Posted on 03/17/2011 8:53:52 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Canadian fighter jets heading to Libya
By DAVID AKIN, Parliamentary Bureau Chief
Last Updated: March 17, 2011 11:13pm
OTTAWA - Canada will send six CF-18 fighter jets to southern Europe to help enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, defence sources told QMI Agency.
Fighter jets from CFB Bagotville in Quebec are expected to head to Europe as soon as various diplomatic clearances are obtained.
A spokesman for Defence Minister Peter MacKay, though, would not provide official confirmation of the mission.
"We do not comment on speculation and this is an unconfirmed story," said MacKay spokesman Jay Paxton.
After days of debate, the United Nations Security Council decided on Thursday to "establish a ban on all flights in the airspace" over Libya.
"Today the Security Council has responded to the Libyan people's cry for help," said Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador the UN.
The mission for fighter jets from Canada and other countries could involve a combination of targeting infrastructure that is important to the Libyan Air Force, such as radar installations, or attempting to shoot down any Libyan Air Force jets.
That said, the mandate from the UN security council authorizes "all necessary measures" be taken short of invading Libya in order to protect Libyan citizens and rebels from attacks by forces loyal to Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi.
Maybe they drew straws and Canada lost. If the UN is good for anything other than drawing straws, I can’t for the life of me figure out what it might be.
LOL, they put the cockpit on the wrong side. Must be hell on takeoffs...
Glad to see somebody else on point for a change. It shouldn’t be too difficult to crater the Libyan airfield(s).
My point is the Europeans are never on point. This is their backyard, as was Bosnia.
The canucks paint a cockpit on the bottom of the aircraft. This could be an advantage in ACM.
Canada: that so called “peaceful” nation which would NEVER [ sarcasm ] join a war effort - only a “peacekeeping” effort. Chalk it up to Orwellian doublethink.
Nope. The Canucks paint cockpits on the bottoms of their fighters.
There actually is a reason.
I though it was un-Canadian to cheat?
It is a painting of a cockpit on the undeside of the fuselage as part of a decptive technique when involved in close in aerial combat. The look of the cockpit at a distance will actually throw an oppenent off as to the actual attiude of the aircraft’s direction of flight.
Since when did the “RCAF” marking return?
And why does a CF-18 have a tailhook?
Don’t the french and europeans ant to show off the rafael and eurofighters now? Or did the french already surrender.
Canada operates 78 CF-18s and has 65 CF-35s on order.
Canada bashing on FR gets real old, real fast.
All F-18s are carrier capable. But on a side note, I believe USAF aircraft have arresting hooks also. There are times when in an a/c emergency, a base may have to use an arresting cable to stop an aircraft in trouble. When I was at Clark AFB in the phillipines, I watched an F-15 have to use an arresting cable on landing.
Thats what I was going to say, it looks like half the airplane is upside down.
In all of Western Europe, there are not enough aircraft to deal with Libya’s two bit airforce? NATO has to rely on Canada to fly them all the way to Europe?
Interesting. Thanks.
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