Forum: F-16 News

Guys we have in N. Iraq are Red Berrets and Gendarmerie Special Operations Units. Some of the best in TAF, tasked with such operations on a regular basis.

These are not just the ordinary troops when you take account of the harsh terrain and weather conditions on that part of N.Iraq and the amount of area that has to swept in a relatively short amount of time.

Here are some latest pics from TAF on the night operation started. Most probably, they walked some 10 to 20 kms at night conditions in order to reach the target area before the action started.

F-16.net Sponsor

Quoting TUAF...used aircraft are BLOCK 40 white LANTIRN capable the 181 leopard sqn from Diyarbakir and 151 raiders sqn from Merzifon airbase and F4 phantoms from malatya airbase 171 pirates sqn that are the most used aircraft and base some are doing the missions are escort strike recon SEAD strike
pkk use some SAM that is been bringed from Russian but some intelligence say they have 20 launchers in all camps something like that and some triple AAA 20 or 30 mm guns that are the information that i have here it from some very good sources

So TuAF vipers involved Blk 50 SEAD missions this time, Thxs for sharing 'bout the AAA/SAM threats the pilots encounter over there. Question: 152 Sqn is the Raiders, 152 Sqn has the bird w/HARN under it's wing, which Sqn took part in the recent raids.

Thanks for your latest replies, guys! That should be really a new "hot spot" for us! And we should archive all of that for the history books...

JochemP wrote:

Quoting TUAF...used aircraft are BLOCK 40 white LANTIRN capable the 181 leopard sqn from Diyarbakir and 151 raiders sqn from Merzifon airbase and F4 phantoms from malatya airbase 171 pirates sqn that are the most used aircraft and base some are doing the missions are escort strike recon SEAD strike
pkk use some SAM that is been bringed from Russian but some intelligence say they have 20 launchers in all camps something like that and some triple AAA 20 or 30 mm guns that are the information that i have here it from some very good sources

So TuAF vipers involved Blk 50 SEAD missions this time, Thxs for sharing 'bout the AAA/SAM threats the pilots encounter over there. Question: 152 Sqn is the Raiders, 152 Sqn has the bird w/HARN under it's wing, which Sqn took part in the recent raids.

sorry guys i make a mistake it was the Akinci AFB and not the sqn and 152 are the raiders and 151 sqn is the bronze sqn this is the sqn white bird and harm on patch Smile

i dit little more intelengence and it is the Akinci airbase there are the 141 sqn 142 sqn the 141 wolf sqn and the 142 called ceylan sqn this sqn fly whit BLOCK 30/40 today is 112 pkk been killed and we lost some 8 soldiers
the pkk Sam systems are the SA-7 strela's we here that pkk group is been going down to fast and he moves headquarters from kandil some others place 295 km far away that sows that pkk is been scared and is been pulling back the TUAF F-16 is flying all time on northern Iraq to make scare some pkk groups away and it works

Found This on The Middle East Times Site.

Quote:

Turkey Says 41 more rebels killed in Iraq Offensive.

AMADIYAH, Iraq (AFP) The Turkish army said it killed 41 Kurdish rebels Monday, taking the overall toll in its offensive in northern Iraq to 170, as the US renewed calls for restraint and a swift withdrawal.

As thousands in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast protested the incursion, top Turkish leaders joined mourners in Ankara for the funeral of three officers.

The army said the cross-border operation has now claimed the lives of 153 rebels and 17 soldiers since Thursday. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) claim to have killed 81 soldiers.

"Forty-one terrorists have been neutralized in clashes throughout the day," the army said in a statement posted on its website.

PKK fighters suffered "heavy losses under fire from close quarters" as they tried to escape the advancing Turkish columns, the statement said.

Warplanes hit around 30 targets deep in northern Iraq on the route of the Turkish advance as helicopter gunships and artillery maintained intense fire throughout the day, the army said.

Security forces in autonomous Kurdish-administered northern Iraq said warplanes bombed areas in and around Hakurk from 2000 GMT Sunday to 1100 GMT Monday until rains, strong winds and a heavy fog settled over the area.

Ankara gave fresh assurances Monday that its forces would retreat once they achieved their objective of flushing out the rebels, but offered no precise timeframe.

"Our struggle there -- what we are trying to achieve -- will determine the duration" of the operation, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

On Monday, the Turkish army released fresh footage of the offensive, showing soldiers in white camouflage filing into a Sikorsky helicopter taking off from an unidentified base along with Cobra attack helicopters.

