and drop flowers? Well done Pig Drivers !! :ok:

Nah, we Kiwis would just HALO onto the ship and tear big chunks out of it with our teeth...

Only Aussies would use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Why not just place a small charge in the bottom of the hull, it would have the same effect... :rolleyes:

Don't ships have scuttle cocks anymore ?? :)

Still, at least you boys sunk it. Unlike our Pommie forces trying to sink the Torrey Canyon in the 1960's ;) :ok:

Don't know much about military stuff. The bombs almost hit at the same time in two locations. Were the bombs dropped from one aircraft while another one provided assistance with target designation?

Tinpis, it reminds me of that lovely saying to remember about aircraft lights and traffic at night. Green on green, red on red, perfect safety, go ahead. Green and red both in front, go ahead and ram the "other plane".

Whose aircraft you going to borrow MOR? :yuk: