Apaches will hit Gaddafi's 'shoot and scoot' troops within days

Apache helicopters will fly within days against vicious "shoot and scoot" troops pouring mortars into civilian towns in Libya, the Standard has learned.

The fearsome machines will protect towns such as Misrata that have been shelled indiscriminately from surrounding hills by fast-moving teams of Colonel Gaddafi's soldiers.

"These are soldiers that fire mortars or rockets for 15 minutes then melt away into the countryside in trucks," said a source. "They are gone before fast jets can pick them out. But the Apache is faster and more agile."

However, there is concern in military circles that using helicopters for close-quarter attacks risks a major increase in the risk of British casualties.

Classed as advanced attack helicopters, the 161mph Apaches are armed with 16 Hellfire missiles plus a chain gun that fires 600 inch-wide slugs a minute.

Col Richard Kemp, former commander of forces in Afghanistan, told BBC Breakfast that Apaches can pinpoint targets as small as an individual soldiers.

"They are much more use at dealing with Gaddafi's latest tactics, which include using individuals in civilian clothes," he said. "They are going to be critical in taking the campaign further and possibly unlocking what is not far off stalemate at present."

Under an agreement between David Cameron and French president Nicolas Sarkozy to "turn up the heat" in Libya, four British Apaches will operate from HMS Ocean and 12 French helicopters will fly from the amphibious assault ship Le Tonnerre.
Barack Obama today pledged America would stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Britain and France to "finish the job" in Libya.

After talks with Mr Sarkozy at the G8 summit in Deauville, France, the US president said: "We are joined in resolve to finish the job."

Mr Sarkozy stressed that Gaddafi "must leave".