NPR: Obama Admin. Official- F-16's Could Have Gone to Benghazi from Aviano, Italy

There are no clear targets for those who do not go to where the fight is.

The imagery I have seen indicates there was plenty of room to drop the small diameter bombs, assuming the F-16s had them in stock and the upgrade had been installed. Either way is there any reason why their 20 mm cannons would not keep a few heads down?

 

Earlier today I saw a story that identified the two types of laser designators the CIA had available in Benghazi.

 

You have done a lot of talking. Give us your creds.

 

There are four of you and one hundred of them. Do you care that close air support is a secondary mission of the aircraft able to give you the firepower you need to survive?

 

Wow! Thanks for coming to this thread...how could anyone not be impressed by you?....awesome.

 

His whole line of reasoning was undone by a few You Tube videos of F-16's providing close air support.

 

Don.. the F 16 has a 350 mile combat radius.

 

Thank you.

Please remember that I am making assumptions to fill in where the regime has not yet told us the facts. When it comes right down to it I will be wrong in many cases. Such is the nature of developing a story after nearly two months of stonewalling. As I see things reported that make sense and fit I will adjust my story accordingly.

 

Do you know what this means?

 

Explain what it means.

 

And that means you do not know. Thank you for confirming that for me.

 

Sorry, Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers are stationed at Naval Air Station Sigonella, which is on the way to Libya. That's why range was not cited as a problem. Obama denied them air support out of political concerns. That's why he could not answer the withholding of support question directly.

 

Would air support have been effective in a residential neighborhood?

 

Margot, I've explained the things that the jets could have done. Why don't you explain why they wouldn't have worked rather than playing purposefully obtuse.

 

I asked you to explain it since you purport to be an expert.......

Combat radius refers to the distance from an airbase that a warplane can reach, patrol there for a set amount of time and return to base with minimal fuel left, thus completing a combat mission. For a given aircraft, its combat radius varies according to whether or not it carries external drop tanks, the level (altitude) of the combat mission, and the amount and weight of ordnance it is carrying:
An aircraft with drop tanks will have a greater combat radius than the same one without, due to the extra amount of fuel carried.
An aircraft engaged in a low-level (lo) combat mission will have a smaller combat radius than the same one engaged in a high-level (hi) mission, due to higher fuel consumption at lower altitudes (higher atmospheric pressure / air density).
An aircraft with more and heavier ordnance will have a smaller combat radius than the same one with less and lighter ordnance, due to higher fuel consumption at heavier weights.

The F-16 Fighting Falcon's combat radius is 550 km (340 mi) on a hi-lo-hi mission with six 450 kg (1,000 lb) bombs.
The F/A-18 Hornet has a combat radius of 537 km (330 mi) on a hi-lo-lo-hi mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_radius

 

I couldn't understand your explanation.. and how would you be more expert on the use of the F-16 than the adisors to president Obama?

 

Really? You don't understand buzzing the area to warn any innocents? You don't understand what a flare is? You don't know what a 20mm cannon is? You don't know what precision guided munitions are?

I don't buy the admin's claims that targeting was the issue after watching a decade of F-16's killing bad guys in urban areas of Iraq. I think Obama made a political decision and isn't man enough to own up to it.

 

Why are you still worried about range, when I've shown you that aerial refueling was available on Sicily? Is that the only talking point that you have?

 

No its simply journalism. These sources are varifiable, the sources of your Fox reporter are not.

 

It depends on what you mean.

The imagery I have seen shows plenty of open space. Shoot 'em up. Drop 'em if you got 'em.

 

No I simply answered your question and you have implicitly accepted the answer.

How many passes does this take? Is there enough fuel? What happens when you leave? Is the enemy scared off at all?

Isnt all this just partisan bluster?

Look I have no wish to upset you or disrespect you. However, apart from the obvious lack of detailed knowledge, and the fact that your conduct on this forum is continually anti-Obama....
it is inconceivable that a former officer of the US armed forces, who has sworn an oath on his acceptance of service, would here repeatedly refer to his President's administration as 'the regime'. Its simply a matter of honour and loyalty to the constution, the rule of law and the common decency that defines the US soldier.

So I would hope that in future you will cease and desist from claims to such experience, a real US officer would be respectful about the rightful choice of the US President and his administration.

 

After the election I will read the stories you cite from Obama's lapdog media. There might be some interesting things in there that I can weave into my storyline. We adjust as we go. Explain verifiable? Do you mean that someone who was in the fight and who spoke immediately after will not be as reliable as an administration toadie who comes out two months later to weave fact and fiction together to get the prez through the election?

Or do you mean that all of the information gathered was made available to the reporters who were allowed to sift through it for days, question a variety of government officials, go to the scene, and draw their own conclusions?

 

I will come back to this tonight. In the meantime share your credentials. I have shared mine.

 

Well I could not be a chickenhawk, since Ive never advocated war or conflict while beinig unwilling to sign up for it myself.

As I say above, a real US officer would not disrespect the US people so much to refer to the current administration as the regime. A vacant partisan however, certainly would.

 

Its about 600 miles from Sicily to Benghazi.. a team of commandos were dispatched and arrive after the attack was over.