Destruction in Misrata. When asked what his work entailed, Flight Sergeant Thornton said: '"It is like playing a computer game. You can't just view it as a flat screen. ...Our job is to speed up the kill chain. "
TEN thousand metres above Libya, the war against Muammar Gaddafi is being directed over the roar of aircraft noise by men hunched over banks of computer screens.
This is Magic 52, one of three Royal Air Force E-3D spy planes in charge of the operational effort to enforce United Nations Security Council resolution 1973.
From the airborne command, control and communication centre, specialists direct every part of the bombing campaign.
In the course of a nine-hour sortie, they can direct 100 aircraft to carry out strike after strike. With access to Britain's most sensitive military secrets, they co-ordinate reconnaissance, refuelling, and missions to track and attack Colonel Gaddafi's military.
At the weekend there were further strikes by the RAF on the dictator's compound in Tripoli.
The military pressure on the regime is about to be dramatically escalated with the arrival of British and French attack helicopters, which will step up attacks on forces on the ground.
South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma, will visit Tripoli this week on behalf of the African Union in a last-ditch attempt to broker an exit plan for Colonel Gaddafi, though signs are he is digging in against threats from the G8. ...
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