NATO unmanned craft lost over Libya
Source: Agencies |
June 22, 2011, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NATO said one of its drones disappeared over Libya yesterday, refuting reports that forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had shot down an alliance attack helicopter.
Libyan state television repeatedly broadcast images of what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, including a red rotor and close-ups of markings in English.
It quoted an unnamed Libyan military official saying a NATO Apache attack helicopter was downed in Zlitan, about 135 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli. The report claimed it was the fifth Apache that had been downed.
A NATO spokesman said the alliance lost radar contact with a helicopter drone yesterday morning and is looking into the incident, but denied that an Apache had been lost.
"This drone helicopter was performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Gadhafi forces threatening the civilian population," said the spokesman, Wing Commander Mike Bracken.
NATO has not lost any attack helicopters in its Libya mission, he said.
It was not clear whether ground fire or a mechanical failure downed the drone.
Britain and France began deploying attack helicopters as part of the NATO-led mission this month to boost its firepower and flexibility against Gadhafi's forces.
NATO had previously relied on jets that generally fly nearly five kilometers high. The attack helicopters give the alliance a key advantage in close-up combat, flying at much lower altitudes.
Airstrikes by attack jets remain the backbone of NATO's Libya campaign, however.
At least one distant explosion was heard in Tripoli yesterday as jets roared overhead.
Libyan state television repeatedly broadcast images of what appeared to be aircraft wreckage, including a red rotor and close-ups of markings in English.
It quoted an unnamed Libyan military official saying a NATO Apache attack helicopter was downed in Zlitan, about 135 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli. The report claimed it was the fifth Apache that had been downed.
A NATO spokesman said the alliance lost radar contact with a helicopter drone yesterday morning and is looking into the incident, but denied that an Apache had been lost.
"This drone helicopter was performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Gadhafi forces threatening the civilian population," said the spokesman, Wing Commander Mike Bracken.
NATO has not lost any attack helicopters in its Libya mission, he said.
It was not clear whether ground fire or a mechanical failure downed the drone.
Britain and France began deploying attack helicopters as part of the NATO-led mission this month to boost its firepower and flexibility against Gadhafi's forces.
NATO had previously relied on jets that generally fly nearly five kilometers high. The attack helicopters give the alliance a key advantage in close-up combat, flying at much lower altitudes.
Airstrikes by attack jets remain the backbone of NATO's Libya campaign, however.
At least one distant explosion was heard in Tripoli yesterday as jets roared overhead.
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