This from the Times yesterday
Military send unsuitable Typhoons on Libya mission to justify £20bn
Tom Coghlan Defence Correspondent
Last updated April 22 2011 12:00AM
The RAF’s over-budget Typhoon fighter jets are being deployed in Libya on missions for which they are ill-equipped because military chiefs are anxious to justify their high cost, The Times has learnt.
Defence sources said that attacks on Libyan tanks by the RAF’s multimillion-pound Typhoons were a public relations stunt not driven by operational need.
A source said that RAF Command was “increasingly desperate” for the publicity value of the RAF’s newest aircraft destroying enemy vehicles in Libya. “It was inferred from on high that this needed to happen,” said the source, who wishes to remain anonymous.
The first combat attack by the £20 billion Eurofighter Typhoon occurred on April 12. But the Ministry of Defence did not reveal that the Typhoon in the strike could not target enemy vehicles, and was using on older, less capable bomb that carried a higher risk of causing collateral damage.
Instead an RAF Tornado GR4 ground-attack aircraft fitted with a Litening II targeting pod was forced to fly alongside it to provide the targeting capability for the Typhoon.
The news of the tank strike came the day before the release of a highly critical report by the Public Accounts Committee into the Typhoon programme.
The committee chairman, Margaret Hodge, told The Times last night: “It struck us as very coincidental that this [airstrike] happened at the last minute [before the report].”
The Typhoon was designed to fight Soviet aircraft during the Cold War but the RAF claims it now has wider utility as a ground attack aircraft.
The MoD press release on April 13 said: “Yesterday evening a Typhoon patrolling with a Tornado over western Libya was able to positively identify regime main battle tanks (MBTs) to the south of Misrata. The two aircraft attacked and the Typhoon successfully engaged two MBTs with Enhanced Paveway II bombs, while the Tornado hit another MBT with Paveway IV.”
The press release added: “The RAF have sufficient Typhoon aircrew to undertake the current task, with appropriate training for all the systems and weapons carried by the aircraft, whether air-to-air or air-to-ground munitions.”
The bombs dropped by the Typhoon were the dated 1,000lb Enhanced Paveway IIs because it could not fit the more advanced 500lb Paveway IV bombs. The accompanying Tornado was fitted with and was carrying 500lb Paveway IV bombs.
The 1,000lb Enhanced Paveway II bomb has a blast radius around “one third larger” than the Paveway IV, say defence sources, making it a weapon with a potentially greater risk of collateral damage in a built-up area.
One defence source told The Times: “The Typhoon has been doing nothing because Colonel Gaddafi’s aircraft haven’t been taking off. The aim was just trying to get bombs dropped off it. It was a fudge, a publicity stunt, purely political. They were trying to use Typhoon in a ground-attack role but the only bomb they can drop is an old 1,000-pounder which doesn’t cut the mustard. It’s a big explosion, it’s old and it’s not a great weapon. There is a greater risk of collateral, certainly in an urban environment.”
Footage of the Typhoon attack released by the MoD on April 13 showed two Libyan tanks surrounded by buildings in an area that the MoD said was south of Misrata followed by a huge explosion. However, the footage actually came from the targeting pod of the accompanying Tornado GR4, The Times has been told — a fact not mentioned by the MoD.
In its original form the Public Accounts Committee report was to have been critical of the money spent by the RAF on delivering a ground-attack capability for the Typhoon. The Times understands the report was originally to have pointed out that the RAF still had not made use of the ground-attack capability. However, after the announcement by the MoD that it would use the Typhoon in this role over Libya the report was changed.
The report also expressed concern that the RAF had only eight Typhoon pilots qualified to carry out ground-attack missions, and questioned whether the MoD needed to purchase a final tranche of 16 Typhoons.
Mrs Hodge added: “What was striking about the evidence we took was the difficulty everybody had in justifying the further purchase of those Typhoons. It seems they are now trying to justify the Typhoons are fit for modern purpose.”
According to figures released by the RAF the Tornado GR4 costs £33,912 per flying hour while the Eurofighter Typhoon costs £85,895.
Last night the MoD said in a statement: “The Typhoon has been re-roled to provide both air defence and ground-attack capabilities as part of Nato’s Operation Unified Protector and released Enhanced Paveway II bombs which destroyed two main battle tanks in the area around Misrata on Tuesday 12 April 2011.
“Any suggestion that the weapons release was connected to the publication of the Public Accounts Committee’s report on Typhoon is pure fantasy.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this report is correct then perhaps I owe an apology for finding it hard to accept on another thread that the UKSF would not need BOWMAN as well as their own comms. kit. It is all totally beyond belief.
