Northern F-16s ready for Libyan war
Jet-fighters from Bodø airbase in Northern Norway take off Monday to take part in the international military operation to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
A vanguard of ten person and a Hercules C-130J cargo plane flied south already on Sunday to an airbase on Sicilia. Today six F-16 jets-fighters are flying down, to be based on one of the NATO bases in Sicilia or on Kreta.
Normally the F-16s based in Bodø, Norway’s main airbase north of the Arctic Circle, are the same aircrafts that scrambles to identify Russian Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers that frequently flies outside Norwegian airspace in the north.
Read also: Less Russian military aircrafts in the vicinity of Norwegian airspace
- We still maintain emergency response in Norway and will continue to fly training missions as normal, says head of the Norwegian air force General Major Finn Kristian Hannestad in a press-release.
In all, some 100 personnel will follow to support the fleet of the six jet-fighters participating in the Libyan operation.