Soldiers carrying machine guns and assault rifles could be seen advancing in deep snow on rugged hills.

The footage also showed a convoy of military transport vehicles and black-and-white footage of unspecified targets destroyed by air strikes.

Thousands of mourners gathered meanwhile at a mosque in Ankara for the funeral of three officers killed in the operation, two them the pilots of a helicopter the army said was "destroyed" , without giving any details.

The PKK said Sunday that it had downed a Turkish attack helicopter near Amadiyah.

Turkish troops stormed into northern Iraq Thursday evening in the largest cross-border offensive in years against PKK hideouts in the region.

Ankara says an estimated 4,000 PKK rebels are holed up in northern Iraq and use the region as a springboard for attacks in Turkey as part of their campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey.

The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives since the PKK took up arms in 1984.

Source: © 2008 Agence France-Presse

Can somebody post some pics of combat ops, Take Offs or landings maybe, Cheers.

[Link pending approval]

[Link pending approval] BSTTurkey bombs Kurdish rebel bases in IraqJames Orr and agencies [Link pending approval], Friday May 2 2008 Article historyAbout this articleClose This article was first published on [Link pending approval] on Friday May 02 2008. It was last updated at 12:34 on May 02 [Link pending approval] warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel bases deep inside Iraq in a three-hour overnight operation, rebel officials said today.

The aircraft attacked Iraq's Qandil region, dozens of miles from the border with Turkey, the spokesman Ahmed Danas claimed.

Bombers also hit 10 other sites near the northern Iraqi towns of Khnezah and Lowlan close to the Iranian border, in an operation that started late yesterday.

No members of the rebel Kurdish group, known as the PKK, were killed or injured in the raids, Danas said.

Today, both Turkey's state-run media and Firat, a pro-Kurdish news agency based in Europe, carried full coverage of the air strikes. Turkey's military, however, has yet to confirm or deny the attacks.

The latest attacks come as Istanbul continues its ongoing battle with the PKK, who took up arms against the Turkish government in 1984.

The rebel group has fought for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish south-east region in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The PKK's leadership is thought to be hiding in the Mt Qandil area, which straddles the Iraq-Iran border and is 60 miles from the border between Iraq and Turkey.

In recent months, Turkey has launched several air assaults on PKK targets in northern Iraq. In February, it staged a major ground offensive which lasted eight days.

Since then, clashes between rebels and Turkish troops have continued to erupt along Turkey's border with Iraq.

Turkey, like the United States and the European Union, lists the PKK as a terrorist group.

A video of the air raids released by the turkish general staff - 43 sites were hit in N Iraq

[Link pending approval];vid=2398

RIA Novosti wrote:

Turkey carries out large-scale air strikes on north Iraq

13:22 | 02/ 05/ 2008

ANKARA, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - Turkey's Air Force carried out intensive air strikes on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq in the early hours of Friday, Turkey's NTV television said citing military sources.

NTV said at least 30 F-16 Fighting Falcon multirole fighters had hit the Qandil Mountains, believed to harbor the main bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), for more than an hour. Other media reports said the strikes lasted three hours.

Turkey's General Staff has not confirmed the bombings. No casualties have been reported.

The Turkish Air Force last carried out strikes on northern Iraq April 25-26.

The PKK has been fighting for an autonomous ethnic Kurd state in southeast Turkey for nearly 25 years, killing more than 40,000 people in that period. The PKK uses northern Iraq to stage attacks on Turkey.

In February, the Turkish army held a large-scale cross border operation against the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU, killing, according to official data, 240 militants.

Source: http://en.rian.ru/world/20080502/106379964.html

Turkish General Staff has confirmed the strike on Friday, saying at least 150 terrorists are killed according to the aerial and ground intellegence units in the area, possibly including members of the leadership.

I read a US-based report quoting some European countries still back-up these terrorists. These countries will experience the same we suffered for years, when terrorism turn upon them one day. Terrorism has no nationality....

Hot spot during the last five months... anybody knows how often ops (or actual raids) go on?

Found this vid, says it's recent, sorry if a repost

http://trsavunma.com/?q=node/19157

Shows LGB sights, camps & instalations going boom, I can't understand Turkish, but I think the newsman said " We blew the (feces) out of the bad guys. (mostly).

I am not flaming anything, maybe I misunderstood the newsman (my turkish is rusty haha)

Of course, you are not flaming anything Jochem, indeed we are blowing the terrorists up, noone said anything when they blew up innocent citizens and army members, is there anyone who wants to criticize now???