Military send unsuitable Typhoons on Libya mission to justify £20bn
Tom Coghlan Defence Correspondent
Last updated April 22 2011 12:00AM
The RAF’s over-budget Typhoon fighter jets are being deployed in Libya on missions for which they are ill-equipped because military chiefs are anxious to justify their high cost, The Times has learnt.
Defence sources said that attacks on Libyan tanks by the RAF’s multimillion-pound Typhoons were a public relations stunt not driven by operational need.
A source said that RAF Command was “increasingly desperate” for the publicity value of the RAF’s newest aircraft destroying enemy vehicles in Libya. “It was inferred from on high that this needed to happen,” said the source, who wishes to remain anonymous.
The first combat attack by the £20 billion Eurofighter Typhoon occurred on April 12. But the Ministry of Defence did not reveal that the Typhoon in the strike could not target enemy vehicles, and was using on older, less capable bomb that carried a higher risk of causing collateral damage.
Instead an RAF Tornado GR4 ground-attack aircraft fitted with a Litening II targeting pod was forced to fly alongside it to provide the targeting capability for the Typhoon.
The news of the tank strike came the day before the release of a highly critical report by the Public Accounts Committee into the Typhoon programme.
The committee chairman, Margaret Hodge, told The Times last night: “It struck us as very coincidental that this [airstrike] happened at the last minute [before the report].”
The Typhoon was designed to fight Soviet aircraft during the Cold War but the RAF claims it now has wider utility as a ground attack aircraft.
The MoD press release on April 13 said: “Yesterday evening a Typhoon patrolling with a Tornado over western Libya was able to positively identify regime main battle tanks (MBTs) to the south of Misrata. The two aircraft attacked and the Typhoon successfully engaged two MBTs with Enhanced Paveway II bombs, while the Tornado hit another MBT with Paveway IV.”
The press release added: “The RAF have sufficient Typhoon aircrew to undertake the current task, with appropriate training for all the systems and weapons carried by the aircraft, whether air-to-air or air-to-ground munitions.”
The bombs dropped by the Typhoon were the dated 1,000lb Enhanced Paveway IIs because it could not fit the more advanced 500lb Paveway IV bombs. The accompanying Tornado was fitted with and was carrying 500lb Paveway IV bombs.
The 1,000lb Enhanced Paveway II bomb has a blast radius around “one third larger” than the Paveway IV, say defence sources, making it a weapon with a potentially greater risk of collateral damage in a built-up area.
One defence source told The Times: “The Typhoon has been doing nothing because Colonel Gaddafi’s aircraft haven’t been taking off. The aim was just trying to get bombs dropped off it. It was a fudge, a publicity stunt, purely political. They were trying to use Typhoon in a ground-attack role but the only bomb they can drop is an old 1,000-pounder which doesn’t cut the mustard. It’s a big explosion, it’s old and it’s not a great weapon. There is a greater risk of collateral, certainly in an urban environment.”
Footage of the Typhoon attack released by the MoD on April 13 showed two Libyan tanks surrounded by buildings in an area that the MoD said was south of Misrata followed by a huge explosion. However, the footage actually came from the targeting pod of the accompanying Tornado GR4, The Times has been told — a fact not mentioned by the MoD.
In its original form the Public Accounts Committee report was to have been critical of the money spent by the RAF on delivering a ground-attack capability for the Typhoon. The Times understands the report was originally to have pointed out that the RAF still had not made use of the ground-attack capability. However, after the announcement by the MoD that it would use the Typhoon in this role over Libya the report was changed.
The report also expressed concern that the RAF had only eight Typhoon pilots qualified to carry out ground-attack missions, and questioned whether the MoD needed to purchase a final tranche of 16 Typhoons.
Mrs Hodge added: “What was striking about the evidence we took was the difficulty everybody had in justifying the further purchase of those Typhoons. It seems they are now trying to justify the Typhoons are fit for modern purpose.”
According to figures released by the RAF the Tornado GR4 costs £33,912 per flying hour while the Eurofighter Typhoon costs £85,895.
Last night the MoD said in a statement: “The Typhoon has been re-roled to provide both air defence and ground-attack capabilities as part of Nato’s Operation Unified Protector and released Enhanced Paveway II bombs which destroyed two main battle tanks in the area around Misrata on Tuesday 12 April 2011.
“Any suggestion that the weapons release was connected to the publication of the Public Accounts Committee’s report on Typhoon is pure fantasy.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this report is correct then perhaps I owe an apology for finding it hard to accept on another thread that the UKSF would not need BOWMAN as well as their own comms. kit. It is all totally beyond belief.
Comment