Over 14,000 strike sorties were carried out by Nato aircraft over Libya in 2011.

A total of 151 sorties were conducted which included 45 strike sorties.

During 1968 the Laotians flew 10,000 strike sorties.

"You are talking about something in the neighborhood of a thousand strike sorties," said Mr. Lang.

F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters flew nearly 80 percent of the strike sorties.

One recent 12-month report for Afghanistan noted 18,019 strike sorties by United States military aircraft, but weapons use in only 3,330 of these missions.

Most immediate was a combat pay bonus paid for every strike sortie flown.

Coalition aircraft fly 115 strike sorties against targets in Libya.

On 3 December, she set a record of 165 strike sorties in a single day.

The sheer scale of the Nato bombing campaign - with 9,658 strike sorties - suggests that it would have been very hard to avoid civilian casualties.