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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
B2 bombs ISIS camps near Sirte
2017-01-19
Posted by:3dc

#10  DM has a nice dated piece on the 2011 Libyan strike, with pictures of course.

DV, if they flew a loop between Aviano and Moron with Sirte and Syria as waypoints everyone could watch the ADF C&C light up across the Med. Bombload could be the secondary mission.

Posted by: Skidmark   2017-01-19 23:38  

#9  Skid, If I remember my briefings correctly, Libya only had SA-2 and HAWKs. No S-300/400 block launchers were ever delivered.
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-01-19 23:08  

#8  Trial flights against the S-300/400 upgrade.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-01-19 21:57  

#7  One word - Kuznetsov
Posted by: Tzsenator   2017-01-19 21:27  

#6  #1 & #2 of your 'suggestions' are fair possibilities, swksvolFF.

There should be other assets somewhere in the region that would obviate your #3, although I don't know what readiness level they'd be at. Certainly in the time it took the B-2s to come almost halfway around the world, something could be in place.

#4 is curiously interesting.

I'd still would have liked to see a squadron of BUFFs take out the whole district. That would indeed be overkill, but jeez it would be interesting to watch.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2017-01-19 21:26  

#5  Shredding evidence of collusion.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-01-19 17:20  

#4  Yeah, other than why not? I can only think of a couple reasons.

Afraid someone who has access to radar would tip off the camp?

Flew over a country which would not have been keen on the overflight?

Only thing available on short notice and ticking clock?

Carried an ordinance specific to the B-2?
Posted by: swksvolFF   2017-01-19 16:50  

#3  It does seem like major overkill, unless it was a live fire training run to impress Russia. A bunch of cruise missiles would have been cheaper.
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-01-19 16:23  

#2  Maybe the pilots needed some in-air fueling practice or something.

Seems like overkill to use the B-2, though. Don't know if the Isis/Isil/Scumbag folks have decent radar setups or not, so it's conjecture on my part.

A BUFF run would have been good practice, too.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2017-01-19 15:21  

#1  One says about thirty miles south-west of Sirte, Libya. B-2, interesting choice.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2017-01-19 14:54  

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