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Marine Attack Squadron loses eight Harrier jets
The Aviationist ^ | 9/16/2012 | David Cenciotti

Posted on 09/17/2012 9:40:42 AM PDT by Daus

Marine Attack Squadron loses eight Harrier jets in worst U.S. air loss in one day since the Vietnam War

On Friday Sept. 14, at around 10.15 p.m. local time, a force of Taliban gunmen attacked Camp Bastion, in Helmand Province, the main strategic base in southwestern Afghanistan.

About 15 insurgents (19 according to some reports), wearing U.S. Army uniforms, organized into three teams, breached the perimeter fence and launched an assault on the airfield, that includes the U.S. Camp Leatherneck and the UK’s Camp Bastion, where British royal Prince Harry, an AH-64 Apache pilot (initially believed to be the main target of the attack) is stationed.

The attackers fired machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and possibly mortars against aircraft parked next to the airport’s runway. Two U.S. Marines were killed in the subsequent fighting whereas eight of 10 AV-8B+ Harrier jets of the Yuma-based Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 211 were destroyed (6) or heavily damaged (2): the worst U.S. air loss in one day since the Vietnam War.

The VMA-211 “Avengers” is part of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing headquartered in San Diego at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. It deployed to Afghanistan in April and relocated from Kandahar Airfield to Camp Bastion on Jul. 1.

According to Wikipedia, the VMA-211 last suffered this level of losses on Dec. 8, 1941.

Considered that the U.S. Marine Corps are believed to be equipped with slightly more than 120 AV-8B+, the attack on Camp Bastion has wiped out 1/15th of the entire U.S. Jump Jet fleet and a large slice of the Yuma-based squadron. A serious problem for the USMC, that was compelled to buy second hand RAF Harrier GR9s to keep the AV-8B+ in service beyond 2030, when it will be replaced by the F-35B.

Furthermore, the VMA-211 was the only Marine Harrier unit in Afghanistan: until the destroyed airframes will be replaced (most probably, by another Squadron), the coalition ground forces can’t count on the CAS (Close Air Support) provided by the Harrier.

Tom Meyer has contributed to this post.

Image credit: U.S. Marine Corps


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; US: California
KEYWORDS: aerospace; afghanistan; av8b; campbastion; gwot; harrier; helmandprovince; marineaviation; navair; rpg; taliban; vma211
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An very under-reported part of this weeks attacks on US installations.
1 posted on 09/17/2012 9:40:45 AM PDT by Daus
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To: Daus

Nuking is looking like more of an option every day...: )


2 posted on 09/17/2012 9:44:55 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: Daus

of course it is under-reported...

Just like the Egan-Jones Credit Downgrade, the Initial Joblass Claims report, the Horrible Manufacturing Index Report, the QE3 Banks bailout, etc, it’s all news that might make OBAMA LOOK BAD, so it must be ignored....

Just look at what is happening with the Middle East Video story...


3 posted on 09/17/2012 9:45:07 AM PDT by tcrlaf (Election 2012: THE RAPTURE OF THE DEMOCRATS)
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To: Daus

Were those British or US Harriers???


4 posted on 09/17/2012 9:47:58 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
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To: Daus

Two Yuma based Marines were killed in the attack also. Our community is feeling the impact of the loss. Yuma loves it’s Marines.


5 posted on 09/17/2012 9:48:33 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: Uncle Chip

All USMC Harriers.


6 posted on 09/17/2012 9:50:18 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: pfflier

And what happened to the attackers?


7 posted on 09/17/2012 9:52:48 AM PDT by nikos1121
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To: Daus

Assuming this base only had one fence surrounding it, You got to ask yourself why do we only have one fence surrounding our military installations, you would think they would have at least two fences minimum with motion detectors in between them.


8 posted on 09/17/2012 9:54:50 AM PDT by ReformedBeckite (1 of 3 I'm only allowing my self each day)
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To: tcrlaf

I hate hate hate — really hate -— the mainstream media.


9 posted on 09/17/2012 9:55:19 AM PDT by Yaelle
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To: ReformedBeckite
You got to ask yourself why do we only have one fence surrounding our military installations

How much fencing is required to put the base out of mortar range?

10 posted on 09/17/2012 10:06:36 AM PDT by Yo-Yo
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To: Daus

Why is this being called an “air loss”? That connotes a plane being shot down, which most certainly was not the case here. Words mean things...


11 posted on 09/17/2012 10:08:41 AM PDT by jagusafr
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To: Daus

Harrier Boom! music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjJFnhfpW34


12 posted on 09/17/2012 10:08:46 AM PDT by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: ReformedBeckite
See This Link for how the base is protected.
13 posted on 09/17/2012 10:15:15 AM PDT by Daus
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To: nikos1121
And what happened to the attackers?

18 killed. 1 captured.
14 posted on 09/17/2012 10:17:07 AM PDT by Daus
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To: Daus

“Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical,” Biden said. “There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy, because it threatens U.S. interests.

http://nation.foxnews.com/joe-biden/2011/12/20/biden-does-it-again-taliban-not-our-enemy


15 posted on 09/17/2012 10:23:20 AM PDT by lowbridge (Joe Biden: "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy.")
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To: ReformedBeckite

Granted that this is not my area of expertise, but it seems to me that something is seriously wrong, when, in this day and age, we can’t protect our planes from a small (15 or 19 attackers) lightly armed ground force.

From our enemies’ standpoint, this was a very successful attack. And if the attackers all died, so much the better: They are heroic martyrs.

As for this not being in the news, maybe we should be deluging those media outlets and commentators that might push this story, with e-mails asking for coverage... Eventually, perhaps it might get traction with, oh, say, Fox, and then the others might be under more pressure to report on it too.


16 posted on 09/17/2012 10:24:12 AM PDT by Paul R. (We are in a break in an Ice Age. A brief break at that...)
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To: Paul R.

Correction - I just saw the post: 18 killed, 1 captured.


17 posted on 09/17/2012 10:26:20 AM PDT by Paul R. (We are in a break in an Ice Age. A brief break at that...)
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To: Daus

Holy CRAP! This is unreal. And you’re right- I missed this story completely.


18 posted on 09/17/2012 10:27:44 AM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet)
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To: nikos1121

12 or so dead, 1 captured and “being taken care of.”


19 posted on 09/17/2012 10:28:30 AM PDT by huldah1776
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To: Daus

We didn’t lose them. They were destroyed.


20 posted on 09/17/2012 10:28:37 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to annoy someone, point out something obvious that they are trying hard to ignore)
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