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| Terror Networks | |
| Jordan Says 56 IS Targets Destroyed in 3 Days of Strikes | |
| 2015-02-09 | |
| [AnNahar] Jordan said Sunday it destroyed 56 targets in three days of strikes on the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... group after it murdered one of its pilots, and is determined to destroy IS. Air Force chief Major General Mansour al-Jobour did not specify where the strikes took place, but told news hounds the air raids launched since Thursday had destroyed 20 percent of IS capabilities. "On the first day of the campaign to avenge our airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh, 19 targets were destroyed, including training camps and equipment," he said, reading from a prepared text. Jordan has vowed to crush IS after the jihadists burned alive Kassasbeh, who was captured in December when his F-16 warplane crashed in Syria. Eighteen more targets including ammunition and fuel depots and logistics centers were hit on Friday. On Saturday, 19 IS targets were destroyed, including barracks and residential centers. "So far, the campaign has destroyed 20 percent of the fighting capabilities of Daesh," he said using another name for IS which controls swathes of both Syria and Iraq. Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told Fox News this week the air force had targeted IS in both Syria and Iraq where the jihadists have proclaimed an Islamic "caliphate" in areas it controls. "We are determined to wipe out this terrorist gang," Jobour said during Sunday's press briefing. The air force will step up strikes against IS over the next few days, he added. Interior Minister Hussein Majali said in remarks published on Saturday that Kassasbeh's gruesome murder by IS was a "turning point" in the kingdom's fight against extremism. Jordanian air strikes are "the beginning of an ongoing process to eliminate" IS, Majali was quoted as saying by government newspaper al-Rai. "The day of the hero, martyr pilot's liquidation is a turning point in Jordan's history in order to face this horrific crime that was committed by the cowardly terrorist organization," he said. Jordan is part of the U.S.-led coalition of Arab and Western countries that has been carrying out air strikes against IS since September. Jobour said Jordanian warplanes have flown 946 sorties out of a total of 1,500 by the coalition since the campaign began. "More than 7,000 Daesh criminals have been killed since Jordan began participating in the air campaign," he added. The country's air strikes have contributed to crippling IS oil revenues, Jobour said. IS has targeted oil and gas facilities in Iraq and Syria as it seeks to finance its campaign and seize more territory for its "caliphate."
The focus of Jordan's air strikes is reported to be Raqqa, the IS stronghold in Syria, but no specifics were given. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #10 The success so far shows what a modern air force can do against a 3rd world band of savages, when not constrained by lawyers and ignorant politicians - and those who are sympathizers with the enemy (ValJar looking at you) |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-02-09 22:32 |
| #9 Folks tend to lose sight of the immense destructive capability of modern weapons systems because we do tend to be circumspect about their use. Lets look at the numbers: Jordanian 60 or so F16 (not counting about 20 2 seaters), most Block 40, so they have the Air to Ground upgrades. And having the US fly top cover and SEAD frees up all aircraft for strike config. And the UAE adds to those numbers as well. But lets say 60 for the sake of argument. Remember, a B-17 carried about 4500 lbs of iron bombs on average. A single F-16 carries a max bomb load of about 20,000 lbs - and these are far more accurate even with just iron bombs due to the targeting computers onboard, and higher explosive yield in the bombs themselves. Here's the math: 60 F-16 at 16000 pounds each is 960,000 pounds of bombs. Thats 210 or so B-17s in raw tonnage. Now factor in that Tirtonal is 18% more effective than TNT, and at least 50% more accurate in terms of CEP from WW2 high altitude area bombing, so you need 68% more to match. Thats 350+ typical B-17s. Then factor in that shorter trip to the target, and the far faster turnaround for F-16's, for a much higher sortie number in 24 hours (sortie rate and surge rate is something often overlooked in modern aircraft). Being generous, we can use factor of only 4 to 1 - that is for 1 B-17 missions in 24 hours the F-16 will fly 4 during the strike. So that's in excess of 1400 B-17s equivalent sorties. Dreseden took about 720 RAF plus 520 US bombers to execute, and they did it over 4 days. That's 1240 bombers each day, or about 5000 sorties over the 4 days, dropping a total of 3900 tons per historical recod. Over the same 4 days, 60 F-16 can generate 4 sorties the first day, 3 the second and 2 each of the follow, accounting for pilot fatigue. 660 sorties, each carrying 16,000 pounds. Over 5000 tons of bombs. So yeah, Jordan can "Dresden" a place if they really really dont give a crap about carpet bombing a city. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2015-02-09 22:22 |
| #8 the campaign has destroyed 20 percent of the fighting capabilities of Daesh If they hadn't been sitting on their hands for the last 9 months,...this could be over. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-02-09 21:33 |
| #7 The Royal Jordanian Air force consists of approximately 12,000 personnel and 450 aircraft. The aircraft consist of Cobras (Hellicopters), F16, Vampire FB.6, Tiger, Mirage and other fighters and Hercules transports, FireFlies and Slingbys. |
| Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2015-02-09 18:55 |
| #6 Myquestion is more along the lines of if Jordan has the air force for a Dresden? ME air force's usually aren't very large. |
| Posted by: charlesmobile 2015-02-09 18:34 |
| #5 Perchance the leaflets are similar to the ones dropped on various German cities just before the Brits bombed the snot out of them and dumped a bizzillion tons of incendiaries on them? could Raqqa become the MEs equivalent to Dresden? Has the clueless ones decided that ole Abdullah is a man of his word and when he gets his blood up its katy bar the door? |
| Posted by: Bill Clinton 2015-02-09 13:35 |
| #4 Little hard to leach off the local population if the local population isn't there anymore. Also known as 'drying up the pond'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2015-02-09 08:59 |
| #3 Creating refugees is a tactic going back to Biblical times, for reasons many here could explain to me better than I to them. But I'm sure our reasons for doing so are the reverse of ISIS's reasons for doing so. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2015-02-09 06:22 |
| #2 Ah, I wonder if the US has been given an idea of what Jordan is about to do and wants to limit collateral damage? [Is it the beginning of the end for ISIS? ] - US? planes dropping leaflets on Raqqa telling civilians to get out of Dodge... |
| Posted by: Tony 2015-02-09 02:19 |
| #1 Consider also that Jordan is not working under US rules of engagement and supervision of American lawyers. That has to increase their BDA results exponentially over US controlled strikes. |
| Posted by: tipover 2015-02-09 01:49 |