64 // TORNADO TRIBUTE http://www.airforcesmonthly.comperation Odyssey Dawn started
on March 19, 2011, as the effort
to enforce a no-fly zone under UN
Resolution 1973 to protect Libyan citizens
from attacks perpetrated by forces loyal
to Col Muammar Gaddafi. This ran from
March 19-30, with the US very much taking
the lead – NATO assumed command on
March 27 under what became known as
Unified Protector. With the downfall of the
Gaddafi regime and the passing of control
to a new Libyan government, the NATO
campaign formally ended on October 31.
At its peak, the UK had 2,300 personnel, 37
aircraft and four ships committed to Operation
Ellamy, as the British contribution was named.
UK forces flew in excess of 3,000 sorties, more
than 2,100 of which were strike missions,
successfully hitting around 640 targets.
With up to 16 Tornado GR4s deployed to Gioia
del Colle, Italy, some notable combat ‘firsts’
were achieved. This included the first time five
Paveway IVs had been dropped simultaneously
from a GR4 in combat. Indeed, one occasion
saw three aircraft dropping a total of 15 weapons
on separate GPS targets at once. A pilot from
No II (Army Cooperation) Squadron commented
at the time: “As the operation gathered
momentum we switched to doing some pre-
planned attacks where we dropped multiple
weapons on one pass. On various occasions
we worked as pairs or co-ordinated four-ships
and [each GR4] dropped five weapons in one
pass. This limits the amount of time between
first and last impact of the weapons and, as
well as [achieving] a good tactical impact, itevent: “There was a group of tanks and APCs
[armoured personnel carriers] around Sebha
effectively in all-round defence, some in
berms and some open parked, and potentially
ready to be used against civilians. ‘Legacy’
Brimstone is optimised for use against tanks,
and we had them in such a large number in
a confined area that we decided to use [the
weapon]. We went as a pair with 12 weapons
on each jet. I was first to fire, I got six off
and spun around and fired another six – my
flight leader fired all 12 in one go. It was the
first time ‘legacy’ Brimstone had been fired in
anger. As we didn’t have a pod, I fired and
dropped a wing to watch them all go in.”
The RAF also operated its Typhoon FGR4s
as mixed pairs with the GR4s, able to draw
upon the expertise of the Tornado community
in the ground-attack role, as well as enjoying
the mutual benefits of the capabilities offeredOperation Ellamy
O
means we limit the exposure to civilian first-
responders that hear noise and investigate, so
it helps minimise collateral damage. It was
the first time this has been done; we trained
for it in the UK but the clearance hadn’t
actually come through until the operation.”
On September 15, a team from No IX
(Bomber) Squadron performed another
notable combat first – the debut of the ‘legacy’
Brimstone anti-armour weapon. In previous
operations the GR4’s Dual-Mode Seeker (DMS)
Brimstone had been launched individually,
mainly using laser guidance. The original
incarnation of Brimstone can be fired in a
large salvo, utilising the missile’s millimetric-
wave radar to guide each to a separate target.
On this one and only ‘legacy’ Brimstone
event in Ellamy an incredible 24 missiles
were fired by two GR4s. One of the pilots
from that sortie said at a post-Ellamy pressJamie Hunter reviews the
Tornado’s air operations
over Libya in 2 011, which
once again included some
significant milestones.Tornado
Tribute
Libyan
action