AT SEA: AIRSTRIKES FROM THE U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS ENTERPRISE AND CARL VINSON CONTINUE AGAINST TARGETS IN AFGHANISTAN
Record ID:
860865
AT SEA: AIRSTRIKES FROM THE U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS ENTERPRISE AND CARL VINSON CONTINUE AGAINST TARGETS IN AFGHANISTAN
- Title: AT SEA: AIRSTRIKES FROM THE U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS ENTERPRISE AND CARL VINSON CONTINUE AGAINST TARGETS IN AFGHANISTAN
- Date: 10th October 2001
- Summary: USS ENTERPRISE, AT SEA, ARABIAN SEA (OCTOBER 10, 2001) (AGENCY POOL) (NIGHT SCENES) VARIOUS OF NIGHT SORTIES TO AFGHANISTAN (7 SHOTS)
- Embargoed: 25th October 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: AT SEA, PERSIAN GULF
- City:
- Country: At Sea
- Topics: Conflict,Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA5HD6KOJNWF97LOCKB2PIQAVY0
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Airstrikes from the U.S. aircraft carriers Enterprise and Carl Vinson have continued against targets in Afghanistan, where Osama Bin Laden, who the US suspect of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, is believed to be hiding.
Pilots flying the nearly 80 sorties per day say they are hitting their targets, and are encountering light resistance from Taliban forces.
Heavily armed F18 and F14 aircraft took off from the Carl Vinson for the third straight day on Wednesday (October 10), as the US air campaign against targets in Afghanistan continued.
Planes carried heavy munitions, including GPS and laser guided smart bombs, both designed to hit targets with pinpoint accuracy.
Most sorties on Wednesday were flown during daylight hours, indicating U.S. forces now control most of Afghanistan's skies.
The fighters both took-off and returned safely to base on Wednesday, in what have been described as the heaviest raids on Afghanistan since they began to attack the Taliban-ruled state on Sunday night.
Pilot Chuck Wright said it looked like a fireball from the movies when his U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and another flying alongside blew up two Afghan MiG 21s at the end of Kandahar airfield.
The 44-year-old California captain was on his first combat mission on Monday, despite having flown for 22 years. Of the 110 pilots aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier based in the Arabian Sea, no more than 15 had been in combat before.
"And the first time you look down and see the 'triple a' (anti-aircraft) coming up at you, it really gets your heart racing. But then you realise, hey, they don't have my name on it so it's going to be all right," he told reporters on Wednesday.
Monday was the second day that fighters based on the carrier had joined the U.S. air campaign to punish Afghanistan for harbouring Osama bin Laden, accused mastermind of attacks that killed more than 5,500 people in the United States a month ago.
"There was a fighter aircraft at the end of the runway and we put a laser guided-bomb into that airplane and saw a fireball like you read about or see in the movies," Wright said.
"It was awesome. We know we don't have to go back to that one because it's gone. That made me feel pretty darn good."
Meanwhile on the carrier launches are continuing throughout the day and into the night, but it remains unclear how it will continue. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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