Only they had the cruise missiles that could take out Col Gaddafi's air defence system.
However, this first tranche of planes will have only an air defence capability.
It also carries the advanced AEGIS air defence system that is rapidly becoming the backbone of US naval radar.
This will remain, alongside the RAF Air Defence Museum, which was established on the air base 14 years ago.
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This would remain, alongside the RAF Air Defence Radar Museum, which was established on the air base 14 years ago.
The embassy in Baghdad plans to hire and manage thousands of private contractors to operate helicopters and air defence systems.
Following the war he was stationed in Germany before his last appointment as director of air defence operations at the air ministry.
The Ministry of Defence has stressed that the government has not yet decided to deploy ground-based air defence systems during the Games.
"The Su-35 fighters can effectively reduce pressure on China's air defence before Chinese-made stealth fighters come online, " the People's Daily was quoted as saying.
"The forces will augment Turkey's air defence capabilities and contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along the Alliance's border, " Eucom said in a statement.
The 7, 350-tonne ship is designed to provide air defence cover.
The suggestion from US reports is that the air strike was an attempt to prevent the Syrian authorities handing over modern air defence systems to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon.
Jane's, a defence monitoring service, reports that up to 27 terrorist and guerrilla groups around the world have laid hands on surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADs (man-portable air defence systems).
They also noted the deployment of Russia's most advanced S-400 air defence system in Belarus and a parallel drill conducted by the Strategic Rocket Forces, the guardians of the Kremlin's nuclear arsenal.
"The high level of investment in high-end combat aircraft and air defence systems by, for example, Russia and China... indicates that the essential requirement for control of the air has not been lost on nations whose future interests and political orientation may not necessarily be well disposed to the UK, " he said, according to the newspaper.
Poles expect that these will be American-financed, part of NATO's commitment to the country's defence, and fully integrated with Poland's own air-defence system.
The Type 42 T class was designed in 1968 to provide fleet area air-defence.
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Syria, they say, has one of the most sophisticated, Russian-made air-defence systems in the world.
Some frigates provide air-defence, while others hunt for hostile submarines that might attack them.
And Syria's army has not so far managed to buy the air-defence system from Russia that it would like.
In the past week, Pakistan has test-fired two ballistic missiles and India responded by test-firing a new short-range air-defence missile.
America will not sell Taiwan integrated air-defence and early-warning systems, though it did lean on Israel recently to cancel the sale of an early-warning radar to China.
He fears that advances in Chinese and Russian air-defence systems are eroding the advantages of stealth, and that the F-35 is further hobbled by its limited range.
NATO's experts work out their contingency plans (no-fly zones, electronic warfare, air strikes against airfields, communications and air-defence systems), their political masters face an equally tricky set of problems.
Britain, France and Italy, having recently decided, after years of dithering, not to build a frigate together, still hope to produce a joint sea-based air-defence system which would have some capacity against missiles.
And despite the dropping of more explosives than in any other 11 weeks in history, the Serb army remains potent: relatively few of its men have been killed, a formidable proportion of its armour, artillery and mobile air-defence systems is still intact.
In his valedictory speech given in mid-campaign Mr Gates lambasted his European allies for the slow progress against a puny opponent and for failing to invest in the capabilities that America was forced to provide, such as air-defence suppression, ISTAR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance) and aerial refuelling.
Mr Luff spoke alongside senior officials and service personnel, including Chief of Defence Materiel Bernard Gray and Air Marshal Steve Hillier, deputy chief of defence staff, Ministry of Defence.
The cuts could also affect air travel, education, defence and medical care.
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