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| UK Based F-15Es Flew A Secret Long-Range Mission Over Africa On Monday |
| 2015-05-28 |
| [FOXTROT ALPHA] A pair of RAF Lakenheath based USAF F-15E Strike Eagles that were bristling with live bombs and air-to-air missiles, along five KC-135R tankers, flew on a secretive and grueling 12 hour mission over the Southern Mediterranean on Monday, May 25th, Memorial Day. Multiple radio interceptors and plane spotters state that four F-15E's, callsigns ABLE 01 through 04, took off from their home base at RAF Lakenheath laden with yellow banded (live) AIM-9M sidewinders, AIM-120 AMRAAMS and no less than seven 500lb Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). These aircraft were accompanied by five KC-135Rs tankers, callsign QUID 91 through 95, that launched out of their base at RAF Mildenhall, just as the Lakenheath based F-15Es were departing. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #19 A US State whom by definition will still have powerful leverage via a mandated Constitutional say in Any Each + All US Govt Appropriations. OWG OR NO OWG, "GREAT GAME" OR NO "GREAT GAME". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-05-28 23:47 |
| #18 Besides England, seems Vlad's Boyz = Russia have noticed the presence of US air assets in IRELAND. I suspect a test of Global Strike or Global Prompt Strike - not all LR missions per same involve only heavy or strategic bomber US aircraft e.g. B-52's, B-1's, andor B-2's, or Drones. * FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > US PACOM'S PACIFIC MANDATE: [Rapid] DEPLOYMENT, SEABASING [MOABS/MOBS], FACILITATION. As said or inferred times before, given advances in various MilTechs the proverbial Clock is ticking as to how long the US = USDOD will need ANY MILBASES OUTSIDE OF CONUS PROPER. In future time as Pearl Harbor, ETC. becomes obsolete as a CENTCOM as it most assuredly will, what will save HAWAII or USDOD, HAWAII will be its status as a de facto US State. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-05-28 23:43 |
| #17 Message sent. Consider that. Plus taking off heavy = offloading fuel, grab gas at altitude. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-05-28 22:50 |
| #16 @#15: Indeed. |
| Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 2015-05-28 20:03 |
| #15 Why not Diego Garcia? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2015-05-28 19:10 |
| #14 #12 At Ramstein Air Base there were oftentimes groups of civilian observers along the road at the end of the runway taking fotos, tail numbers, types and descriptions. Someone told me the Germans had actual clubs devoted to such activities. One must wonder if they have distinctive club beer steins, badges, gorgets and the like? Yes. Some of the clubs have thousands of members, identification cards, and more. They have a network to alert people to unique sightings. They're also active (in fact, even larger) in England. There would be three hundred people at the end of the runway AT Mildenhall every time an SR-71 took off on a practice sortie. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2015-05-28 17:46 |
| #13 A critical question encumbers Kraut planespotters' orderly slumbers: Are government agents In windowless basements Collecting our party card numbers? |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2015-05-28 17:41 |
| #12 At Ramstein Air Base there were oftentimes groups of civilian observers along the road at the end of the runway taking fotos, tail numbers, types and descriptions. Someone told me the Germans had actual clubs devoted to such activities. One must wonder if they have distinctive club beer steins, badges, gorgets and the like ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-05-28 16:30 |
| #11 It's harder to hide taking off from Lakenheath, and a lot lot further to fly. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2015-05-28 16:13 |
| #10 We have one its called, England |
| Posted by: Ebbatle Slinesing1040 2015-05-28 15:31 |
| #9 Time for a massive floating concrete airbase. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2015-05-28 09:10 |
| #8 "a pair" says the headline, "four" say the spotters. The Eagle carries its ordnance externally, which means dragging it through the air, thus reducing its mpg. Ditto external fuel tanks. The latter can be refueled through the fueling system from tankers. But they also reduce manuverability, full or empty. So you drop them when the stuff gets serious. Five tankers is a hell of a lot of gas, and there are or should be tankers available elsewhere, nearer the target(s). Maybe from Italy if they're going over the Med. Are there not, any longer? Or was the target someplace else entirely without any tankers on the way? Or did they use more? Who told anybody these things were heading over the southern Med? |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2015-05-28 08:01 |
| #7 Spotters. Today with internet et al, just Charlie sitting at a window can punch a key and everyone who is interested knows that armed birds are in the air. Some places are rather uncomfortably close to a 'light a match' moment which makes it probably a choice to go with someplace that is unlikely to provoke or alert a player along the sidelines to a particular game play. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-05-28 07:49 |
| #6 Why fly from the UK? Surely closer bases? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2015-05-28 07:00 |
| #5 Just a Memorial Day flyby. Move along, nothing to see here... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2015-05-28 05:28 |
| #4 Some gratuitous B-2 refueling eye candy. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-05-28 04:49 |
| #3 |
| Posted by: 2015-05-28 04:17 |
| #2 I love the smell of napalm in the morning. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2015-05-28 01:44 |
| #1 Sounds like AFRICOM has some SpecOps who found a very lucrative target. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-05-28 00:03 |