Nato should use some of it Apaches in lieu of US attack aircraft
Guardian:
The Nato commander in charge of the operation in Libya has issued a plea for more specialised fighter jets to join the operation if civilian casualties are to be minimised.The Apaches are good attack aircraft in an urban environment. The French may not have any, but I assume other members of NATO do. The Brits have been using them in Afghanistan. The Apache has had problems with its intended mission of attacking tanks in the open, but it has been pretty good at firing its Hellfire missiles at urban targets.
At a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Berlin, Admiral James Stavridis asked for more "precision fighter ground-attack aircrafts" which could best identify land targets, said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general.
The US military has the world's most sophisticated warplanes, but Rasmussen insisted Stavridis had not singled out the Americans when making his plea. After its lead role in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has taken a back seat in the Libyan operation, leaving Britain and France to lead the charge against Muammar Gaddafi.
The US ended strike missions earlier this month, depriving Nato of warplanes such as A-10 Warthogs and AC-130 gunships, which can be more accurate than higher-flying jet fighters for ground-attack missions.
Rasmussen said he was confident more member countries would "step up to the plate" but admitted he had "no specific pledges" following the first meeting of the two-day summit.
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