A French Awacs as reinforcement for eight hours in Operation Irini

(B2) A French AWACS carried out a reconnaissance mission in the central Mediterranean for the benefit of Irini, the European embargo control operation off Libya on Thursday (6 August)

Taking off from Avord Air Base 702, the aircraft then headed for the Mediterranean. On board, about twenty airmen specialized (pilots, operators and controllers as well as radar and communication technicians) in observation. Flight duration: eight hours, destination according to the French general staff at " enrich the knowledge of maritime and air activity in the central Mediterranean ».

The advantage of this device is, in fact, that it makes it possible to detect and monitor a wide area (approximately one million km2), in particular areas without radar coverage. " Its flight endurance, technical capabilities and real-time information processing allow him to build a fairly complete picture of the situation, this " in an autonomous way ».

This is the first time that such a device has been used for Operation Irini, but not the first time in a European maritime operation. The French Air Force had thus lent a hand on several occasions at the height of the EUNAVFOR Atalanta anti-piracy operation in 2009 and 2010 in particular (read: A French Awacs aircraft as reinforcements for Atalanta).

This mission was apparently not planned in the original timing of the mission. " The mission was planned and scheduled in a few days and then ordered in real time by the Air Defense and Air Operations Command (CDAOA), based in Lyon, in close collaboration with the Planning and Operations Control Center (CPCO) “, indicates the general staff of the French armies in its press release published a week after the flight (August 13).

NB: we can reasonably assume that the information reported on this flight was not only used for Operation Irini, but also to gather a lot of information on the Turkish ships present in the area.

(NGV)