Obama's Rules Keep US Air Force From Wiping Out the Islamic State

[longknife]

Just as his rules of engagement have kept the hands tied of our troops in Afghanistan. This should not be news to anyone.


There were times I had groups of ISIS fighters in my sights, but couldn’t get clearance to engage,” an F-15 pilot tells Fox News in a report published Thursday. “They probably killed innocent people and spread evil because of my inability to kill them. It was frustrating.”


Time and time again we read reports of the totally inept policies of our Fake-in-Chief who clearly doesn't want to stop IS. Or any other Islamic-based fighting group for that matter. Read the story @ US Military Pilots Get Fed Up Say Exactly What Obama Didn t Want Them To with links


U.S. Knows The Exact Location Of The 'Headquarters' For The Islamic State But Have Chosen To Not Bomb I @ War News Updates U.S. Knows The Exact Location Of The Headquarters For The Islamic State But Have Chosen To Not Bomb It

 

[Obiwan]

Not surprising, since 3/4 of our planes actually have to return with their bomb loads, despite having plenty of targets.

 

[Bleipriester]

Looks like bombing ISIS is just a the pretext for the true mission: aiding ISIS.

 

[Obiwan]

 

[Bleipriester]

View attachment 41814

He pays the most expensive price.

Obama 2008, almost still a teenager:

Obama now, a geriatric:

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

Obama bombing ISIS would be friendly fire.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Not surprising, since 3/4 of our planes actually have to return with their bomb loads, despite having plenty of targets.

Obiwan

75%?

Really?

 

[pismoe]

good , I was hoping that Luddley would check out the info . Pin Prick bombing and very limited to boot !!

 

[Obiwan]

Not surprising, since 3/4 of our planes actually have to return with their bomb loads, despite having plenty of targets.

Obiwan
75%?
Really?

The 75% is a figure I've heard quoted, and it has to do with this situation.

Air Force pilots lack ISIS targets to bomb because the U.S. refuses to use actionable intelligence

Air Force pilots lack ISIS targets to bomb because the U.S. refuses to use actionable intelligence
10/10/2014
The Daily Beast reports: Within the U.S. Air Force, there’s mounting frustration that the air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq is moving far more slowly than expected. Instead of the fast-moving operation with hundreds of sorties flown in a single day — the kind favored by many in the air service — American warplanes are hitting small numbers of targets after a painstaking and cumbersome process.

The single biggest problem, current and former Air Force officers say, is the so-called “kill-chain” of properly identifying and making sure the right target is being attacked. At the moment, that process is very complicated and painfully slow.

“The kill-chain is very convoluted,” one combat-experienced Air Force A-10 Warthog pilot told The Daily Beast. “Nobody really has the control in the tactical environment.”

A major reason why: the lack of U.S. ground forces to direct American air power against ISIS positions. Air power, when it is applied in an area where the enemy is blended in with the civilian population, works best when there are troops on the ground are able to call in strikes. From the sky, it can be hard to tell friend from foe. And by themselves, the GPS coordinates used to guide bombs aren’t nearly precise enough; landscape and weather can throw the coordinates off by as much as 500 feet. The planes need additional information from the guys on the ground. The only other option is to use laser-guided bombs, but even then the target has to be correctly indentified before hand.

But putting the specialized troops the Pentagon calls “Joint Terminal Air Controllers” or JTACs into combat comes with a cost. “The problem with putting JTACs on the ground is that once you get American boots on the ground, and one of those guys gets captured and beheaded on national TV or media,” the A-10 pilot said.

The Pentagon has compensated for this, in part, by easing back in Syria on the restrictive rules used minimizing civilian casualties like it is in Afghanistan. But in many other aspects, current and former Air Force personnel say, U.S. Central Command is fighting the war against ISIS in largely the same way it operates against the Taliban in Afghanistan. “The strategic problem posed by [ISIS] is different than that in Afghanistan,” one former senior Air Force official said. “So the similarity of the minimal application of airpower, along with excessive micromanagement by the CENTCOM bureaucracy is a symptom of not recognizing that this is a different strategic problem.”

