Roughead: Ships Were Ready for Odyssey Dawn

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2011 – While Operation Odyssey Dawn brewed up quickly, the U.S. Navy already was positioned for operations over Libya, the chief of naval operations said here today.

Navy Adm. Gary Roughead told the Defense Writers Group that having Navy ships and submarines in the Mediterranean Sea enabled a quick response to the order that began Operation Odyssey Dawn.

“The need, for example in the opening rounds, for the Tomahawk strikes, the shooters were already in place,” Roughead said. “They were already loaded, and that went off as we expected it would.”

The Navy’s top officer said he is pleased overall with the operation so far. The actions against Libya marked the first time the converted ballistic missile submarine USS Florida was used in combat, and basing the coalition’s joint task force aboard the USS Mount Whitney has provided flexibility, he added.

Roughead said he also is pleased with the performance of the EA-18G Growler, the Navy’s newest electronic warfare aircraft. The five-jet squadron had been flying missions over Iraq, but was quickly moved and began flying missions in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn just 47 hours after recovering from operations over Iraq, he said.

The admiral also praised the tactical recovery of two F-15E Strike Eagle airmen who ejected over Libya when their jet had mechanical problems. The USS Kearsarge launched a V-22 Osprey that got in quickly and made the recovery, he said.

“The way it came together, the synchronicity of operations, the involvement and coordination among the different participants [went] quite well,” he added.

Roughead said the Navy can continue supporting operations as long as it takes.

“That’s what you get when you have a global Navy that’s forward all the time,” he said. “We don’t surge, and we don’t ride to the sound of the guns. We’re there, and when the guns go off, we’re ready to conduct combat operations, or, as you see in Japan, ready to conduct some pretty extensive humanitarian operations.”

In the run-up to the operations, the admiral told the group, the Joint Chiefs of Staff deliberated on the military actions that would be required. Roughead said he was particularly concerned about Moammar Gadhafi’s integrated air and missile defense system. Though the system was old, he said, “I don’t take any of that for granted. If someone is going to put a missile in the air, you don’t say, ‘Oh, it’s an old one, I’ll worry about it later.’”

Logistics was another concern, Roughead said, but the Navy’s robust presence in the Mediterranean comes with re-supply ships afloat and depots ashore. The global supply chain has worked well, he said, adding that he anticipates no problem in keeping operations going.

From a funding standpoint, Roughead told the defense writers, the operations are not especially costly.

“When you look at the expenses of what we in the Navy incurred, given the fact that we were already there, those costs are ‘sunk’ for me. I’m already paying for that,” he said.

The service did incur additional flying hours, and the Tomahawks will be replaced from the existing inventory, Roughead said. More than 3,200 Tomahawks are in the inventory, and the missiles used in the operation represent “relatively minor increases in cost,” he added.

Task Force Commander Provides Libya Update

By Karen Parrish

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2011 – The two-man crew of a U.S. fighter jet that crashed in Libya is safe, while the coalition has established a no-fly zone and grounded Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, the commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn said today.

Two airmen ejected from their F-15E Strike Eagle warplane late yesterday after the plane suffered an equipment malfunction and crashed in eastern Libya, Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III said.

Coalition forces recovered one crew member, and Libyans found the other, he added, noting that both men are now safe and with U.S. forces.

Locklear, commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa, spoke with Pentagon reporters by phone today from the USS Mount Whitney in the Mediterranean Sea.

Operation Odyssey Dawn was established to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which calls for the protection of Libyan civilians from Gadhafi’s forces and authorizes a no-fly zone over Libya.

“On March 18, the coalition began a graduated, sequenced campaign against the government of Libya … to protect innocent civilians,” the admiral said. “Cruise missile attacks accompanied by significant coalition airstrikes rendered Gadhafi’s long-range air defenses and his air force largely ineffective.”

The coalition includes 13 nations’ forces and multiple ships and submarines, Locklear said, including French and Italian aircraft carriers and a U.S. amphibious assault ship, the USS Kearsarge.

Task force land- and sea-based aircraft include reconnaissance, early warning, attack, fighter and support assets in the air daily to enforce the no-fly zone, Locklear said.

The admiral said Gadhafi’s air force before coalition operations was “not in good repair,” and that his tactical capability consisted of several dozen helicopters. Against those aircraft, he said, “our airstrikes have been very effective.”

While the coalition continues to expand effectiveness of the no-fly zone, the admiral said, forces loyal to Gadhafi still pose a threat to the Libyan people.

“Despite our successes to date … Gadhafi and his forces are not yet in compliance with the United Nations Security Council resolution,” Locklear said, “due to the continued aggressive actions his forces are taking against the civilian population of Libya.”

In announcing U.S. support to the coalition, Locklear said, President Barack Obama laid out expectations that included requiring Gadhafi’s forces to “stop advancing on Benghazi, and they have to pull back from Zawiyah, Ajdabiya [and] Misurata.”

“They have not done that,” the task force commander added, noting that while the coalition has forced regime troops out of Benghazi, they have not pulled back from the other three cities.

If Gadhafi implemented a cease-fire, stopped all attacks against citizens, withdrew from the places the coalition has designated, established water, gas and power supplies to all areas and allowed humanitarian assistance, Locklear said, that would end the operation.

“The fighting would stop,” he said. “Our job would be over.”

