15465 replies to this topic

[urbanoid]

Yeah.

 

From US mission to NATO FB page:

Photo shows before and after photos of target by F-22. This was the first time the F-22 was used in a combat role.

 

[Josh]

I wonder what ordnance F-22s are cleared for at this point. I believe they only can take up to Mk83 or TMD based munitions internally. SDB was to be integrated; don't know if that happened. But very little ordnance are cleared on it.

[jaro]

werent they flying with 2x1000lb JDAM already?

[Josh]

Mk 83 = 1000 lbs, and yes two of those or else two of the TMD family. I think SDB was in the cards, which would allow 8, but I don't know if that happened. Not sure even mk 82 was cleared, though the hole in that building doesn't look that impressive so maybe so.

[firefly1]

.

 

And no one notes the irony ?

[Stargrunt6]

AQ plotters in Syria go dark

 

 

As the Khorasan Group came closer to executing the attack, however, U.S. intelligence agencies lost track of the plotters. “We had some information on their plans that did not pan out over the summer,” one senior U.S. intelligence official told The Daily Beast. “They shut it down and went dark.”

 

[Marek Tucan]

.

 

And no one notes the irony ?

You mean the irony of being against two sides of at least four-sided conflict?

[Mr King]

Yeah.

 

From US mission to NATO FB page:

Photo shows before and after photos of target by F-22. This was the first time the F-22 was used in a combat role.

 

 

 

Is that a radar generated image or infrared? 

[Josh]

IR or some kind of EO. Radar doesn't cast shadows AFAIK.

[Mr King]

IR or some kind of EO. Radar doesn't cast shadows AFAIK.

 

Good catch. It is just interesting because if it was a F22 who took that using a EO sensor of some kind, I wonder how it is equipped on the aircraft. 

Edited by Mr King, 24 September 2014 - 2057 PM.

[Mr King]

Moderates 

 

 

… One of the administration’s favored moderate rebel factions, Harakat Hazm, part of the Free Syrian Army alliance and a recipient of U.S. missiles and training, issued a statement Tuesday denouncing the “external intervention” — that is, the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Syria — as “an attack on the revolution.”

The group said its main goal was toppling Assad. It is demanding “unconditional arming” of the Free Syrian Army, yet its members also acknowledge fighting alongside Al Nusra Front, the official Al Qaeda force in Syria.

 

http://www.latimes.c...0924-story.html

[firefly1]

.

 

So, did the Russian technicians at the Syrian S-400 systems get any radar fixes on the F-22s ?

 

.

[Josh]

Do you mean S-200? I'm not aware of S-400 systems in Syria. In any case, I think the Syrians know better than to fire on US a/c regardless of whether they can track them. They have been gifted air strikes on their enemies; shooting down US a/c just opens the door to air strikes against them as well.

[Nikolas93TS]

[crazyinsane105]

Do you mean S-200? I'm not aware of S-400 systems in Syria. In any case, I think the Syrians know better than to fire on US a/c regardless of whether they can track them. They have been gifted air strikes on their enemies; shooting down US a/c just opens the door to air strikes against them as well.

 

Their radars are on, but passively tracking the aircraft.There's no reason the Syrians will try and get a lock onto any American aircraft at this point. Why try and pick a fight against the US? What purpose will that serve?

[firefly1]

 

Do you mean S-200? I'm not aware of S-400 systems in Syria. In any case, I think the Syrians know better than to fire on US a/c regardless of whether they can track them. They have been gifted air strikes on their enemies; shooting down US a/c just opens the door to air strikes against them as well.

 

Their radars are on, but passively tracking the aircraft.There's no reason the Syrians will try and get a lock onto any American aircraft at this point. Why try and pick a fight against the US? What purpose will that serve?

 

.

 

It gives  the Russians information on what radar signatures the F-22 has in "war" configuration from various angles  -  rather valuable I would have thought.

[crazyinsane105]

 

 

Do you mean S-200? I'm not aware of S-400 systems in Syria. In any case, I think the Syrians know better than to fire on US a/c regardless of whether they can track them. They have been gifted air strikes on their enemies; shooting down US a/c just opens the door to air strikes against them as well.

 

Their radars are on, but passively tracking the aircraft.There's no reason the Syrians will try and get a lock onto any American aircraft at this point. Why try and pick a fight against the US? What purpose will that serve?

 

.

 

It gives  the Russians information on what radar signatures the F-22 has in "war" configuration from various angles  -  rather valuable I would have thought.

 

 

I think a better question is: what Russian naval units are currently deployed in Syria? 

[Marcello]

Moderates 

 

 

… One of the administration’s favored moderate rebel factions, Harakat Hazm, part of the Free Syrian Army alliance and a recipient of U.S. missiles and training, issued a statement Tuesday denouncing the “external intervention” — that is, the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Syria — as “an attack on the revolution.”

The group said its main goal was toppling Assad. It is demanding “unconditional arming” of the Free Syrian Army, yet its members also acknowledge fighting alongside Al Nusra Front, the official Al Qaeda force in Syria.

 

http://www.latimes.c...0924-story.html

 

One has to wonder if they, and their fans in the West, have thought about what their lil' Al Qaeda allies will do to them once Assad is gone.

[BansheeOne]

The things you learn. This reminds me of the Soviet War Memorial on the western side of the Brandenburg Gate during the Cold War, but in a hot war and a lot farther from the border.

 

Turkey says ISIS advancing on Syria exclave

 

Agence France Presse

 

ISTANBUL: Turkey on Tuesday said Islamic State (IS) militants were advancing on a tiny exclave considered Turkish territory in northern Syria, but insisted it was still in control of the land despite reports its guards there were encircled.

 

The tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire Osman I, on the Euphrates river, is Turkish territory under a 1920s treaty and still guarded by a few dozen Turkish troops.

 

The pro-government Yeni Safak daily had reported earlier that the 36 Turkish soldiers guarding the tomb had been overwhelmed by a group of some 1,100 IS militants.

 

It suggested that the troops could now be held hostage by the militants.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arninc acknowledged that IS militants were advancing on the tomb but played down speculation that the situation was critical.

 

"IS militants are now very close to the tomb but our soldiers are still on duty with their equipment," he told reporters in televised comments after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

 

He did not give further details on the condition of the troops.

 

Turkey, a NATO member, has previously warned that it would consider an attack on Suleyman Shah as an attack on its sovereign territory to which it would respond in kind.

 

The tomb is located around 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of the Turkish border in northern Syria, much of which is now under the control of IS militants.

 

Details of Turkey's control of the tomb are kept mostly secret and it is not clear how Ankara keeps the guards resupplied or how its troops are moved in and and out for their patrol missions.

 

The 1921 treaty stipulating the tomb remains Turkish territory was signed between Turkey and France, which was then the colonial power in Syria.

 

Turkish authorities at the time recognised France's then mandate for control of Syrian territory in return for recognition of its own borders.

 

http://www.dailystar...x#ixzz3EpbQiexj

[swerve]

Bloody hell! I had no idea that existed.