Navy Could Aid Libyan No-Fly Zone

Navy Could Aid Libyan No-Fly Zone

By Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 3:46 pm
Posted in Air, International, Naval, Policy, Rumors

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said today that the Navy is prepared to help implement a no-fly zone over Libya should the order come.

“The capability that we have on our aircraft carriers, they can perform that function, they can perform a variety of functions,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead when asked by reporters if the Navy would enforce a no fly zone over Libya after a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “We’re ready to perform any taskings we might receive.”

He added that he would “not speculate as to what the future might be.”


This comes one the heels of an announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that a no-fly zone over Libya, where the Qaddafi government has been using fighter jets to try to quash a popular uprising against it,  is under active consideration.

Roughead’s words come as the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge are standing by in the nearby Red Sea and Mediterranean.

The admiral wouldn’t elaborate on the preparations that would be needed to enforce a no-fly zone or conduct a evacuations or humanitarian missions.

“We have 20 ships in the Central Command area of operations today, we have eight in the Mediterranean and I’m not going to get into any speculation for how we will be using them.”

 

Join the Conversation

@E_L_P March 1st, 2011 at 4:00 pm

““We have 20 ships in the Central Command area of operations today, we have eight in the Mediterranean and I’m not going to get into any speculation for how we will be using them.”

Yeah and we just rented a ferry boat to evacuate citizens from Libya. How much more are we going to outsource the Navy? And hows the Littoral Combat Gyp going Admiral Nelson? That was a good use of funds. Maybe the diversity directorate can help us out on this one.

Gregory Savage March 1st, 2011 at 4:56 pm

What does that rant have to do with anything?

BOOMER March 1st, 2011 at 5:20 pm

While I dont put it past them I will be highly disappointed if we use our military to perform evacs and humanitarian relief for another country that hates and will continue to hate us, especialy after they left US citizens on thier own for so long (what BS). Plus this will be at the tax payers (ours) expense most assuredly while evacuated US citizens have to sign an agreement to pay back the govt for being evacuated (i kid you not, and the cost is not cheap either — usualy more than a regular flight and hotel pkg. would cost)

William C. March 1st, 2011 at 7:24 pm

We just need some F-111s, Ronald Reagan, and the French behaving obnoxiously to begin our trip back to the 80s. I need to go put Safety Dance on a cassette tape.

j timberlake March 1st, 2011 at 10:03 pm

stop wasting time & create a no — fly zone so the madman can’t bomb & strafe his people

Hawk March 1st, 2011 at 10:04 pm

I’m afraid folks that we are a bit short on toys to be of much value for this one. I suspect Enterprise is a little gunshy about transiting the canal. When I was on Saratoga in the Med in 1967 we also had America and her battle group with us as well as horizon to horizon ships full of Marines and supplies.….all that while Yankee Station was balls out in WestPac. We are a world class joke now. Eight ships and 400 Marines.….why bother!

richardb March 1st, 2011 at 11:08 pm

The main reason a No-Fly zone won’t be implemented is this. Sarah Palin called for it last week while criticizing President Obama’s reaction to the Libyan revolt. His vanity won’t allow the appearance of following Ms. Palin’s advice. The problem for the US is how safe is the Suez crossing today? What will it be like should the IB take over Egypt? We may need to reconstitute a Med fleet like we had pre-1973.

Curt March 2nd, 2011 at 3:14 am

If you are going to rant, at least get the facts strait.
1. The State Department chartered the ferry, as they do anytime you had a similiar situation.
2. You use commercial craft because to violate someones territorial water with a warship is considered an act of war, something the administration did not want.
3. No one understands why the ferry stayed in Libya because it is a new ship rated for the Mediterranian and similiar craft got underway. Perhaps there is more to the story or the Captain felt he could wait. As it works out, he was right.
4. The LCS is not in service yet and last I checked they were home ported in San Diego (check a map, that is in California which last time I checked was a long way from Libya). But this is a better mission for the JHSV which looks a lot like the ferry, to bad we don’t have any yet.

