French fighters in action

owing to Pakistan’s continued support of regional terrorist groups and differences over Pakistan’s posture on nuclear weapons.” Should the sale of additional F-16s go through, the PAF would have a substantial inventory of F-16s, both the earlier model with upgrades and a squadron of F-16 Block 52s. Disagreements could still cause a review in the process, which has been done in the past. In March this year, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs froze $150 million in foreign military financing and held back delivery of used US Navy ships, stating that they were “not essential” for fighting militants in Pakistan.

Operational conversion training has commenced at the USAF’s Hill Air Force Base, Utah, with the newly delivered Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning IIs of the 388th Fighter Wing’s 34th Fighter Squadron ‘Rude Rams’. The first two operational F-35As to be stationed at Hill had arrived there on 2 September and shortly commenced their weapons employment, range familiarisation and mission system proficiency.

Renewed airstrikes were launched by French Air Force Rafales and Mirage 2000s against IS targets including arms depots in and around the city of Raqqa in Syria, after the string of terrorist attacks around Paris in mid-November 2015. The French Defence Ministry said that immediately there were ten sorties against ‘Division 17’ and ‘Avant-garde Camp’ of the IS around Raqqa, the radical group’s self-proclaimed capital.

The first airstrikes in Syria had been launched by Rafales of the French Air Force on 27 September as part of ‘Operation Chammal’ which involved attacks on an IS training camp located in the Euphrates Valley, south of Deir-ez-Zor. Five Rafales, an Atlantique 2 and an C-135FR were involved in the mission, the aircraft reportedly based at Al Dhafra in Abu Dhabi. According to reports, the Rafales used their Reco NG pods on their earlier missions which included intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) over areas controlled by IS and Syria.