RAF Typhoons Could Enforce Libya No-Fly Zone

[maddezmom]

Source: Sky news

The UK Government is considering basing Typhoon jets at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya, according to Sky sources
Two VC10 tanker aircraft are already in Cyprus, and have been offering support during the extraction of civilians from Libya.

In the plans currently being discussed at the Ministry of Defence, the VC10s would remain there to assist the fast jets.

David Cameron told MPs yesterday that he had asked the Chief of the Defence Staff, the head of Britain’s armed forces, to work with allies to see if a military no fly zone was possible.

It’s thought he is keen to enforce an exclusion zone to prevent Colonel Gadaffi from again attacking civilians who oppose his regime.



Read more: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Libya-Protests-RAF-Typhoons-Could-Enforce-No-Fly-Zone-Over-Libya/Article/201103115943119?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_0&lid=ARTICLE_15943119_Libya_Protests%3A_RAF_Typhoons_Could_Enforce_No-Fly_Zone_Ov

[Ghost Dog]

1. Cameron will be in deep trouble when Austerity Measures bite next month,

so he'll be expecting a bit of military action to help bolster his position, just as it did Thatcher's when in a similar position.

The Sovereign Base Area (SBA) of South-Eastern Cyprus includes RAF Akrotiri, which was first opened in 1956. Today the station's main operational focus is support to operations in Afghanistan. Akrotiri acts as a gateway to operations with both personnel and equipment moving through the station to and from theatre. - http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/stations.cfm?selectStation=9DFE2A31-D782-9B0B-F4FC22720F3552AE

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The Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia are two British-administered areas comprising a British Overseas Territory on the island of Cyprus administered as Sovereign Base Areas of the United Kingdom. The bases were retained by the British following the granting of independence and the eventual transition of Cyprus from a crown colony to an independent sovereign state. The United Kingdom demanded and succeeded in continuing to occupy a portion of Cyprus in the form of military bases because of the strategic location of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea in pursuit of British interests.

The bases are split into Akrotiri (Greek: Ακρωτήρι; Turkish: Agrotur, along with Episkopi Garrison, is part of an area known as the Western Sovereign Base Area or WSBA) and Dhekelia (Greek: Δεκέλεια; Turkish: Dikelya, along with Ayios Nikolaos, is part of the Eastern Sovereign Base Area or ESBA). - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrotiri_and_Dhekelia