Coalition Partners Assume More Responsibility in Libya

By Lisa Daniel

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2011 – Coalition task force operations in Libya continue to go well, and partner nations are picking up more of the workload, the chief of staff of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn told reporters today.

“Our efforts have been going well,” Navy Rear Adm. Gerard P. Hueber told Pentagon reporters by telephone from the USS Mount Whitney in the Mediterranean Sea on the sixth day of operations. “This is a multiphased operation. Our coalition partners are assuming more and more responsibility.”

The 13-member coalition has achieved its objective to set up a no-fly zone over Libya, and no Libyan aircraft has flown in the past 24 hours, Hueber said. Libyan forces have not used surface-to-air missiles in four days, he added.

Sortie airstrikes have rendered Libya’s air defense “severely degraded or destroyed,” the admiral said.

Hueber said the coalition’s mission is clear, as mandated in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973: to protect civilians from attacks or the threat of attacks, to establish a no-fly zone to protect civilians and prevent mass atrocities, and to enforce the trade embargo against Libya.

To end the mission, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi must stop Libyan forces from firing on civilians, he said. But forces loyal to Gadhafi continue to advance on Benghazi on Libya’s northeastern coast, and are not pulling back from Misurata on the northwestern coast and Ajdabiya, just south of Benghazi, Hueber said. Widespread reports indicate Gadhafi’s forces continue to fire on civilians and civilian sites in those cities, he added.

“He must stop advancing on those cities,” Hueber said. “Clearly, Gadhafi’s forces have not met those requirements and are in clear violation” of the U.N. Security Council resolution.

“We are pressuring Gadhafi’s forces that are attacking those civilian populations,” he added.

The coalition started out small, but quickly established the no-fly zone, obtained maritime superiority, put the embargo in place, interdicted ground forces, suppressed enemy air defenses and put humanitarian operations in place, Hueber said.

“This is a fully integrated coalition operation,” he said. “Coalition ships, aircraft and staff are focused on the single mission of enforcing [Resolution] 1973.”

The coalition has “accomplished quite a lot together,” the admiral said, “and will continue to work together” until the resolution’s objectives are met.

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.”

Coalition Launches 'Operation Odyssey Dawn'

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2011 – Coalition forces launched “Operation Odyssey Dawn” today to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect the Libyan people from the country’s ruler.

The goal of the military coalition is to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens, officials said, adding that the coalition also wants to degrade the ability of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime to resist a no-fly zone being implemented.

U.S. military forces are on the leading edge of the coalition operation, taking out Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system, Defense Department officials said. The ordnance is aimed at radars and anti-aircraft sites around the capital of Tripoli and other facilities along the Mediterranean coast.

Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn is commanded by U.S. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear aboard the command ship USS Mount Whitney. The Mount Whitney joins 24 other ships from Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom and France in launching the operation.

Cruise missiles from U.S. submarines and frigates began the attack on the anti-aircraft system. A senior defense official speaking on background said the attacks will “open up the environment so we could enforce the no-fly zone from east to west throughout Libya.”

In addition to the cruise missiles, the United States will provide command and control and logistics. American airmen and sailors also will launch electronic attacks against the systems.

The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada already have announced that they are part of the coalition. Officials expect Arab countries will publicly announce their participation soon.

Operation Takes Aim at Libyan Air Defenses

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2011 – Coalition members fired 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system today as a precursor to setting up a no-fly zone over the country, Pentagon officials said.

In Brazil, where he is on the first leg of a three-nation trip to South America, President Barack Obama said no U.S. ground troops will deploy to Libya, but that the United States would provide “unique assets” to enforce the United Nations Security Council resolution meant to protect the Libyan people from the forces of Moammar Gadhafi.

Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Joint Staff, briefed reporters at the Pentagon on the launch of “Operation Odyssey Dawn.”

“The goals of these initial operations are essentially twofold: first, to prevent further attacks by regime forces on Libyan citizens and opposition groups, especially around Benghazi, and second, to degrade the regime’s capability to resist the no-fly zone we are implementing under that United Nations resolution,” Gortney said shortly after the attacks were launched.

Most of the targets were on or near the coast and around the Libyan capital of Tripoli, Gortney said. The coalition carefully picked the targets, he added, which either threatened coalition pilots or through use by the regime, posed a direct threat to the Libyan people of Libya.

“I want to stress that this is just the first phase of what will likely be a multiphase military operation designed to enforce the United Nations resolution,” the admiral said.

The international community gave Gadhafi the opportunity yesterday to pursue an immediate cease-fire, Obama noted. “But despite the hollow words of his government, he has ignored that opportunity,” he said. “His attacks on his own people have continued. His forces have been on the move. And the danger faced by the people of Libya has grown.”

Obama stressed that the United States is one nation involved in a multinational operation.

For now, Gortney told reporters, Operation Odyssey Dawn is under the command of Army Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command. Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III is the commander of Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn aboard the command ship USS Mount Whitney. Locklear commands U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa, as well as NATO Allied Joint Forces Command.

“We anticipate the eventual transition of leadership to a coalition commander in the coming days,” Gortney said. Still, even with the transition, the U.S. military will continue to provide support, communications and logistics to coalition forces.

“Our mission now is to shape the battle space in such a way that our partners can take the lead in execution,” he said.

Forces will assess the results of the strikes in the coming hours, and that will shape operations for the future, Gortney said. This will take some time, he added, with Global Hawk unmanned aerial aircraft and national technical means providing the information needed.