Posted on 10/05/2014 8:24:36 PM PDT by GonzoII
Australian fighter jets have flown their first combat mission over Iraq, with a pair of F/A-18F Super Hornets returning safely to base without attacking any targets.
The mission came as Dutch and Belgian warplanes also joined the US-led coalition targeting Islamic State fighters who have seized territory in the country's north and west.
A Belgian F-16 dropped a guided bomb on a "terrorist element", and France also announced it was increasing the number of sorties its planes would fly.
Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin said the two Australian jets were armed, but did not launch air strikes.
In a brief statement on social media, he said both returned safely to their base in the United Arab Emirates.
"2 F/A-18F completed 1st armed combat mission in Iraq. No munitions expended. Returned safely to base," he tweeted.
(Excerpt) Read more at au.news.yahoo.com ...
F-16 ping
F/A 18, F-16 best damn MRFs on the planet.
It will be decades before the flying anvil known as the F-35 sees service much less even comes close to the service seen by our stalwarts.
F-16 ping.
” ...... without attacking any targets. “
They copying the Brits?
Why go on a mission without any targets?
The world has been very reserved over this. Be nice if something massive is being planned and these are Intel runs. Hopeful thinking I guess.
F-16 really is a terrific versatile plane.
I am shocked it does not get more respect. I watched one of those top 10 shows, figter planes, and the 16 didn’t even crack it. Ridiculous. Although I loved that they had the P-51 as the best.
I hope the Aussies didn’t call it “shock & awe”.
Because it takes some hours for the fighters to get from their bases to the combat area. So they launch ready to fight, and wait for controllers (who are mostly Americans) to direct them to targets once they get into the combat area.
If the controllers can't identify suitable targets once they are there, they don't attack - so on some missions, there won't be any ordnance dropped.
These are precision attacks on targets that move. Sometimes there won't be any suitable targets once the aircraft are in position.
Thanks. I don’t have a military background and didn’t understand why there were not dropping bombs.
I’m surprised that planes land with live armed ordnance still latched on. I thought SOP was to dump it if it wasn’t expended?
It is sometimes necessary (especially with carrier based aircraft where landing weight is a much bigger issue than with land based planes) but most ordnance can stay on the plane nowadays.
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