Libyan Air Force News and Discussion

[ejaz007]

Defected Mirage Jets Return to Libya with New Colors


VALLETTA — Two fighter jets that defected to Malta at the start of the Libyan uprising last year returned to their home country on Feb. 22 with the colors of the new regime freshly painted on their sides.

The Mirage jets were flown back to Libya by the same pilots — Col. Alial-Rabti and Col. Abdullah al-Salheen — who landed them in Malta in February 2011 when they disobeyed the Gadhafi regime’s orders to bomb civilians in Benghazi. The two pilots were given protection in Malta during the Libyan uprising.

The jets were decommissioned and kept in Malta despite calls by Tripoli on the Maltese government to return them.

The green roundels on the two jets have been replaced with the new Libyan independence flag.

The fighter jets were official handed over to the two pilots by Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi at a ceremony on the airfield on Feb. 21.

The jets were unable to leave Malta due to bad weather and spent an extra day on the tiny island, which played a key humanitarian role in the conflict.

The pilots performed a low fly-past over the island before roaring off.



Defected Mirage Jets Return to Libya with New Colors | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[ejaz007]

France Views Libya as Possible Mirage Customer


PARIS — Libya is seen as a potential buyer of Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jets, a French defense official said. The French Air Force is gradually replacing its Mirage fleet with the multirole Rafale, so Paris could sell its F1 ground attack aircraft to Tripoli.

French Defense Minister Gérard Longuet was due to visit Libya Feb. 25-26.

Libya bought 38 Mirage F1s in the late 1970s, but the international arms embargo imposed after the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, led to a freeze in supply of spares. When Tripoli resumed relations with the West in 2005, France agreed to a contract worth about 100 million euros ($133 million) for 12 Libyan Mirage F1s, with Thales and Safran as equipment suppliers.

There is concern in some circles about continuing instability in Libya, with human rights abuses, fighting between rival militias and the National Transitional Council’s inability to build popular support.


France Views Libya as Possible Mirage Customer | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[Nishan_101]

I am sure they might be more interested in JF-17s

 

[Saleem]

libya has an air force? after 40 years under the green guide they need to spend all the money on social welfare, education, infrastructure.....why waste it on something they are incapable of managing ......

 

[ejaz007]

libya has an air force? after 40 years under the green guide they need to spend all the money on social welfare, education, infrastructure.....why waste it on something they are incapable of managing ......

Whatever bad Mr. Qadhafi did to his people there were some good things he did for them. Don't believe everything you see or hear on media especially the foreign. Here is a link to one of my articles. Please go through it.

Life under Gadhafi in Libya:

Just to let you know about the quality and standards of Libya under Qadhafi.

 

[Saleem]

@ejaz - I met ppl with first hand knowledge of the place - that character was seriously loony -he destroyed the place for ten generations......plus like I said - the that state is in no position to use a military of any nature - they need to build a functioning society first - social services, law and order etc. I just hope that algeria, morocco and the rest of the maghreb are also liberated....

 

[ejaz007]

@ejaz - I met ppl with first hand knowledge of the place - that character was seriously loony -he destroyed the place for ten generations......plus like I said - the that state is in no position to use a military of any nature - they need to build a functioning society first - social services, law and order etc. I just hope that algeria, morocco and the rest of the maghreb are also liberated....

I also have friends who have worked in Libya and have different views.

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 AM ----------

France To Renovate Libyan F1s, Provide Training


PARIS — France will renovate Libya’s small fleet of Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jets and train its personnel as part of a defense cooperation agreement, Ministry of Defense spokesman Gérard Gachet said March 1.

“The collaboration with the Air Force is one of the major components of future military cooperation between France and Libya, through the restoring to condition of the Libyan armed forces’ Mirage F1 and the training of personnel,” Gachet told journalists.

A renovation of the French-built fighters was among the agreements made during a Feb. 24-26 visit to Libya by French Defense Minister Gérard Longuet, Gachet said.

Longuet’s visit was not aimed at selling French defense equipment, such as the Rafale fighter, but to help Libya evaluate its military needs and set the basis for cooperation, Gachet said.

France tried to sell the twin jet fighter to Col. Moammar Gadhafi soon after the West restored relations with Libya in 2005.

Libya has a fleet of some 12 Mirage F1 ground attack fighters, two of which were flown to Malta by dissident Air Force pilots when the uprising against Gadhafi began a year ago.

Those two Mirages were restored and flown back to Libya by French-trained Libyan pilots Feb. 22, a symbolic but essential operation that signaled Paris’ determination to build cooperation with the Libyan Air Force, Gachet said.

A planned French restoration of the small Mirage fleet and training for Libyan flight crews and technical staff was being studied, he said.

One of the Libyan priorities was control of its national borders, a task in which France would help, Gachet said.

Libya occupies a key position between Africa and the Mediterranean, and trafficking in people, arms and drugs had to “neutralized,” Gachet said.

Coastal surveillance, as part of a maritime security mission, was another area in which France could provide assistance. French personnel have been helping to de-mine Libyan ports.

Longuet met the chairman of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel, the prime minister, and his counterpart, Osama Jweli.

The meetings were intended “to evaluate the forms of a long-term cooperation from a military point of view,” Gachet said.

That cooperation would consist of helping the Libyan authorities to develop their military organization and express requirements for capabilities. The defense ministers signed a letter of intention to set up a joint committee to develop bilateral defense cooperation, Gachet said.

Working groups are studying the cooperation projects and would report to the joint committee, due to meet in Tripoli at the end of April or beginning of May, he said.


France To Renovate Libyan F1s, Provide Training | Defense News | defensenews.com