Curt March 2nd, 2011 at 3:22 am

Here’s a thought. Everyone look at a map. Where is Libya in general and Tripoli in specific. It is right across from Europe (Italy and Malta). Why not let the Europeans handle it! We could offer a few tankers to support their aircraft as a show of solidarity, kind of like most the Europeans in ISAF, but it is not like there isn’t an abundance of European fighter aircraft doing virtually nothing that couldn’t do the mission.

Drake1 March 2nd, 2011 at 8:38 am

Let the Europeans handle this instead of borrowing more money.

BOOMER March 2nd, 2011 at 9:57 am

This is a prime example to some of the other stories on this site proving you never know what type of enemy you may face or the type of gear required for future battles. This would be a good job for the MIGHTY MO, just here precence with turrents aimed at Lybias coastline able to lay wais to airports and bases/ govt buildings would be enough to make many of Momars supporters change thier mind. Despite the effectiveness of a carrier they do not pose the shear fear factor of a BB, which would also be an imposing figure off the coast of Somalia as well. There is a reason for keeping battle and phycologicaly effective gear in service.

richardb March 2nd, 2011 at 10:23 am

Given the sad state of new construction in Naval yards, going to the bone yard off of Vallejo to fish out rust buckets might be the way to go. Are any of the modernized BB’s still afloat?
On the other hand our CinC didn’t have the balls to deploy in the face of threats to US citizens so why bother. Unlike the Chinese.

BOOMER March 2nd, 2011 at 11:09 am

They are still all afloat and in good shape — They require a lot of man power but to me they have always been worth it (2 are now museums and 1 in war reserve staus). There were a number of others also retired before thier time in order to justify new purchases (a lot of which fell short of expectations and are not suitable replacements in any way). A lot of other in the graveyard are beyond repair but still have many usefull parts and metal that are not being used to drive down cost of new construction — this is where the Navy is severly broken in acquisitions.

Edward C. March 2nd, 2011 at 11:49 am

Don’t forget the F-14s!!! We need to splash some Libyan “Fitters” and “Floggers.” We’re coming up on the 30th anniversary of the first air battle. I’m going to listen to some Hall & Oates and Kim Carnes myself.

retired462 March 2nd, 2011 at 12:11 pm

Libya’s radar and missile sites would have to be done away with before we could enforce a no-fly zone, without the threat of numerous losses.

Time to let the U.N. or NATO run with this ball!

STemplar March 2nd, 2011 at 1:28 pm

How about one well targeted JDAM on him. Use the old command and control excuse and just sanction the fool then it’s all done.

BOOMER March 2nd, 2011 at 1:40 pm

A tomahawk would be cool — cant see them coming on radar so you dont know what happened anyhow, The NAVY could later write off the expenditure as an at sea exercise back in the US.

IronV March 2nd, 2011 at 5:39 pm

All the modernized IOWA BBs are still afloat, in great condition and certainly could be reactivated and modernized once again. However, not in a timely fashion and I’m not sure what their mission would be here…

Mike March 2nd, 2011 at 6:03 pm

What did it get the US when we helped the Afghans when the Russians invaded their country, zip.

What will this get us if we try helping the rebels in Libya, zip and more ammunition for terrorist groups who will say we’re doing it to get Libya’s oil.

We don’t have the money or military resources to do this; let the Europeans handle this as Libya is a lot closer to Europe than the US.

Chambers L March 2nd, 2011 at 10:08 pm

How about Saudi Arabia, Egypt or Qatar help them out? They have lots of new planes and ammo, go help your arab brothers. The US gets nothing out of helping another screwed up country. We should stay out of it.

orly? March 2nd, 2011 at 11:18 pm

Someone get the “Danger Zone” music ready!

Edward C March 3rd, 2011 at 12:30 am

I need to go to the store and buy some Pepsi. Its the choice of Michael Jackson!!! Oh yeah, did you get that new gaming system called Nintendo?

