Posted on 12/01/2014 1:04:58 PM PST by naturalman1975
The discovery of a 'hidden network of caves and bunkers' occupied by the Islamic State in northern Iraq, by an Australian military plane, has led to an enormous airstrike and the death of over 100 terrorist fighters.
Vice-Admiral David Johnston, the chief of joint operations at the Department of Defence, revealed details of the successful multi-national airstrike during an operational update in Canberra on Tuesday.
He said that an Australian F-18 Super Hornet military plane, fitted with regular and heat-seeking night cameras, located the concealed bunkers and tunnels in a hillside at Kirkuk while monitoring movements on the mountain during the last week.
'Within days a subsequent multi-national airstrike involving 20 aircraft attacked 44 targets, complimented by a large-scale ground operation that was led by the Kurdish security forces, that rapidly entered that area, cleared it of the remaining ISIL militants, and with some reporting indicating that over 100 ISIL fighters were killed in those clearance operations,' Vice-Admiral Johnston said.
Another recent airstrike that was led by an Australian crew led to the 'severe damage' of a major improvised explosive device factory in Mosul.
Australian forces have also had an important role in the Iraqi government recapturing control of an oil refinery in Baji that, according to Vice-Admiral Johnston, has allowed them to better fund their own defences through the daily $13 million worth of revenue it produces.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
How Australian Super Hornet discovered secret ISIS cave network... which led to deaths of more than 100 jihadist fighters
I know the world has changed, but we're such a long way from the 'thousand plane raids' I remember reading about in my history books as a kid.
Nice work. Thanks to our Aussie comrades in arms.
L
Horneti Ahkbar.
This story should be made into a heartwarming Hallmark Channel holiday movie.
“and the death of over 100 terrorist fighters”
Okay, good, but do they expect to win this 100 terrorists at a time?
stay tuned for the Non Cmdr in Chief to head down to empress on them they were too violent
How much you wanna bet our military brass knew about this locale and Obama’s directives forced them to ignore what they knew?
The F/A-18 is one of the best military investments the United States (and Australia) has ever made. Still going strong and love those Mods!
When the bombs never miss, you don’t need nearly as many.
You are right. The world has changed a lot.
I was watching a show on “The History Channel” about one of those 1000+ plane raids.
The idea was to bomb the Messerschmidt factory at the same time as a ball bearing factory. This was supposed to divide the defending Luftwaffe fighters.
Things did not work out well and we lost over 60 B-17s on the raid and a further 40 bombers were written off as too badly damaged. That is over a hundred four engined bombers.
A loss like that today would devastate the whole country. Then again we lost over 3000 innocent civilians on 9-11.
They bombed a mosque?
Good deal and a good day’s work. Great to have Australia, as always, on the team.
Those massive air raids were lucky to put a few bombs on target. Worse, the payload was much smaller.
B-17: 4500lb (long range) to 17,600lb (overload)
B-24: 2700lb (very long range) to 8000lb (max rated)
B-29: 20,000 lb
F-18: 13,700 lb (bombs, rockets, missiles)
Importantly, the F18 handles PGMs with ease.
Simply put, we don't need those huge raids any more, and are spared the enormous losses they entailed.
I think that 100 at a time is actually a pretty good ratio. As long as we can find them, we can destroy them. If they mass to attack or to defend, they’ll be killed. Meanwhile, there are forces on the ground grinding them down as well. Life for ISIS is nowhere near as pleasant as it used to be.
I find it a bit troublesome how the western media seems to spare no opportunity to shout every successful tactic, new weapons system, or strategy from the rooftops. ISIS has smartphones and surely read the Daily Mail ... well, daily.
I’d rather they kill them all, then write how it was done after the dust settles.
RE: The discovery of a ‘hidden network of caves and bunkers’ occupied by the Islamic State in northern Iraq, by an Australian military plane, has led to an enormous airstrike and the death of over 100 terrorist fighters.
100 down, 29,900 more to go....
What was an A-6 Full loadout?
something like 22 Mk-82s
or 5 Mk-84s
Which would be about 10000 lbs.
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