After all, ISIS isn’t simply a collection of terrorists. The group holds territory, and manages an inventory of heavy military and civilian equipment. There’s a reason they call themselves the Islamic State. So instead of worrying about individual air strikes, this former official said, the CENTCOM needs to run a wider more free-ranging air war where more targets are hit much more quickly. “Very few in the military today have experience in planning and executing a comprehensive air campaign—their experience is only in the control of individual strikes against individual targets,” the official added. “There needs to be constant 24/7 overwatch, and immediate attack of any [ISIS] artillery, people, vehicles, or facilities that they are occupying.”

But that is a view shared mainly by those within the Air Force — which has, for decades, argued that it has the ability to win wars though strategic bombing.

Even in the case of the campaign against ISIS, there are many officers from the Army, Navy and even the Air Force who told The Daily Beast that they agree with the restraint shown by CENTCOM leadership — noting it is pointless to bomb the wrong target and antagonize the local population.

Further, the challenge for CENTCOM is further compounded by the lack of workable intelligence in Syria.

This claim about a “lack of workable intelligence” is bullshit — as a BBC Newsreport made clear yesterday:

Asya Abdullah, a co-leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) representing Syrian Kurds, told the BBC that they were ready to work with US-led coalition forces.

“We have provided coalition forces with the coordinates of IS targets on the ground and are willing to continue providing any help they will request,” she said.

Kurdish commanders on the ground say that some of the latest air strikes have been more effective than previously and that this has helped their fighters to push back IS on several fronts.

A senior female Kurdish commander on Kobane’s defence council, Meysa Abdo, told the BBC: “If the coalition is serious about degrading IS, then Kobane is where they should target IS because they have an effective partner on the ground which has successfully fought back against IS alone.”

CENTCOM might plead that it cannot reliably select targets without Joint Terminal Air Controllers on the ground, but these specialized troops don’t have supernatural powers. The vetted intelligence they provide must depend more than anything else on what they are being told by locals who themselves know much more about the terrain and their adversaries than any American could, having only just arrived on the scene.

The problem is not a lack of military intelligence, but a lack of ordinary intelligence — the kind that would liberate itself from a bureaucratic straightjacket and say, “To hell with senseless directives from Washington about who we can and cannot talk to.”

 

[Luddly Neddite]

@Obiwan "The 75% is a figure I've heard quoted, and it has to do with this situation."

IOW, you made it up.

I prefer facts over lies and gossip so ...


U.S.-led forces drop nearly 5,000 bombs on ISIS


A damaged vehicle belonging to the Islamic State militants is seen on the outskirt of Ramadi. (File photo: Reuters)





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AFP, Washington
Thursday, 8 January 2015
U.S.-led aircraft have dropped nearly 5,000 bombs in the air war against ISIS jihadists in Iraq and Syria, damaging or destroying more than 3,000 targets including tanks, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The latest figures released by the U.S. military signal a steady expansion in the scale of the air campaign launched in August and also reveal an adversary with hundreds of armored and other sophisticated vehicles at its disposal.

Since coalition air raids started in Iraq in August and in Syria in late September, U.S. and allied aircraft have struck 58 tanks, 184 Humvee armored vehicles, 303 pickup trucks, 26 armored vehicles and 394 other vehicles, according to statistics from the Pentagon.



US Air Force Drops Record Amount Of Bombs Against Islamic State In Iraq And Syria

By Christopher Harress @Charress [email protected] on January 08 2015 11:43 AM EST

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Master Sgt. Adam lines up bomb lugs on MK-82 munitions Dec. 21, 2014, in Southwest Asia, to ensure they are prepared to sync up with aircraft racks during installation. Adam is deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, and is the NCO in charge of conventional maintenance. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Master Sgt. Carrie Hinson)

The United States Air Force has increased the level of its attacks on the Islamic State group in recent weeks, dropping more munitions than ever before. The increase, mentioned in an article on the service’s website, means that more than 60 percent of all airstrikes carried out by coalition forces are now the work of the U.S. Air Force. The remaining 40 percent of bombs are dropped on ISIS by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and coalition partners.


Since the beginning of October, more than 500 GBU-38 and GBU-54 precision-guided munitions have fallen on Islamic State targets. According to the U.S. Air Force, that represents a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in the amount of bombs being dropped on ISIS targets.


"[Prior to being deployed] I had no idea how high-tempo the mission was going to be or how many munitions we would be building," a senior airman mentioned in the U.S. Air Force article said, adding, "In the last three months, we have already built over nine times the amount of munitions than the last rotation did in their entire six [months]."