Infidel4LIFE March 3rd, 2011 at 12:38 am

Why not let the EU take the plunge? Why us? Do they even want our help? This is our business? World Police, Nation Builders, etc. I say let the EU put up the troops if asked. They said they wanted their own QRF, so heres the chance, if asked. I wouldn’t put 1 Marine on Libyan soil.

Rhys F March 3rd, 2011 at 1:32 am

England does want a No Fly zone, and if they had the equipment to do it, and the money to fuel and load the planes, they would be themselves, unfortunately they are recovering from a Labour party (Liberals) government reign and have no money left… They’ve had to scrap the Harriers and the carriers, and a bunch of Broadsword class frigates are being retired, and half the Tornadoes are being laid up. After a liberal governemtn, Britain has nothing left to enforce a no-fly zone with by itself.

Tom March 3rd, 2011 at 3:31 am

I would not go that far and say the US don’t have the ressources to do this job. 20 ships in the CENTCOM, I’m sure there are another 10 or so in the EUCOM — Rota, Napoli, Souda Bay.…

I see this ships passing Suez Channel as a kind of a fast response group, I’m sure the US could get another 20 ships there as well as another Carrier if really needed.

Talking about ressources — don’t forget that we’re just talking about US Navy activities, that doesn’t include the Air Force or the US Army.

RJB March 3rd, 2011 at 6:39 am

LOGISTICS, shipmates — LOGISTICS. The favorite word of all famous sea captains of history — check out the quotes. Recall the time it took to pre-position Desert Storm — “The Perfect Storm.” Preparations are U/W — I sense it strongly. It will all happen — and best of all it will happen RIGHT.
Admiral Roughead is the right man for the job here — he’s got it all straight — has ever since Plebe Summer. Trust me on that. Have faith — patience is a virtue.

And by the way, for you BB fans, nothing would make me happier than to see our very special IOWA out of Suisan Bay and active again. WDB got her out of mothballs and U/W in 30 DAYS back in ’51!

Respectfully,

730721

RJB March 3rd, 2011 at 7:50 am

Actually, IronV, they could affordably be put on the CG MODERNIZATION list (CG MOD is currently U/W), since all four of them were upgraded to Flight I CG configuration back in ’85. Not sure if the funnnnnding would be there, but I feel it could be — with the sufficient Littoral requirement– and the right folks on the Hill to back it. Too bad Joe S. got doinked last election.

Cocidius March 3rd, 2011 at 8:05 am

At the mere mention of Sarah Palin I start hearing a huge cosmic size vacuum cleaner sound in the background sucking the IQ out of the brain cells of everyone this conversation.

While I’m no huge fan of Mr. Obama these days, I’m quite confident that he’s not losing sleep over what Ms. Palin “thinks”, and I’m using that term liberally (pun intended)!

XIa March 3rd, 2011 at 8:36 am

If push came to shove, then the US should have done exactly that. China and Britain did the same thing, with the HMS Cumberland porting in Benghazi, and most recently RAF Heracles violating Libyan sovereign airspace and putting in combat troops in the form of SAS and SBS troops to help evacuate UK citizens.

Short of a US carrier battle group operating deep within Libyan waters, Ghadafy is not going to anything to provoke and give a reason for the US to help the rebels, he has enough to handle at the moment.

Manny Limon March 3rd, 2011 at 10:40 am

Just like in “86” DOD should send the three carrier battle group to take care of business for good. Dare us to cross the line again — “Gulf of Sidra Yacht Club” VFA — 131

ML — San Antonio

Jail for Kids March 3rd, 2011 at 11:49 am

I was on the “Jail for Kids” (JFK) for the “Line of Death” splash-down. You can find the cockpit video on YouTube. No more F-14’s but I hear that there’s a great new aircraft that could fit the bill for a dogfight. It’s called the F-35. Ha Ha!

JR Boesh March 18th, 2011 at 12:47 pm

Do the president no waht is happn n in the world?

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