Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
Posted on 06/07/2007 10:55:35 PM PDT by Dundee
AUSTRALIA'S Orion maritime patrol aircraft, originally acquired to hunt Russian submarines and help rescue distressed sailors, are now spotting terrorist bombs in Iraq.
Flying high over Iraq, two RAAF AP-3C Orions conduct surveillance missions using advanced cameras to provide video imagery to US military commanders fighting insurgents on the ground.
A defence briefing today gave some insight into the activities of what is perhaps the least publicised of Australia's military contributions to the Iraq conflict.
But much of what they do remains top secret.
Details of specific missions are classified. Neither does the Australian Defence Force publicly reveal just where in the Middle East the two aircraft and 160 RAAF support personnel are actually based.
In the past four and a half years, the RAAF crew have flown 1,100 sorties and more than 10,500 hours.
Wing Commander Warren McDonald, recently returned from commanding the Orion detachment in the Middle East said the RAAF Orions flew missions over the Persian Gulf and over all areas of Iraq.
Wing Commander McDonald said the flying intelligence-gathering and surveillance missions over land were a relatively new capability, facilitated by a sophisticated day and night camera.
“While the Orion remains extremely capable in its traditional maritime roles ... its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities are now central to overland operations in the Middle East,” he said.
Wing Commander McDonald said overland operations now represented 60 per cent of Orion missions.
“Overland missions can range from escorting friendly convoys to searching for militants launching rockets or mortars,” he said.
“Crews provide direct support to coalition and grounds forces by using the electro-optics to search for suspicious or unusual activity.
“On occasion, the Orion's sensitive equipment has detected the location of improvised explosive devices. The Orions have the capability to track individual vehicles and personnel movements.”...
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Gotta love the Aussie’s... One of our true allies.
Thanks mates!
What a bummer job. Somebody else gets to waste em.
marker ping
Knowing one of the Orion drivers over there at the moment, he'd be happy so long as somebody wastes the bad guys he detects.
Multiple aerial scans of the same ground have been used to detect small geological deformations. Perhaps the same technology could be used to find disturbances of the ground from buried IEDs.
They won’t let them have any fun. They’ve even taken the rocket sight off.
Hope the AO’s know about drawing the line with a grease pencil on the windshield
When the chips are down, you can always count on the Aussies. Thanks Australia!
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.