Some Statistics On Royal Canadian Air Force Operations In Libya

On the 18th of March 2011,Peter MacKay the Canadian Minister of National Defence announced the deployment of CF188 Hornets as part of Operation Mobile to support United nations resolution 1973.

Canadian CF188 Hornets and other aircraft passed through Prestwick in Scotland the following day,the 19th of March 2011,on their way to Trapani air base in Sicily.

Canadian Hornets flew their first combat sortie on the 21st of March 2011.

Up to the 15th of June 2011,a period which covers a total of 86 days,6 Canadian CF188 Hornets had flown 418 combat sorties.

Which means that the Canadian CF188s have flown an average of  about 4.9 sorties per day.

That is an average of 0.8 sorties per aircraft per day.

This compares very well to the 12 Royal Air Force Tornados based at Goia Del Colle.

The 12 Tornados averaged 6 sorties per day over the first 50 days of Operation Ellamy.

An average of 0.5 sorties per aircraft per day for the British bombers.

Thus the Canadian CF188s are generating about 60% more sorties per aircraft per day than the Royal Air Force Tornados.

The average length of a Canadian CF188 Hornet sortie over Libya is just under 5 hours.


The average length for a Royal Air Force Tornado sortie over Libya is 5.5 hours.

The Canadian base at Trapani in Sicily is about 350* Miles from Tripoli.


The British base at Gioia Del Colle in Italy is about 580* Miles from Tripoli.


So the Royal Air Force Tornados must fly about 1,160 Miles just to transit to and from Tripoli.


The Canadian CF188 Hornets must fly about 700 Miles to transit to and from Tripoli.


Assuming an average transit speed of 500 miles per hour,the extra 460 Miles which the Tornados must fly on each sortie is likely to absorb about an extra 55 minutes of their flying time on each sortie.

Which suggests that the average Canadian Hornet sortie generates about 25 minutes more time on station over Libya than the average Royal Air Force Tornado sortie.


Time on station per sortie over Libya averages about 3 hours 36 minutes for the Canadian Hornets and about 3 hours and 11 minutes for the Royal Air Force Tornados.

The Canadian Hornets appear to be generating both more sorties per aircraft per day than the British Tornados and more time on station per sortie.

Between them,the 6 Canadian Hornets are generating about 18 hours on station over Libya each day,an average of 3 hours on station per Hornet per day.


The 12 British Tornados are generating 19 hours on station over Libya each day,an average of 1 hour and 35 minutes on station per Tornado per day.


Each Canadian Hornet is generating 89% more time on station over Libya per day than each British Tornado.




*Distances from google Earth.

Fire Scout Versus Kiowa

The renaissance of the unmanned aircraft has been perceived as a revolution in military technology which will transform warfare.

Unmanned aircraft are often perceived as new types of weapon systems having little in common with existing military aircraft.

But is that the case? 

Fire Scout is a small helicopter which carries an optical sensor turret and lightweight missiles,it has a gross weight of 3,150 pounds,a maximum speed of 115 knots,a ceiling of 20,000 feet,an endurance of over 8 hours and each one costs an average of (U.S.) $17 Million / (U.K.) £10.6 Million (Financial Year 2011 figures).

Kiowa Warrior is a small helicopter which carries an optical sensor turret and lightweight missiles,it has a gross weight of 5,500 pounds,a maximum speed of 125 knots,a ceiling of 19,000 feet,an endurance of 2 hours and each one costs an average of $8.1 Million / £5 Million  (Financial year 1999 figures).

Some Statistics On Royal Air Force Operations In Libya

Statistics on Royal Air Force operations over Libya have been rather scant and incomplete.

This has made it rather difficult to judge the performance of British combat aircraft in Operation Ellamy.

However,there are now some useful pieces of information available.

On the 19th of May 2011,Scottish Member of Parliament (M.P.) Angus Robertson asked the following question in the House Of Commons:

"To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many missions the (a) Nimrod R1, (b) Sentinel R1, (c) VC-10 and (d) C-130 have flown in Operation Ellamy."

He received the following answer from the Secretary of State for Defence Dr.Liam Fox:

"Up to 8 May 2011 the UK has flown the following sorties in support of Operation Ellamy:

                                                           

Aircraft type	Number of sorties (1)
VC10	110
C130	15
Nimrod	20
Sentinel	50
(1) Numbers are rounded to the nearest five."

Mr.Robertson went on to ask the following:

"To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many sorties the (a) GR4 Tornado and (b) Typhoon has flown in Operation Ellamy;what type of mission was flown in each case;and how many weapons of each type were released; 

(2) how many dual mode Brimstone missiles have been used by UK forces in Operation Ellamy to date."

Dr.Fox replied: 

"Up to 8 May 2011 the UK has flown about 300 GR4 Tornado and 140 Typhoon sorties as part of Operation Ellamy.

Both aircraft types have conducted missions to protect civilians in support of UN Security Council Resolution 1973,and the Typhoons have also conducted missions in support of no-fly zone enforcement.

In all,approximately 240 weapons have been fired by these aircraft during these missions.

These were a combination of Dual Mode Seeker Brimstone and Storm Shadow missiles,Enhanced Paveway II and Paveway IV Precision Guided Munitions.

I am unable to provide a breakdown of these figures for reasons of operational security."

Operation Ellamy began on the 19th of March 2011,which means these figures cover the 50 days between then and the 8th of May.

