Posted on 03/19/2011 6:13:23 PM PDT by prisoner6
TRIPOLI: Libyan state television said a French warplane was shot down on Saturday in the Njela district of Tripoli, as the West launched air strikes against the forces of Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"Libyan air defences have shot down a French plane in the Njela neighbourhood of Tripoli," it said in the report, without giving further details.
The French military swiftly denied the report.
Western powers on Saturday launched attacks from the air and sea against Gaddafi's forces under a UN Security Council resolution to impose a ceasefire in a month-long showdown between loyalists and rebels.
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Yeah...We shot it DOWN! That's the ticket!
Chavez is probably choking on his arepas about now wondering how his half brother could have done this to daddy
so who knows!!! No one really knows what is happening there.
This is a very closed war
Pure chaos....obummers forte!
Can't wait to see what unexpected consequences this new BJ will have on the military and national security.
Strange the video of the shoot down looked like a Mig23. France doesn't fly Mig23’s, but Libya or possibly a Libyan defector would.
As bad as it is I’d have to chuckle if it is a Rafale.
Probably a drone.
The old Soviet military model that Libya bought into generations ago calls for layer after layer of AAA air defense systems ranging from MANPADs (SA-7 Grail SAMs) to zillions of dual-purpose flak cannons (ZSUs), radar-guided cannons, and old beam-riding SAMs to even more 'Fire and Forget' modern stuff. Russian military clients can fill the skies with exploding junk, some of it even able to chase you down.
This isn't as dreadful a problem for US stealth technology (the entire reason we built stealth planes and AAA countermeasures) as it is for untested French aircraft designs flown by comparatively inexperienced French pilots.
Just look at how easy it is for Libyans to shoot down their own jets, and those pilots already have a good idea how much AAA can be aimed at them.
I think the rebels shot down their own MiG-23. That was a 23 in the pictures. They are going to get pummeled if they go after anything modern. The Flogger is an old airplane.
The french pilot was just following tradition;
He surrendered before the battle.
he’s out there flying combat missions. what have you done lately?
In war the first casualty is the truth.
he’s out there flying combat missions. what have you done lately?
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Stayed the f*ck out of somebody else’s war.
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