Report: France Sends Combat Choppers to Libya

23 May 2011 DefenseNews AFP

PARIS - France is dispatching attack helicopters to take part in its operations against Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's military assets, French daily Le Figaro reported Monday.

The military said a French aircraft carrier had set off from a port in the Mediterranean but did not confirm the report that it was carrying helicopters to Libya, where French warplanes have been striking Gadhafi's sites.

"The BPC Tonnerre cast off on May 17 from Toulon," a southern French port home to a major naval base, top military spokesman Thierry Burkhard told AFP.

"For the moment, it is not engaged in operations in Libya," he added. The BPC is capable of carrying 16 12-ton helicopters, 750 troops and scores of armored vehicles for launching amphibious attacks.

Le Figaro said the high-tech aircraft carrier had left Toulon with 12 helicopters aboard intended for operations in Libya, where France and other western powers are backing rebels in their battle against Gadhafi.

The use of attack helicopters would allow more precise strikes on targets in Libya that warplanes are unable to reach for fear of civilian casualties.

Burkhard said that the possible use of attack helicopters would not be in breach of the U.N. resolution under which international forces, now under NATO command, launched their intervention in Libya in March.

"All French resources ... can be engaged at any moment in the Libyan crisis," he said.