Navy destroyer to bombard Mad Dog

BRITISH destroyer HMS Liverpool was last night preparing to shell targets in Libya and quicken the downfall of tyrant Colonel Gaddafi.

Defence chiefs have ordered the Type-42 Destroyer to start pounding command and control centres and boost the ill-equipped rebels.

Until now Britain has only used RAF Tornado and Typhoon warplanes and a nuclear submarine.

But sources close to the mission told The Sun a major Navy assault will begin this week. The source said: "Final details are being hammered out now but they are looking to strike over the next few days. When they do, Gaddafi won't know what's hit him."

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Raytheon Missiles Used in Libya Won’t Need Replacement Purchases

The Navy won’t buy specific replacements from Raytheon Co. (RTN) for 162 Tomahawk cruise missiles that were fired at Libyan air defenses in the opening days of the U.S.-led coalition’s campaign to set up a no-fly zone.

“The Tomahawks that were shot are part of our current inventory; there are more than ample replacements for those, more than ample,” Admiral Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, told reporters in Washington. The Navy has more than 3,000 Tomahawks, he said.

The opening rounds of the coalition action, named Operation Odyssey Dawn, followed the script of major operations since 1991 with the launch of Raytheon Tomahawk missiles to destroy air defenses and clear a path for manned aircraft.

The first strikes on March 19 involved 124 missiles against more than 20 targets, and thirty-eight additional missiles were fired later. By contrast, 288 Tomahawks were fired in the 1991Gulf War.

The Navy’s current five-year budget plan through 2016 projects buying 980 of the newest Tactical Tomahawks. Each missile costs about $1.4 million in today’s dollars, according to the Navy. Raytheon’s Tucson, Arizona-based missile unit makes the weapon. The Tactical Tomahawk is guided by global positioning system coordinates and is capable of loitering over a target and receiving new targeting information in flight.

Missiles target Libyan air defences

BRITISH submariners have pinpointed key air defence installations in two nights of cruise missile strikes against Libya.

The launches from the Trafalgar-class boat – the first since the 2003 war against Saddam Hussein – are the Navy’s contribution to a rain of fire and steel which has landed on Colonel Gaddafi’s forces as Allied nations enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973.

Aside from the Tomahawk strikes from the submarine – its identity is classified for security reasons – frigates HMS Westminster and Cumberland are on patrol off Libya enforcing an arms embargo under Operation Ellamy, the UK’s military action in support of the UN resolution.

Targets from Zuwara in western Libya to the rebel-held port of Benghazi in the east, plus a military command centre in the city’s capital of Tripoli have been attacked in the concerted Allied series of air and missile strikes.

In addition to the RN’s role in the operation, RAF Tornados have fired bunker-busting Storm Shadow missiles after conducting the longest strike missions since the Falklands conflict.

Major General Jon Lorimer, the Chief of Defence Staff’s spokesman, said the targets had been “carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and to strike at key military installations in Libya”.

He added: “The campaign Colonel Gaddafi has been waging against his own people is brutal and wrong. The international community has a duty to stop the violence against the Libyan people.”

Rear Admiral Ian Corder, Commander Operations, is directing the RN’s operations from the joint military headquarters in Northwood. At present, Westminster is off Benghazi while Cumberland and the T-boat remain in the area.