RAF aircraft engage pro-Gaddafi troops in Libya
RAF aircraft successfully engaged pro-Gaddafi forces and military targets in Libya to enforce UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973.
Yesterday, Sunday 18 September 2011, NATO maintained regular reconnaissance missions over those remaining areas where troops loyal to the former regime continue to dominate the civilian population.
During the early evening, a Royal Air Force patrol of Tornado and Typhoon aircraft identified hostile vehicles near Waddan. A multiple rocket launcher and an armed pick-up truck were destroyed by the jets using Paveway laser and GPS guided bombs.
Another armed reconnaissance patrol during the evening, over Bani Walid, located a former regime main battle tank, which was subsequently disabled by a direct hit from a Brimstone missile.
On Saturday, 17 September, RAF Tornado GR4s were tasked by NATO to conduct a precision strike against a military headquarters near Hun in central Libya.
Major General Nick Pope, the Chief of the Defence Staff’s Communications Officer, said:
Seven Paveway bombs destroyed the target. Further north, other RAF aircraft played their part in NATO’s intensive armed reconnaissance missions over the city of Sirte, and one patrol destroyed an armoured personnel carrier and a pair of armed pick-up trucks, using Brimstone and Paveway munitions.
Early in the morning, Tornados mounted a further strike against one of Gaddafi’s ammunition facilities, just to the west of Sirte. Again, the Paveway bombs proved extremely accurate and destroyed the target.
Since the start of military operations on 19 March 2011, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and Army Air Corps strikes have damaged or destroyed more than 960 former regime targets that presented a threat to the Libyan people.