Strikes Degrade Libya's Defenses, But Threats Remain

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2011 – While the attacks on Libya’s integrated air and missile defense system have been successful, thousands of anti-aircraft artillery emplacements and portable missile launchers still pose threats to coalition air crews, the director of the Joint Staff said today.

On the second day of Operation Odyssey Dawn, Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney said the coalition cruise missile strikes against selected air defense systems and facilities were successful, and that coalition ships and submarines launched 124 Tomahawk missiles against these targets.

“We judge these strikes to have been very effective in degrading the regime’s air defense capability, to include their ability to launch many of their SA-5s – their long range missiles – their SA-3s and SA-2s,” Gortney said during a Pentagon news conference.

Moammar Gadhafi’s regime has not launched aircraft, and the coalition has not detected any radar emissions from the air defense sites targeted, the admiral said.

“There has been a significant decrease in the use of all Libyan air surveillance radars,” he added. “These seem to be limited to the areas around Tripoli and Sert.”

Air Force B-2 bombers also attacked Libyan airfields, flattening the hardened shelters Libyan fighter-bombers use, Gortney said. Coalition tactical fighters also hit Gadhafi’s ground forces on the outskirts of Benghazi, where 15 U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, French and British aircraft participated in the action about 10 miles south of the opposition stronghold. “We judge these also to have been highly successful at halting the regime ground movement in this region,” Gortney said.

Libya’s fixed surface-to-air missile threat and early warning radars are gone. The threat that remains comes from mobile surface-to-air missiles -- SA-6 and SA-8 systems – as well as thousands of shoulder-fired SA-7 missile launchers, the admiral told reporters.

The coalition has not directly targeted anti-aircraft artillery, Gortney said, because many are near homes and there are thousands of these guns.

The coalition has grown and will continue to increase, Gortney said, noting that it includes the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Italy, Qatar, Belgium, Norway and Denmark. More nations will directly participate in the coalition, he said, and other nations will provide overflight rights, basing and logistics. Gortney said those nations will make their announcements at their own times.

The United States leads the coalition effort now, but that will change, the admiral said.

“Our intent is to be a part of the coalition throughout, and transfer the command to a coalition command,” he said. The United States would shift to more of a support function that would include aerial tankers; electronic warfare aircraft; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft; and logistics.

NATO Task Force to Seek Innovative Efficiencies

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2011 – A new task force NATO’s defense ministers agreed to form will explore “out of the box” concepts for improving efficiency while striving to build capabilities in the face of shrinking defense budgets, the alliance’s supreme allied commander for transformation said today.

In a meeting last week in Brussels, Belgium, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his NATO counterparts endorsed the new task force to take a fresh look at the alliance’s capabilities-boosting initiatives, Gen. Stephane Abrial of the French air force told reporters.

“The objective is to first identify what is existing as far as multinational cooperation is concerned, identify what could be possible, and think new ideas [and] innovative ways for capability development,” he said.

U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Carol M. Pottenger, Allied Transformation Command’s deputy chief of staff for capability development, will lead the review, to be conducted by a mix of military and civilian representatives from across NATO.

Abrial said he expects the review will examine NATO doctrine, organizations, procurement, training, operations and maintenance, logistics, and battlefield medicine.

The task force members will have six months to formulate their ideas.

“The objective is a report in September for the [defense] ministers to consider in October, and then make decisions, either NATO as a whole or groups of nations inside NATO,” Abrial explained.

Though the global economic crisis has affected alliance nations’ defense budgets, Abrial said, every NATO nation has made clear it doesn’t want to “let the financial crisis turn into a security crisis.” That requires redoubling efforts to become more effective and more efficient, he added.

“With reduced budgets [and] reduced manpower, we need to be able to do better with less in the future,” he said. “While looking for new solutions, innovative solutions [and] multinational approaches, [we are] making sure that we ... make the best possible use of every dollar, every pound, every euro that our governments spend on defense.”

Abrial cited innovative defense solutions already at work within NATO, the European Union or the European Defense Agency that the task force is likely to consider. Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark have a successful defense cooperation arrangement under the auspices of the Nordic Council. The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Denmark share part of the acquisition costs as well as operation and maintenance of their F-16 fighter jet fleets. Luxembourg has developed a maritime patrol capability to support NATO missions by leasing sensor-equipped civilian propeller aircraft.

Another far more revolutionary, and potentially sensitive, concept involves capability-sharing. In a nutshell, this might mean one NATO nation agrees to provide all of capability “X” for itself and one or more partner nations. Meanwhile, another nation that receives capability “X” from the first nation provides all of the capability “Y,” and another provides all of the capability “Z.”

Abrial acknowledged that some nations may be highly averse to giving up their own defense capabilities and relying on another nation to provide it. Such collaboration would require clear understanding and communication to work, he said.

While such sweeping recommendations aren’t likely to be adopted in the near term, Abrial said, he’s encouraging the task force to offer the broadest range of new approaches possible. “All aspects are on the table today,” he said.

What’s most important, he emphasized, is that despite budget cuts, the alliance continues to improve its capabilities so it’s ready to stand up to whatever threat or challenge comes its way.

“We are making sure [the] forces of NATO nations are ready to face any kind of situation today, tomorrow and the day after,” Abrial said. “What we see around us today shows the absolute necessity to be ready for everything.”