Libya, French Forces sortie stats since April 2011

After 3 months of non-stop air operation a quick look at the stat published each week by the French MoD shows that more that 3000 sorties have been performed by the French aircrafts (all types) since the begining of the conflict.

The sorties distribution is the following (Rafale participation in the mission in bold) :

• CAS and interdiction : 50%
• Reconnaissance : 21%
• Air Defense : 9%
• AWACS : 5%
• Air Refueling : 11%
• GAM (Helicopter force) : 4% (the low figure is due to the fact that helicopters have only been deployed for one month)

The sortie rate has been very stable with an average of 220 sorties each week increasing to more than 230 since the Gazelle and Tigers are involved.
The CAS mission is also increasing for the last 3 weeks.