Libya: Apache attack helicopters to be deployed within 24 hours

Libya: Apache attack helicopters to be deployed within 24 hours

Apache helicopters will be deployed to Libya within 24 hours, it was reported today.

8:52AM BST 27 May 2011
Yesterday David Cameron gave the final authorisation for attack helicopters to start flying into Libya in a bid to step up the military pressure on Col MuammarGaddafi.

Sky News sources said the helicopters would deploy with 24 hours.

Col Gaddafi is “increasingly worried” he will be killed by Nato and has taken to hiding in Libyan hospitals to avoid air strikes, British intelligence reports suggest.

Diplomatic sources last night disclosed that recent intelligence suggested the Libyan dictator was “paranoid” and “on the run” from Nato’s escalating attacks on his regime.

MI6 has told Mr Cameron it has discovered that Col Gaddafi's behaviour is becoming even more erratic as Nato strikes take their toll.

Related Articles

Cameron hits out at G8 over international aid 27 May 2011
Cameron: Gaddafi is feeling the pressure 26 May 2011
HSBC and RBS held Libyan cash 26 May 2011
Berlusconi casts doubt on death of Col Gaddafi's son 26 May 2011
Colonel Gaddafi: with friends like these... 31 Aug 2009
Apache attack helicopters to be deployed in Libya 27 May 2011

Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a defence analyst, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that if the Apaches were used for assault operations and in reinforcing the rebels in their attacks on the Gaddafi regime, it could be seen as an escalation.

He said: "There's certainly the potential for escalation. They are quite terrifying when they are on the battlefield, and if you are not used to that sort of firepower, then you are going to be pretty frightened by them.

"I think their biggest strength is their ability to use their electro-optics and command and control systems to be able to rout out individuals and groups of fighters before directing firepower."

He said the Apaches could be vulnerable to Libyan surface-to-air missiles, and queried whether they were ideal for operations in built-up areas.

Britain and France have intensified attacks on Tripoli this week and Col Gaddafi, who has not appeared in public for weeks, was said to be moving between different hospitals.

Nato publicly denies targeting Col Gaddafi, but at least one strike has been launched on a building where he was thought to be present.

Diplomats said the real risk of death was having a “psychological impact” on the colonel, whose officials signalled for the first time this week that he could be prepared to step down.

The diplomatic source said: “There’s a consensus that we need to be turning the screw now and that’s partly informed by our intelligence of what’s going on on the ground.

“One quite striking thing is the fact that Gaddafi appears to be moving from hospital to hospital.

“What he is doing is moving from one place we won’t bomb to another place we won’t bomb.”

The Prime Minister said Nato wanted to “turn up the pressure on the regime so that people in Libya can choose their own future”.

At the G8 summit in Deauville, Normandy, Mr Cameron held talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the campaign in Libya.

_________

Video Link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8536358/Apache-helicopters-showcased-amid-Libya-deployment-rumours.html

Apache helicopters showcased amid Libya deployment rumours

Pilots at Wattisham Airfield show off the acrobatic capabilities of the iconic Apache attack helicopter as talk of deployment in Libya gathers pace.
7:05PM BST 25 May 2011

The media were treated to a display from the attack helicopters at Wattisham Flying Station in Suffolk as reports suggested that the aircraft may soon be sent to support the Nato-led mission in Libya.

Officially the British government says no decision has yet been made on whether to deploy the helicopters in the fight against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. However, on Monday a French minister claimed that Britain would follow France in using attack helicopters.

On Wednesday, during Barack Obama's continuing tour of the UK, the President joined Prime Minister David Cameron in saying there would be "no let up" in pressure on Colonel Gaddafi's government as they reiterated calls for the Libyan leader to step down.

If the orders to dispatch to Libya do come, Commander of the Attack Helicopter Force, Colonel Neil Moss, said the aircraft were more than ready for the hot and dry conditions of North Africa.

"The machine itself is hugely flexible. We bought this for the Cold War, for massed armour over in northern Europe, in the grassy greenlands of Germany and wherever else we were asked to go, we certainly never guessed we'd be using it in the desert and luckily because it was designed by Boeing in Mesa, Arizona - it's actually pretty good in the desert," he said.