Despite Coalition Partners, U.S. Has Done Most Airstrikes Against ISIS

Jordan and the other Arab countries are still doing little, even though Jordan says it ramped up attacks. As of this week, the U.S. mounted 946 strikes in Syria, while Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi and UAE completed 79 total. The United Arab Emirates stopped flying in December, concerned the U.S. is not providing sufficient combat air rescue.

 

[Bleipriester]

@Obiwan "The 75% is a figure I've heard quoted, and it has to do with this situation."

IOW, you made it up.

I prefer facts over lies and gossip so ...


U.S.-led forces drop nearly 5,000 bombs on ISIS


A damaged vehicle belonging to the Islamic State militants is seen on the outskirt of Ramadi. (File photo: Reuters)





Text size A A A

AFP, Washington
Thursday, 8 January 2015
U.S.-led aircraft have dropped nearly 5,000 bombs in the air war against ISIS jihadists in Iraq and Syria, damaging or destroying more than 3,000 targets including tanks, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The latest figures released by the U.S. military signal a steady expansion in the scale of the air campaign launched in August and also reveal an adversary with hundreds of armored and other sophisticated vehicles at its disposal.

Since coalition air raids started in Iraq in August and in Syria in late September, U.S. and allied aircraft have struck 58 tanks, 184 Humvee armored vehicles, 303 pickup trucks, 26 armored vehicles and 394 other vehicles, according to statistics from the Pentagon.



US Air Force Drops Record Amount Of Bombs Against Islamic State In Iraq And Syria

By Christopher Harress @Charress [email protected] on January 08 2015 11:43 AM EST

• Share on facebook
  307
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  14
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Master Sgt. Adam lines up bomb lugs on MK-82 munitions Dec. 21, 2014, in Southwest Asia, to ensure they are prepared to sync up with aircraft racks during installation. Adam is deployed from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, and is the NCO in charge of conventional maintenance. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Master Sgt. Carrie Hinson)

The United States Air Force has increased the level of its attacks on the Islamic State group in recent weeks, dropping more munitions than ever before. The increase, mentioned in an article on the service’s website, means that more than 60 percent of all airstrikes carried out by coalition forces are now the work of the U.S. Air Force. The remaining 40 percent of bombs are dropped on ISIS by the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and coalition partners.


Since the beginning of October, more than 500 GBU-38 and GBU-54 precision-guided munitions have fallen on Islamic State targets. According to the U.S. Air Force, that represents a 40 percent to 50 percent increase in the amount of bombs being dropped on ISIS targets.


"[Prior to being deployed] I had no idea how high-tempo the mission was going to be or how many munitions we would be building," a senior airman mentioned in the U.S. Air Force article said, adding, "In the last three months, we have already built over nine times the amount of munitions than the last rotation did in their entire six [months]."



Despite Coalition Partners, U.S. Has Done Most Airstrikes Against ISIS

Jordan and the other Arab countries are still doing little, even though Jordan says it ramped up attacks. As of this week, the U.S. mounted 946 strikes in Syria, while Jordan, Bahrain, Saudi and UAE completed 79 total. The United Arab Emirates stopped flying in December, concerned the U.S. is not providing sufficient combat air rescue.

The support goes to the Kurdish frontiers. The Iraqi army receives little to no support and the Syrian army has to fear the US will allow ominous "moderate rebels" to call in US airstrikes. Iraq says, US-strikes to help them are "not so precise".
Syrian airstrikes against terrorists exceeded 5000 in January, "moderate rebels´" bullhorn SOHR says. While terrorists´ SOHR says, the air force targets civilians, it also says, only 1000 people were killed. SOHR´s balancing act between propaganda of alleged strikes against civilians and playing down the effectiveness of the SyAF shows, what a bogus terrorist propaganda lies factory it is.

 

[Obiwan]

More than 3 700 sorties so far in fight against jihadis in Syria and Iraq TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune

There have been a total of 3,750 sorties flown over both countries, according to Singleton.

There have been 101 combat sorties over Syria. All told, 261 munitions have been released in Syria, including 47 Tomahawks launched from the sea.

So far in Iraq, there have been 209 airstrikes by U.S. and coalition forces, with 1,424 combat sorties and 359 munitions released.

Hey, Luddly...

Let's see if that Liberal education included math...

Here's the figures as of September.