RAF Learns Some Bitter Lessons In Libyan Campaign

The coalition troops flying sorties over Libya are learning that sometimes practical situation are quite different from theory. They have been plagued by questions about equipment as well as availability of staff.

Taking the case of RAF, first and foremost their spanking new aircraft Eurofighter Typhoon turned out to be the real downer in the whole operation. It is clear that these aircrafts have limited to no ground attack capability. RAF has total 8 pilots who are trained on the Typhoon to carry out ground attack mission, unfortunately most of them are trainers and instructors, thus when they were called for active duty the training mission for Eurofighter had to be closed down.

Second problem with Euro-fighter Typhoons initial operation was the inability of the pilots to self-designate the targets. Thus they were sent in combination with Tornadoes to help them with the targets.

Before the start of the Libyan operation UK was in the course of phasing away the Tornadoes and getting Typhoons to replace them, unfortunately the Libyan mission came at a time when they did not have enough aircrafts or crew to fly Typhoons thus they are still dependent on tornadoes.

Next hard lesson deals with the Combat Istar(intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) concept, with a layering of—and cross-cueing between—dedicated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and Combat Istar assets and capabilities achieving a synergy that is greater than the sum of their parts.

This kind of effectiveness is achieved by using three different equipment's namely E-3D Sentry, Sentinel R1 and Nimrod R1. Shockingly only E-3D is supposed to be the part of any future UK weapon armory.

Nimrods were retired and they were basically asked to delay the retirement to aid in the Libyan campaign and the chosen successor of Nimrod is neither ready nor RAF has enough crew to man them. At the present moment they are under training in USA. The first RC-135W Rivet Joint aircraft called AirSeekers will be manned by a joint team of US and UK operatives. These aircraft's may come into service only in 2014 thus Nimrods which were retiring this March were asked to postpone that date until enough replacement could be found.

To further complicate the scenario the coalition government’s Strategic Defense and Security Review of 2010 opted to retire the RAF’s Astor (airborne stand-off radar) platform, Sentinel R1 (comprising five Raytheon-modified Bombardier Global Express business jets and associated systems) once operations in Afghanistan end. Funny thing is that nobody knows what is its replacement. Some people believe the new UAV "Scavenger" will have all the features required to full fill the role of Sentinel but the problem is that this UAV is not ready and it may take few years to get it operational.

So RAF despite all the bluster and bravado is seriously troubled organisation with no clear policy and each department pulling in different directions. Libyan campaign has just played the role of catalyst to highlight the prevailing situation and the confusion.

RAF Plans UK-Based Reaper Squadron

The UK Royal Air Force (RAF) is to form a second Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) squadron.

It will be based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire and will include facilities to enable RAF Reapers flying over Afghanistan to be controlled from the UK for the first time.

Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton made the announcement on 13 May at RAF Marham during the disbandment of 13 Squadron (Sqn), which has been flying Tornado GR.4 aircraft in Afghanistan and recently participated in Operation 'Ellamy' over Libya. The '13 Sqn' number-plate will transfer to the new Reaper unit during 2012.

RAF Reapers are currently controlled by crews of the existing unit, 39 Sqn, which is based at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. The CAS said that bringing Reaper mission control to the UK would make better use of resources and enable the operation of significantly more combat intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance aircraft over Afghanistan.

The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper UAV is equipped with an array of sophisticated sensors (including the Raytheon AN/DAS-1 Multispectral Targeting System-B and the General Atomics AN/APY-8 Lynx synthetic aperture radar with ground moving-target indication), which enable it to be used day and night for surveillance of insurgent activity at ranges undetectable from the ground.

The Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, said: "Reaper aircraft are providing valuable support to our front line troops in Afghanistan. We are committed to providing the best available equipment to our Armed Forces.

"The formation of this new squadron follows our doubling of the Reaper capability to ten aircraft, which represents an increased investment of GBP135m.

"This extra squadron will help us get the best out of this valuable armed reconnaissance aircraft."

XIII Squadron was formed in 1915 and has continued its long and distinguished record through both world wars and operations over Iraq and Afghanistan. Notably, in 2009, XIII Squadron conducted the last Tornado sortie over Iraq in support of Operation TELIC.

In the summer of 2010, XIII Squadron deployed on Operation HERRICK in Afghanistan providing close air support and combat intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance during a very busy fighting season.

Finally, just a few weeks from disbandment, XIII Squadron were at the forefront of operations over Libya, delivering deep strike with the RAF's Stormshadow missile.