Paris - The coalition air campaign against Libya is fulfilling the U.N. Security Council resolution that seeks to protect civilians from the Tripoli government, French Defense Minister Gérard Longuet said March 31.
"The implementation of this resolution is working," Longuet told journalists here, "and it is working well."
"Use of massive military weapons against the civilian population is no longer being seen," he said. Therefore, Longuet said, work on a political settlement is possible.
The allied intervention prevented a government assault on Benghazi, center of Libya's pro-democracy resistance, which had carried the threat of attacks on the civilian population, he said.
Implementation of the U.N. resolution continued following the transfer of command and control to NATO from the previous ad hoc coalition, he said. The NATO structure, which acts under the political control of a "contact group," had supported 191 air missions, which included 84 ground attack or close air support missions on the previous day, Longuet said.
French Air Force and Navy aircraft have accumulated 1,600 flight hours in some 250 sorties since the Libyan intervention began March 19, Air Force Gen. Jean-Jacques Borel, head of planning and logistics at the military's center for planning and operations, said March 31. That represents about 20 percent to 25 percent of the coalition's effort, making France the second-largest contributor after the U.S. military, Borel said.
That is a "dense" level of activity Borel said, declining to say how many hours French pilots fly in a normal year. No details were given on the number of GBU-12 and armament air sol modulaire (AASM) smart munitions that have been used in Libya.
Longuet said military and political events are changing fast on the ground, and fighting is taking place mainly between light troops in close combat, making it difficult for the air campaign to identify and distinguish the adversaries.
As part of the air campaign, French Air Force and Navy Rafale and Super Etendard fighter jets were among the allied warplanes that struck a surface-to-air missile site on the night of March 29, about 100 kilometers south of Tripoli, a Joint Staff spokesman, Army Col. Thierry Burkhard, told journalists.
The strike destroyed Scud missiles and transport vehicles for missiles and tanks, a French defense official said.
The French aircraft also struck a number of armored vehicles, and on March 28, they destroyed an ammunition depot, Burkhard said.
Much of the Libyan fixed air defense sites had been destroyed, but there are many light, short-range, mobile anti-aircraft batteries and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles that will never be eliminated, Burkhard said.
Six Mirage 2000-5 fighters sent by Qatar are flying joint air defense patrols from an air base in Crete with four French Mirages of the same type as part of the coalition effort, Burkhard said.
There were no operational details on the six Mirage 2000-9 and six F-16 Block 60 warplanes, based in Sardinia, that were sent by the United Arab Emirates.
As of March 30, of the 191 missions mounted by the coalition, U.S. forces had flown 100, or 52 percent; France flew 40, or 21 percent; and Britain flew 23, or 8 percent. Other allies who flew missions were the Netherlands, Denmark and Qatar, the French defense official said.
"The implementation of this resolution is working," Longuet told journalists here, "and it is working well."
"Use of massive military weapons against the civilian population is no longer being seen," he said. Therefore, Longuet said, work on a political settlement is possible.
The allied intervention prevented a government assault on Benghazi, center of Libya's pro-democracy resistance, which had carried the threat of attacks on the civilian population, he said.
Implementation of the U.N. resolution continued following the transfer of command and control to NATO from the previous ad hoc coalition, he said. The NATO structure, which acts under the political control of a "contact group," had supported 191 air missions, which included 84 ground attack or close air support missions on the previous day, Longuet said.
French Air Force and Navy aircraft have accumulated 1,600 flight hours in some 250 sorties since the Libyan intervention began March 19, Air Force Gen. Jean-Jacques Borel, head of planning and logistics at the military's center for planning and operations, said March 31. That represents about 20 percent to 25 percent of the coalition's effort, making France the second-largest contributor after the U.S. military, Borel said.
That is a "dense" level of activity Borel said, declining to say how many hours French pilots fly in a normal year. No details were given on the number of GBU-12 and armament air sol modulaire (AASM) smart munitions that have been used in Libya.
Longuet said military and political events are changing fast on the ground, and fighting is taking place mainly between light troops in close combat, making it difficult for the air campaign to identify and distinguish the adversaries.
As part of the air campaign, French Air Force and Navy Rafale and Super Etendard fighter jets were among the allied warplanes that struck a surface-to-air missile site on the night of March 29, about 100 kilometers south of Tripoli, a Joint Staff spokesman, Army Col. Thierry Burkhard, told journalists.
The strike destroyed Scud missiles and transport vehicles for missiles and tanks, a French defense official said.
The French aircraft also struck a number of armored vehicles, and on March 28, they destroyed an ammunition depot, Burkhard said.
Much of the Libyan fixed air defense sites had been destroyed, but there are many light, short-range, mobile anti-aircraft batteries and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles that will never be eliminated, Burkhard said.
Six Mirage 2000-5 fighters sent by Qatar are flying joint air defense patrols from an air base in Crete with four French Mirages of the same type as part of the coalition effort, Burkhard said.
There were no operational details on the six Mirage 2000-9 and six F-16 Block 60 warplanes, based in Sardinia, that were sent by the United Arab Emirates.
As of March 30, of the 191 missions mounted by the coalition, U.S. forces had flown 100, or 52 percent; France flew 40, or 21 percent; and Britain flew 23, or 8 percent. Other allies who flew missions were the Netherlands, Denmark and Qatar, the French defense official said.
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