Less than a month into the Libyan conflict, NATO is running short of precision bombs, highlighting the limitations of Britain, France and other European countries in sustaining even a relatively small military action over an extended period of time, according to senior NATO and U.S. officials.
Maybe they'll have to revert to dumb bombs, with more collateral damage.
The current bombing rate by the participating nations is not sustainable. "The reason we need more capability isn't because we aren't hitting what we see -- it's so that we can sustain the ability to do so. One problem is flight time, the other is munitions," said another official, one of several who were not authorized to discuss the issue on the record.
Just hang on for a little while longer, Moo-Mar, and you'll emerge victorious. Than you can get UN aid for rebuilding!
Although the United States has significant stockpiles, its munitions do not fit on the British- and French-made planes that have flown the bulk of the missions. Britain and France have each contributed about 20 strike aircraft to the campaign.
I wonder if the Soviets would've reached Amsterdam before we discovered that little nugget?
Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Canada have each contributed six -- all of them U.S.-manufactured and compatible with US weaponry.
Libya "has not been a very big war. If [the Europeans] would run out of these munitions this early in such a small operation, you have to wonder what kind of war they were planning on fighting," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense think tank. "Maybe they were just planning on using their air force for air shows."
Not to worry; we'll be there in a few years.
Since the end of March, more than 800 strike missions have been flown, with U.S. aircraft conducting only three, targeting static Libyan air defense installations. The United States still conducts about 25 percent of the overall sorties over Libya, largely intelligence, jamming and refueling missions.
Retooling these fighter jets so that they are compatible with U.S. systems requires money, and all European militaries have faced significant cuts in recent years. Typically, the British and French militaries buy munitions in batches and stockpile them. When arsenals start to run low, factories must be retooled and production lines restarted.