NATO v. ISIS?

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/eric-margolis/58453/nato-v-isis

NATO v. ISIS?
Iraq | NATO | Syria
by Eric Margolis | September 21, 2014 - 9:39am

NATO has struck in Iraq. Or, more precisely, two French Rafale warplanes bombed a storage depot in northern Iraq believed to be used by ISIS.

Washington cheered the French attack as the first wave of NATO military operations against the new enemy du jour, ISIS or the Islamic State. French president Francois Hollande, whose abysmal popularity ratings are now lower than Robespierre’s, butcher of the French Revolution, was elated by his show of machismo even if French voters were not.

What the French were really doing, of course, was show-casing their new Rafale fighter. There’s nothing like bombing Arabs to sell military hardware, as Israel has long shown.

Paris has been desperately trying to sell the Rafale, which is a very capable aircraft, to the Gulf Emirates, Saudi Arabia and India. Delhi signed an order for 126 Rafales in 2012 but has yet to implement it.

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It appears France wants to show the world they can bomb people as 'well' as the US.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafale

On 19 March 2011, French Rafales began conducting reconnaissance and strike missions over Libya in Opération Harmattan, in support of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973; initial targets were artillery pieces laying siege around the rebel city of Benghazi.[105] The Rafale could operate in Libya without the support of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) aircraft, using the onboard SPECTRA self-defense system instead.[72] On 24 March 2011, it was reported that a Rafale had destroyed a Libyan Air Force G-2/Galeb light attack/trainer aircraft on the runway.[106]

During the conflict, Rafales typically conducted six-hour sorties over Libyan airspace, carrying an armament of four MICA air-to-air missiles, four or six AASM "Hammer" bombs, a Thales Damoclès targeting pod and two drop tanks;[72] these patrols required multiple aerial refuelling operations per sortie from coalition tanker aircraft.[8] The AASM precision-guidance weapon system, using bombs weighing between 125 kilograms (275.6 lb) and 1,000 kilograms (2,204.6 lb), allowed the Rafale to conduct high-altitude bombing missions.[8] Reportedly, Rafale crews preferred to use GPS-guided munitions due to greater reliability and range. Storm Shadow SCALP weapons were deployed on only one or two sorties, such as against a Libyan airbase at Al-Jufra.[107]

In 2011, aviation journalist Craig Hoyle speculated that the Rafale's performance in Libya is likely to be pivotal to the aircraft's export future, reporting that the Rafale had managed to maintain a high operational rate throughout the Libyan deployment. Hoyle also noted that the Libyan combat experience had caused several urgent operational requirements to present themselves, such as the need for a lighter ground-attack munition and for modifications to the AASM weapon to be more effective when used in the close air support role.[8]

In January 2013, the Rafale took part of "Opération Serval", the French military intervention in support to the government of Mali against the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa.[108] The first mission was carried out on 13 January, when four Rafales took off from an airbase in France to strike rebel training camps, depots and facilities in the city of Gao, eastern Mali.[109] Subsequent airstrikes in the following days by Rafale and Mirage fighters were reportedly instrumental in the withdrawal of Islamist militant forces from Timbuktu and Douentza.[110] Both Rafale and Mirage 2000D aircraft used in the conflict have been based outside of North Africa, making use of aerial refuelling tanker aircraft to fly long range sorties across Algerian airspace and into Mali.[111]

In August 2013, it was proposed that France may halve the number of Rafales to be delivered over the next six years for a total of 26 aircraft to be delivered during this period; foreign export procurements have been viewed as critical to maintain production under this proposal. While production would be slowed, France would still receive the same number of Rafales overall.[112]

In September 2014, French Rafales began flying reconnaissance missions over Iraq as part of an international effort to combat Islamic State militants. Six Rafales are stationed at an airbase in the nearby country of the United Arab Emirates. Their initial focus was only on identifying IS positions in support of American airstrikes,[113] but on 19 September Rafales joined American operations to conduct attacks, launching four airstrikes near the Northern Iraqi town of Zumar that destroyed a logistics depot and killed dozens of IS fighters. More strikes by French warplanes are planned.[114]