Over that period V.C.10 tanker aircraft have flown 110 sorties or about 2.2 sorties per day.


It is difficult to calculate a sortie generation figure for these aircraft as numbers involved in this operation appear to vary over time,most recently the International Institute for Strategic Studies said that 6 V.C.10s were involved in Operation Ellamy,other sources often put the figure at 3 V.C.10s.


These numbers would give us a best case of 0.73 sorties per aircraft per day and a worst case of 0.37 sorties per aircraft per day.


Both of these figures are well below the 1 sortie per aircraft per day which the Royal Air Force tanker fleet often generates in combat.

The C130 Hercules transports flew 15 sorties or about 0.3 sorties per day ,1 sortie every 3 days on average.

Nimrod R.1 electronic reconnaissance aircraft flew 20 sorties or about 0.4 sorties per day,2 sorties every 5 days on average.

As there is only 1 Nimrod based at Akrotiri,this gives 0.4 sorties per aircraft per day. 

The Sentinel R.1 radar reconnaissance aircraft flew 50 sorties or about 1 sortie per day.


With 2 Sentinels based at Akrotiri,this equates to 0.5 sorties per aircraft per day.


It is likely to take about 4 hours for the Sentinel to transit to and from Cyrus to Tripoli on each sortie.

Tornado bombers flew 300 sorties or about 6 sorties per day.


As there have been 12 Tornados involved for most of Operation Ellamy,this equates to just over 0.5 sorties per aircraft per day,well below the 0.8 sorties per aircraft per day which Canadian Hornets are generating.


Flying sorties of 5.5 hours duration on average,the 12 British Tornados are generating 19 hours on station over Libya each day,an average of 1 hour and 35 minutes on station per Tornado per day (assuming an average transit speed of 500 miles per hour over the 580 miles between Gioia Del Colle and Tripoli).


This compares poorly with the 3 hours on station which each Canadian Hornet generates per day.


Each Canadian Hornet is generating 89% more time on station over Libya per day than each British Tornado.

Typhoon fighters flew 140 sorties or about 2.8 sorties per day.

A total of 240 weapons were released,an average of 4.8 weapons per day or 0.55 weapons per fast jet sortie.

It is interesting to note that,other than a handful of Storm Shadow missiles,these weapons range from the 1,000 pound (450kg) bomb based Enhanced Paveway II down to the 110 pound (50kg) Brimstone.

Thus weapon expenditure in 50 days of combat over Libya probably totals less than about 120 tonnes of ordnance and could be as little as 12 tonnes.

By way of comparison,a large aircraft carrier like the Nimitz class carries about 3,200 tonnes of ordnance,with the replenishment vessel which accompanies it carrying a similar amount.

The French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle carries 600 tonnes of ordnance (other sources say 2,100 tons) and 3,200 tonnes of aviation fuel.


It would be interesting to know how much ordnance is carried by the Royal Navy's Invincible class ships and also by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary's replenishment vessels,unfortunately we do not know the answer to that but it is likely to be far higher than 120 tonnes.

The only figures we have for the ordnance capacity of the forthcoming Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers are unfortunately expressed in cubic metres rather than tonnes which is less than helpful.

MQ8B Fire Scout Unmanned Helicopter Shot Down Over Libya

A North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (N.A.T.O.) unmanned helicopter appears to have been shot down in Libya*.

Film shown by C.N.N. appears to show the remains of an MQ8B Fire Scout helicopter,a type used by the United States' Navy.

As far as this blog is aware this may be the first unmanned helicopter to be shot down in combat.

If the loss was due to enemy action it is possible that it was the result of the unmanned helicopter having less situational awareness than a manned aircraft and if that is the case there are serious implications for the unmanned helicopter program.




*Thanks to Solomon at SNAFU for highlighting that.

Fast Landing Craft (FLC)

This is BMT's design for a fast landing craft to meet British Ministry of Defence requirements. 

That Is Not A Bomb

This is a bomb!

The United Kingdom,A Sovereign Nation?

A sovereign nation is one which makes it's own laws.

Most people in the United Kingdom,including most politicians,regard their country as a sovereign nation.

Most believe they are ruled by the laws made by the parliament which they elect.

Unfortunately,that is not the case.

This is made clear in the Final Act of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Lisbon Treaty:

"Declaration concerning primacy

The Conference recalls that, in accordance with well settled case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union,the Treaties and the law adopted by the Union on the basis of the Treaties have primacy over the law of Member States,under the conditions laid down by the said case law.

The Conference has also decided to attach as an Annex to this Final Act the Opinion of the Council Legal Service on the primacy of EC law as set out in 11197/07 (JUR 260):

"Opinion of the Council Legal Service of 22 June 2007

It results from the case-law of the Court of Justice that primacy of EC law is a cornerstone principle of Community law.

 According to the Court, this principle is inherent to the specific nature of the European Community.

 At the time of the first judgment of this established case law (Costa/ENEL,15 July 1964, Case 6/641*) there was no mention of primacy in the treaty.

 It is still the case today.

 The fact that the principle of primacy will not be included in the future treaty shall not in any way change the existence of the principle and the existing case-law of the Court of Justice."

*“It follows… that the law stemming from the treaty,an independent source of law,could not,because of its special and original nature,be overridden by domestic legal provisions,however framed,without being deprived of its character as Community law and without the legal basis of the Community itself being called into question.”