Britain bares its fangs - RAF Tornados bomb ISIS oilfields

#ISIS #syria #BrimstoneMissiles #RAFTornado With MPs voting in favor of airstrike against ISIS, Britain has bared its fangs and RAF Tornados bombed ISIS oilfields in eastern Syria. The first bombing raids against Islamic State (IS) in Syria were carried out after the British MPs voted overwhelmingly for military action.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 3 December 2015.

The action has been confirmed by a spokesman of the Ministry Of Defence - RAF Tornados had returned from their "first offensive operation over Syria and have conducted strikes". Before that, four Tornado GR4s - armed with Paveway IV guided bombs and precision-guided Brimstone missiles - had taken off from Akrotiri base in Cyprus.
The first missions were launched within ah hour of approval granted by MPs who backed airstrikes by a majority of 174. The target chosen was an oilfield held by Islamic State in the east of Syria and choice of the target was to show that Britain meant business. Obviously, a number of targets had been identified in advance and they were waiting for the go ahead if the decision was in the affirmative.
Six typhoon jets from RAF Lossiemouth are expected to head to Cyprus along with more Tornados from RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Incidentally, the British-designed Brimstone missiles are a vital asset because they are able hit targets with remarkable accuracy and limit collateral damage.

Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Swedish Navy hunting for foreign submarines in the Stockholm archipelago

It seems Cold War is returning - Sweden's military is investigating reports of 'foreign underwater activity' in the Stockholm archipelago dailymail.co.uk. They are using high-tech-equipped naval vessels, aircraft and home guard forces.

As revealed by Chief of operations Jonas Wikstrom, there is some information 'from a credible source' that set in motion the hunt for the submarine. The investigation is believed to be a part of a wider intelligence operation.
Wikstrom has not divulged much but has only sad that the purpose of the exercise was to find out whether 'there had been or still is ongoing foreign underwater activity' by using ships, planes and Territorial Army personnel.
Sweden is neutral and its armed forces have ruled out that it could be some sort of natural phenomenon. Observers see this as reminiscent of the Cold War, when Sweden's armed forces routinely hunted for Soviet submarines in its waters.

Incidentally, the search for the submarine comes in the wake of last month's aerial interception of Russian planes by UK jets when Royal Air Force jets were deployed from Scotland to intercept Russian military 'Bear' aircraft that appeared to be flying too close to the airspace it guards.
Aircraft based at RAF Lossiemouth, based in Moray, were sent to identify the aircraft that turned out to be Tu-95 Russian Bear H bombers and they were spotted in international airspace.

Russia testing the waters – F-22 jets intercept Russian planes off the US coast

The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the way the European leaders and the US are rallying behind Ukraine has got Russia worried and, apparently, due to that, Russia is sending its aircraft to test the waters and gauge the preparedness of other nations.
In the latest incident, two American F-22 fighter jets were scrambled after six Russian military planes approached the US coastline. The US fighters intercepted the aircraft about 55 miles from the Alaskan coast as revealed by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) news.sky.com.
The Russian planes have been identified as two IL-78 refueling tankers, two Mig-31 fighter jets and two TU-95 Bear long-range bombers. After scrambling of the F-22s from Alaska, the Russian looped south and returned to their base in Russia. Earlier, two Canadian CF-18 fighter jets intercepted two Russian long-range bombers about 40 miles off the Canadian coastline in the Beaufort Sea.
In both cases, the Russian planes entered the Air Defense Identification Zone, which extends about 200 miles from the coastline but did not enter sovereign airspace of the United States or Canada.
It has been explained that the fighter jets had been scrambled to let those aircraft know that they have been sighted, and in case of a threat, to let them know that US can protect its sovereign airspace.
Moreover, in Britain Typhoon fighter jets had to be scrambled to intercept two Russia planes identified as military Bears that were flying through international airspace but, did not enter UK airspace.
This scrambling was the first time a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) had been issued from RAF Lossiemouth since the Moray base took on the role of defending the UK's northern airspace.
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