Navy, Marine Corps Aircraft Strike Libya

By JFMCC Odyssey Dawn Public Affairs

MEDITERRANEAN SEA (NNS) -- U.S. Navy EA-18G Growlers from coalition bases and U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harriers aboard USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) launched in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973, which is centered on protecting Libyan citizens from further harm, Mar. 20.

Navy Growlers provided electronic warfare support over Libya while Harriers from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted strikes against Qadhafi 's ground forces and air defenses joining an international effort to halt an offensive against the Libyan populace.

"Protecting the innocent and conducting combined operations are what we are designed to do," said Col. Mark J. Desens, commanding officer of 26th MEU. "Our forces are doing both as part of the U.S. commitment to protect Libyan citizens."

Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is the U.S. Africa Command task force established to provide operational and tactical command and control of U.S. military forces supporting the international response to the unrest in Libya and enforcement of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973. UNSCR 1973 authorizes all necessary measures to protect civilians in Libya under threat of attack by Qadhafi regime forces. JTF Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear, III.

Supporting Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDWHgbkzTS8>

Pentagon Official Discusses Libya No-Fly Zone

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2011 – Amid reports from Libya that indicate Moammar Gadhafi’s troops are gaining the upper hand over the opposition, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell spoke during an MSNBC interview today about the situation in Libya and possible responses.

Morrell, who has just returned from accompanying Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to NATO for discussions on the situation in North Africa, said NATO defense ministers agreed “to continue planning for any and all military options, including a no-fly zone.”

What happens with the no-fly zone will depend on a political decision that has not been made yet, Morrell said.

“However, as we saw over the weekend, now the Arab League is calling for it,” he added. “So that will undoubtedly factor into the decision-making of the president and other European leaders as they go forward.”

Three American ships remain off the Libyan coast: the USS Kearsarge, the USS Ponce and the USS Barry. Other NATO nations also have positioned ships in the Mediterranean.

“But remember,” Morrell said, “this is to monitor the arms embargo that the U.N. put in place, as well as to provide humanitarian assistance if needed.”

If the decision is made to establish a no-fly zone, the U.S. military can make it work, Morrell said.

“I don't think this has ever been a question of can we do this,” he said. “I mean, this is the United States military. Even though we have significant commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world, Secretary Gates has made it abundantly clear we can do this.”

NATO allies would help, Morrell noted. “It’s important that we not do it alone,” he said. “But this is not a question of ‘can.’ It’s a question of whether we should. And that’s a decision that the president will make at some point.”

Meanwhile, two more U.S. military flights flew Egyptian civilians home from Tunisia over the weekend, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan said today.

A March 12 flight out of Djerba airlifted 60 Egyptians back to Cairo, and a flight yesterday had 79 passengers. The Egyptians escaped fighting inside Libya and were stranded in Tunisia.

To date, 13 such flights have airlifted 982 passengers, Lapan said. The C-130 flights began March 5, and there are none scheduled today, he added.

Middle East Revolutions Undermine al-Qaida, Iran

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 – Al-Qaida and Iran are the biggest losers in the wave of reform sweeping North Africa and the Middle East, top Defense Department leaders said here today.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon press briefing that they are optimistic about the changes taking place in the region.

“I think, first of all, the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and the protests elsewhere that are leading to reforms for a number of governments are an extraordinary set back for al-Qaida,” the secretary said. “It, basically, gives the lie to al-Qaida’s claim that the only way to get rid of authoritarian governments is through extremist violence.”

The people of the region are proving this is not the case, he said.

Gates went on to say he believes the wave of reform is a set-back for Iran. “The contrast of the behaviors of the militaries in Tunisia and Egypt and, except for a brief flurry of violence, in Bahrain, contrast vividly with the savage repression that the Iranians have taken against anyone who dares to demonstrate in their country,” he said.

It will take months or years before the full consequences of the revolutions are known, Gates said.

Still, a “process of change has begun,” he said. “And the prospect for that change, particularly if it is carried out without violence, as has been the case in several of these countries, and gives rise to democratic governments, I think it is a gain, first of all, for the peoples of the region, but ultimately a gain for everybody.”

The admiral said he shares Gates’ optimism because he saw the effect first hand last week when he visited seven countries in the Arabian Gulf region. “One of the reasons I share the optimism is because in each country, it is clearly about the people of that country,” he said. “It’s been about change inside those countries.”

All nations will have to adjust to these changes, the chairman said, and the relationships will change too. “I’m optimistic that there is a chance for stability and opportunity that just didn’t exist as recently as four weeks ago,” he said.

Still, Libya remains a problem and the U.S. military is working to give President Barack Obama options as Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi attempts to end the revolt by killing demonstrators, Gates said.

The secretary has ordered the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce – now in the Red Sea – to the Mediterranean. The Navy vessels “will provide us with capability for both emergency evacuations and humanitarian operations,” he said.

The Kearsarge delivered 1,400 Marines to Afghanistan and was serving as the U.S. Central Command reserve force. To augment the Marines remaining on the ship, Gates ordered 400 Marines from the United States in support of the Kearsarge’s mission.

“We are obviously looking at a lot of options and contingencies, but no decisions have been made on any other actions,’ the secretary said. “I would note that the U.N. Security Council resolution provides no authorization for the use of armed force, and there is no unanimity within NATO for the use of armed force.”