Less than a month in the Libyan conflict, NATO is running short of precision bombs, highlighting the boundaries of Great Britain, France and other European countries in maintaining same relatively small military action over a long period of timeAccording to senior officials of NATO and the United States.
TweetThe shortage of European ammunition, with a limited number of available aircraft, has raised doubts among some officials on knowledge to the United States can continue to avoid returning to the air campaign if the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi clings to power several months more.
Aircraft to strike Americans who participated in the first stage of the operation, before the United States abandoned the NATO command and assumed that Obama President called a "role", remained in the theatre "in 12 hours in standby mode" with crews "constantly informed on the current situation" said a NATO official.
So far, the Commander of NATO did not ask their deployment. Authorities US military several said that they believed be recalled in the struggle, even if a senior official said that expect other countries to announce "in the next few days" that they would contribute aircraft equipped with laser-guided munitions.
Libyan spokesman of the opposition in the Western City of Misurata, pilonnés supported by the bombing of Government, said Friday that Gaddafi forces used cluster munitions, and Human Rights Watch said that its field representatives had been witness to the explosion of cluster bombs in civilian areas. The Libyan Government has denied that the weapons were used.
A spokesman for the municipality of Misurata appealed for NATO to send ground troops to secure the port which is humanitarian lifeline remains one of the city siege.
The opposition has also asked on several occasions increased NATO air strikes. The six countries conducting aerial attacks, led by Britain and the France, failed at a meeting this week in Berlin by persuading members of the alliance more to join them.
NATO officials said that their operational tempo has not declined since the United States gave up command of the operation of Libya and withdrew its aircraft to strike in early April. More aircraft, they said, pas would necessarily immediately trigger several strike missions.
But, they said, the current rate of bombing by the participating nations is not sustainable. "The reason why we need more capacity is not because that we aren't hitting what we see - this is what we can maintain the capacity to do so.". One of the problems of flight time, the other is ammunition, "said another official, one of several who were not allowed to discuss the matter on the record."
European arsenals of bombs guided laser, the weapon of choice NATO, in the Libyan campaign were quickly exhausted, said responsible. Although the United States were important stocks, its ammunition are not consistent on British and French aircraft to which stole most of the missions.
Britain and the France have contributed about 20 aircraft to strike campaign. Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Canada each have contributed six - all manufactured in the U.S. and compatible with the weapons of the U.S..
Since the end of the month of March, more than 800 strike missions were stolen, with American aircraft performing only three, targeting facilities of defence static Libyan air. The United States is always about 25 per cent of the overall output on the Libya, in large part of intelligence, interference and refueling missions fuel.
Other countries of NATO with the United Arab Emirates United, the Qatar and the Jordan have contributed aircraft to enforce a no-fly zone on the Libya to prevent use of Gaddafi of air power, but so far have refused to participate in the strike missions.
After the Berlin meeting, Secretary General of the NATO Anders Fogh Rassmussen said he had 10 aircraft and that he was convinced that they would be provided. A U.S. official said that Italy - who, earlier in the week said that he was not interested - can contribute aircraft to the ground attack mission, and that Arab participants could also do.
But with the forces of Gaddafi and the rebel army locked in a stalemate, Obama resisted calls from opposition leaders, and some radical legislators in that country, to move back U.S. combat aircraft in a leading role.
Senator John McCain (R - Arizona) and others have called Obama to redeploy U.S. AC-130 of combat, which is considered as more efficient on populated areas.
Well that combat has carried out several missions at the beginning of the operation, GEN Carter Ham, who commanded the mission before was handed to NATO, said last week that they were frequently based weather and other concerns.
The slow aircraft, which flew as low as 4,000 feet on the Libya, is also much more vulnerable than surface-to-air missile combat aircraft. Although a large part of the Libya stationary air defenses have been destroyed, said ham Gaddafi was believed to have about 20,000 SAMS in the shoulder when the conflict, and "more" of them are still missing.
Concerns that supplies of precision bombs launched jet increase short in Europe have reignited controversy for a long time on the load distribution and compatibility in NATO. While the Allied jets have followed much of the example of the U.S. and converted in the last decade precision munitions, they have struggled to keep pace, according to senior US military officials.
Libya "was not a very large war." "If [the Europeans] would be short of ammunition it from the beginning in such a small transaction, it must ask what type of war they relied on the fighting,", said John Pike, Director of GlobalSecurity.org, a think tank of the defence. "Maybe they were just planning on the use of their air force for air shows."
Despite the tough European Allied U.S. have been slow in some cases to change their aircraft and other weapons systems so that they can accommodate U.S. bombs. Re-engineering these hunters so that they are compatible with U.S. systems requires money, and all European armies have faced significant reductions in recent years.
In General, the British and French armies buy ammunition in batches and store them. When the arsenals begins to run low, plants must be reworked and lines of production restarted to replace reduced inventory, which can take time and extra money, said Elizabeth Quintana, an aerospace analyst at the Royal United Service Institute in London.
deyoungk@washpost.com
jaffeg@washpost.com
Denyer by Simon corresponding to Tripoli has contributed to this report.
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