TuAF and Gendarmarie units were on the move again last night - May 9th around 22:30, when a group of terrorists tried to penetrate Turkish borders and attack a border station. TuAF reacted to support ground units with the nearest F-16 units - Diyarbakır AFB and 19 captured dead.

According to the intel units 200 fled Kandil region releasing their weapons after the May 1st night operation performed very successfully by the TuAF, killing 150 members of the terrorist organization.

More Raids last Sunday, Senior Kurdish Rebel Leaders, Vipers Involved, Turkish warplanes bombed Sunday a Kurdish rebel hideout in neighbouring Iraq where senior militants were believed to be, the army said.

It was the seventh Turkish air strike in northern Iraq since October 3 when Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants crossing from their bases in the region attacked a Turkish border outpost, killing 17 soldiers.

The jets on Sunday evening struck a hideout in the mountainous Zap region, a major rebel stronghold, where "a PKK group which included high-level members" was determined to be, the army said in a statement.

It did not specify any casualties from the raid.

The Turkish parliament on Wednesday extended by one year the government's mandate to order cross-border military operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, which has long enjoyed safe haven in the region.

Anyone has info 'out SQN's involved? vids or pics of the raids?

More ops going on...

Guys can u post a little more TuAF ops, air raids, Sqn involved, as Turkish troops were operating in the mountains north of the town of Sidikan in Arbil province, one of three that make up the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq.

Sunday's Turkish ground incursion was the second in five days and went far deeper than the previous incursion on Wednesday when troops advanced just a few kilometres (miles) before withdrawing.

The conflict with the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by much of the international community, has killed more than 45,000 people since it broke out in 1984, according to the Turkish army

TuAF Air Ops still going on? Bet the vipers Squadrons are having their share on it.

One question mates, what does this means "Turkish air force operation ?LKCANLI GÖRÜNTÜLER".

Turkish warplanes (VIPERS???) bombed Monday several Kurdish rebel positions in neighboring northern Iraq, the NTV news channel reported, amid an upsurge in unrest between troops and the outlawed group.

Also on Monday, a senior Iraqi official says the government has complained to Tehran over what authorities say is an incursion by Iranian troops into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.

An Iraqi Kurdish official in the north, Karawan Aref, said that Iranian troops entered Iraq’s northeast Haj Omran area through the Perdanuz border crossing.

They are believed to have crossed over on Thursday in pursuit of Iranian Kurdish rebels. Aref says the Iranians set up camp and started building a new border fort there.

Deputy Foreign Minister Labeed Abawi told the Associated Press on Monday that Baghdad sent the complaint. He says the Iranians are still on Iraqi territory.

An AP reporter in the area saw on Monday what appeared to be Iranian troops on the Iraqi side of the border.

Six Turkish combat planes targeted PKK bases in Zap-Khakurk in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish zone, the channel said, citing the Internet site of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The Turkish military did not immediately comment on the air strikes.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp ... z0rau7MEgr
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

TuAF Air Ops still going on? Bet the vipers Squadrons are having their share on it.

One question mates, what does this means "Turkish air force operation ?LKCANLI GÖRÜNTÜLER".

Turkish warplanes (VIPERS???) bombed Monday several Kurdish rebel positions in neighboring northern Iraq, the NTV news channel reported, amid an upsurge in unrest between troops and the outlawed group.

Also on Monday, a senior Iraqi official says the government has complained to Tehran over what authorities say is an incursion by Iranian troops into Iraq’s northern Kurdish region.

An Iraqi Kurdish official in the north, Karawan Aref, said that Iranian troops entered Iraq’s northeast Haj Omran area through the Perdanuz border crossing.

They are believed to have crossed over on Thursday in pursuit of Iranian Kurdish rebels. Aref says the Iranians set up camp and started building a new border fort there.

Deputy Foreign Minister Labeed Abawi told the Associated Press on Monday that Baghdad sent the complaint. He says the Iranians are still on Iraqi territory.

An AP reporter in the area saw on Monday what appeared to be Iranian troops on the Iraqi side of the border.

Six Turkish combat planes targeted PKK bases in Zap-Khakurk in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish zone, the channel said, citing the Internet site of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

The Turkish military did not immediately comment on the air strikes.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp ... z0rau7MEgr
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Forum: F-16 News

TuAF F-16s hit terrorist camp in northern Iraq