By ROBERT BURNS and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Robert Burns And Erica Werner, Associated Press –
WASHINGTON – U.S. warplanes will keep flying strike missions over Libya even after the U.S. relinquishes the lead command role to NATO as early as this weekend in the fight against Moammar Gadhafi's forces, the Pentagon indicated Thursday.
As an anxious Obama administration pressed for a quick handoff, NATO's governing North Atlantic Council was meeting in Brussels to try to finalize a deal for the alliance to take the lead. It has been meeting for nearly a week, but a series of disagreements, including questions of overall political control and how aggressive the mission should be, have so far blocked agreement.
At the Pentagon, Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, staff director for the military Joint Chiefs, told reporters that the American role will mainly be in support missions such as refueling allied planes and providing aerial surveillance of Libya. But the U.S. will still fly combat missions as needed, Gortney said.
"And I would anticipate that we would continue to provide some of the interdiction strike packages as well, should that be needed by the coalition," he added, referring to combat missions such as attacks on Libyan mobile air defenses, ammunition depots, air fields and other assets that support Libyan ground forces.
White House press secretary Jay Carney was more circumspect, calling the next phase of U.S. involvement a "support and assist role," using U.S. intelligence resources and military capabilities including electronic jamming to throw off missiles or rockets. He did not mention any combat airstrikes.
In a new development Thursday, one of the Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from ships in the Mediterranean struck a surface-to-air missile site near the city of Sabha, far inland at the southern tip of the allies' designated no-fly zone, Gortney said. The missiles had previously struck mostly along the coastline. Another cruise missile hit a Scud missile site near Tripoli on Thursday, he said.
Criticized by some for committing U.S. forces to a foreign conflict without explicit endorsement by Congress, the Obama administration pressed for the allies who first pushed for the campaign to come up with a workable alternative. Gortney said such a handoff of command could come this weekend.
In Ankara, Turkey, state-run TV quoted Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying NATO would indeed take command, but alliance officials in Brussels said last-minute details had yet to be worked out.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held a conference call with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and Davutoglu on coordinating the process.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, expressing his appreciation to the leader who has been criticized in Russia for not using the country's veto in the United Nations Security Council to block the action in Libya.
Obama also convened top-level national security advisers Thursday to consider the direction of events in Libya and the future U.S. role.
With the costs of the campaign growing by the day and members of Congress raising complaints over the goals in Libya, the administration wants its allies to take the lead soon.
"We are still operating under that timeline, that it will be days, not weeks," Carney said.
American and allied planes and ships pummeled Libyan air defenses and other military targets Thursday as the international alliance confronting Gadhafi moved toward shifting its command lead from Washington to NATO.
Uncertainty also hung over the domestic politics of U.S. handling of an air campaign that is being executed by a coalition of countries, including Canada and several European allies, under a U.N. resolution.
Carney disputed complaints from Congress about inadequate consultation prior to the start of the military campaign, and he discounted the need for a specific response from the White House to a letter Wednesday from House Speaker John Boehner asking for details on the goals, costs and scope of the operation.
Carney said that if the president had waited for Congress to return from its recess before moving on Libya, "Gadhafi's forces would control Benghazi and there would have been a great deal of people killed in the process."
The U.S. assumed command of the operation, which began on Saturday, largely because it alone possesses the military wherewithal to coordinate the complex array of movements, targeting and intelligence collection that was required to enable the establishment of a protective no-fly zone over Libya. Now that Gadhafi's air force has been grounded and his air defenses largely silenced, the mission could be pursued under a different command such as NATO.
An American Army general now oversees the campaign from Europe, and an American Navy admiral is the day-to-day commander from a floating command post off the Libyan coast. An American Air Force two-star general is running the air portion of the mission, and one official said it was possible that the Air Force officer would remain in charge of the air campaign even after the overall operation was shifted to NATO or other non-U.S. command. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military deliberations.
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At the Pentagon, Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, staff director for the military Joint Chiefs, told reporters that the American role will mainly be in support missions such as refueling allied planes and providing aerial surveillance of Libya. But the U.S. will still fly combat missions as needed, Gortney said.
"And I would anticipate that we would continue to provide some of the interdiction strike packages as well, should that be needed by the coalition," he added, referring to combat missions such as attacks on Libyan mobile air defenses, ammunition depots, air fields and other assets that support Libyan ground forces.
White House press secretary Jay Carney was more circumspect, calling the next phase of U.S. involvement a "support and assist role," using U.S. intelligence resources and military capabilities including electronic jamming to throw off missiles or rockets. He did not mention any combat airstrikes.
In a new development Thursday, one of the Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from ships in the Mediterranean struck a surface-to-air missile site near the city of Sabha, far inland at the southern tip of the allies' designated no-fly zone, Gortney said. The missiles had previously struck mostly along the coastline. Another cruise missile hit a Scud missile site near Tripoli on Thursday, he said.
Criticized by some for committing U.S. forces to a foreign conflict without explicit endorsement by Congress, the Obama administration pressed for the allies who first pushed for the campaign to come up with a workable alternative. Gortney said such a handoff of command could come this weekend.
In Ankara, Turkey, state-run TV quoted Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying NATO would indeed take command, but alliance officials in Brussels said last-minute details had yet to be worked out.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held a conference call with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and Davutoglu on coordinating the process.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama spoke by phone with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, expressing his appreciation to the leader who has been criticized in Russia for not using the country's veto in the United Nations Security Council to block the action in Libya.
Obama also convened top-level national security advisers Thursday to consider the direction of events in Libya and the future U.S. role.
With the costs of the campaign growing by the day and members of Congress raising complaints over the goals in Libya, the administration wants its allies to take the lead soon.
"We are still operating under that timeline, that it will be days, not weeks," Carney said.
American and allied planes and ships pummeled Libyan air defenses and other military targets Thursday as the international alliance confronting Gadhafi moved toward shifting its command lead from Washington to NATO.
Uncertainty also hung over the domestic politics of U.S. handling of an air campaign that is being executed by a coalition of countries, including Canada and several European allies, under a U.N. resolution.
Carney disputed complaints from Congress about inadequate consultation prior to the start of the military campaign, and he discounted the need for a specific response from the White House to a letter Wednesday from House Speaker John Boehner asking for details on the goals, costs and scope of the operation.
Carney said that if the president had waited for Congress to return from its recess before moving on Libya, "Gadhafi's forces would control Benghazi and there would have been a great deal of people killed in the process."
The U.S. assumed command of the operation, which began on Saturday, largely because it alone possesses the military wherewithal to coordinate the complex array of movements, targeting and intelligence collection that was required to enable the establishment of a protective no-fly zone over Libya. Now that Gadhafi's air force has been grounded and his air defenses largely silenced, the mission could be pursued under a different command such as NATO.
An American Army general now oversees the campaign from Europe, and an American Navy admiral is the day-to-day commander from a floating command post off the Libyan coast. An American Air Force two-star general is running the air portion of the mission, and one official said it was possible that the Air Force officer would remain in charge of the air campaign even after the overall operation was shifted to NATO or other non-U.S. command. That official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military deliberations.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110324/ap_on_re_us/us_us_libya
http://www.aereimilitari.org/forum/topic/10634-spaccati/page__st__60
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/aerodynamics/q0151.shtml
Your feedback is always welcome.
Thank you!
http://www.winncad.com/
http://www.docstoc.com/profile/corona7
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/paul-corona/10/63a/200
http://www.scribd.com/crown%20007
http://www.facebook.com/people/WinnCad-Elements/100001525374479
http://www.youtube.com/user/Winncad
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