* The following NATO countries are participating in the alliance's operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR: Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Romania, Spain, Sw
eden, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Britain, United States.
* NATO forces have a total of about 195 aircraft at their disposal.
* Since NATO assumed command of Western military operations in Libya, its aircraft have made 1,434 sorties, including 587 intended as strike missions. On April 8, it conducted 156 sorties and 60 strike missions. Not all strike sorties have led to targets being hit.
* Eighteen vessels are patrolling the Mediterranean to enforce a U.N.-mandated arms embargo. Twenty-two vessels were stopped by NATO forces on April 8 to determine what they were carrying and their destination; no boardings were conducted.
Nearly 170 vessels have been halted and six boardings conducted since the beginning of arms embargo operations.
* On Saturday, forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled the western outskirts of the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah as fighting erupted again on the eastern front.
* The rebels said they intended to take Brega on Saturday and some had penetrated the outskirts.
* The Red Cross said on Saturday it was extending its activities to western Libya, as a ship loaded with medical supplies docked in the besieged port city of Misrata and its aid workers made their way to Zawiyah.
* Britain's ministry of defense spokesman said on Saturday that UK Royal Air Force aircraft hit seven main battle tanks on April 8.
* It said RAF Tornado GR4 aircraft used Brimstone missiles and Paveway IV bombs in the area of Ajdabiyah, hitting two tanks, and in the area of Misratah hitting five tanks. The weapons were discharged as part of armed air reconnaissance and overwatch patrols conducted over Misratah, Brega and Ajdabiyah.
* RAF Typhoon aircraft conducted defensive counter air patrols as part of the no-fly zone enforcement. Two RAF VC10 tanker aircraft supported the Tornado, Typhoon and other coalition sorties to provide air-to-air refueling, Britain said.
* HMS Liverpool has taken over from HMS Cumberland, undertaking surveillance and embargo operations alongside HMS Brockelsby. HMS Cumberland will now return to the UK.
* NATO air strikes hit weapons depots belonging to Gaddafi forces near Zintan, south of the capital Tripoli in far western Libya, on Friday, a resident said.
* Libyan rebels said on Friday they had repelled an assault by government troops on the eastern flank of the coastal city of Misrata, but fighting forced residents to flee the area.
* British Rear Admiral Russell Harding, deputy commander of NATO operations in Libya, said on Friday 23 targets had been struck in the previous 48 hours.
* Targets hit since the start of NATO operations include T-72 tanks, armored personnel carriers, rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles and ammunition dumps in locations near Misrata, Ras Lanuf and Brega, he said.
The F-22 and the F-35 are similar in that they are both fighter aircraft that are designed from the outset to have stealth characteristics to make them harder to see by enemy radar. With the F-35 being the newer aircraft, it has more advanced radar-absorbing coatings on the surface than the F-22. Lockheed has announced that it is now integrating some of the more advanced coatings the F-35 uses onto the F-22 fighters coming of the assembly line.
"Some of the [low observables] coatings system and gap-fillers that the F-35 had an advantage on, we have incorporated into the Raptor," said Jeff Babione, vice president and general 
