US plans massive precision air blitz

WASHINGTON - Once an order is given to wage war, the US military plans to unleash a two-day aerial bombardment so fierce as to persuade the Iraqi military that any resistance would be futile, say Pentagon officials.

"It's going to be the most massive precision air campaign in the history of warfare," said retired US Air Force Lieutenant-General Thomas McInerney.

"It will be targeted against Saddam and his leadership, the weapons of mass destruction, the integrated air defence zone, the palaces, the Republican Guards units that resist or any Army units that resist."

In what US defence officials describe as a "shock and awe" opening stanza, upward of 3000 satellite-guided bombs will be dropped by aircraft and cruise missiles launched from sea and air against Iraqi military and political targets.

"I think there will be such overwhelming firepower that to resist militarily will be futile," said a defence official.

"It is going to be so swift and furious that they are not going to know what hit them."

US defence officials said the idea was to convince the enemy he was beaten even before large numbers of invading US and British troops were inserted on the ground.

"A specific target - maybe a command and control node - will be hit. And the one down the street will be hit. And the one across town will be hit. And the one in the next town will be hit," the official added.

"It's just going to be multiple targets hit nearly simultaneously. And it's going to be to put them in shock. Awe will come later."

The opening of the war is expected to come in a salvo of Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the armada of US ships arrayed against Iraq, air-launched cruise missiles fired from B-52 bombers, and satellite-guided bombs dropped from B-2 stealth bombers taking off from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and other warplanes.

War planners have picked thousands of targets in Iraq, many clustered in and around the capital, Baghdad, which boasts the heaviest concentration of air defences in the country.

Military analyst Benjamin Works of the Strategic Issues Research Institute said advancing ground troops would be more impressive to the Iraqis than falling bombs.

US military leaders from General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, down have let it be known that this war will not be a repeat of the 1991 Gulf War in which a five-week air war preceded a 100-hour ground war. This time, ground troops will be involved from the beginning.

Defence analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said massive numbers of ground troops could start piercing Iraq's borders as early as three days after the start of the aerial bombardment.

The air campaign's character would then switch to providing air support for advancing ground forces.

But Thompson said some ground forces would likely be active inside Iraq during these first three days. He said special forces, some already on the ground in various locations, would be in far greater numbers on the official first day of a war.

Thompson said the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division may parachute into northern Iraq to open a northern front or to secure the rich Iraqi oil fields.

The Army's 101st Airborne Division may be inserted by helicopter for specialised missions such as securing bunkers containing Iraqi chemical and biological weapon stockpiles.

Thompson said he expected US ground forces to be in Baghdad within the first week of a war.

"In fact, substantial forces may be on the outskirts of Baghdad within five days."

Notable differences in the US arsenal will make the opening aerial salvo more powerful and more precise than the 1991 war, analysts said.

The batwing, radar-evading B-2, which could become the first warplane to drop a bomb in this war, was not around for the Gulf War, making its combat debut in the Kosovo campaign in 1999. Each B-2 is capable of carrying 16 satellite-guided 900kg bombs.

In the Gulf War, the F-117A "Nighthawk" stealth fighter was the only aircraft used against targets in downtown Baghdad. Its B-2 big brother is likely to join in that duty.

The Pentagon expects the bombing to be more precise. During the Gulf War, about 90 per cent of the bombs dropped were unguided "dumb" bombs.

This time, analysts expect about 80 per cent to be precision-guided, or "smart" bombs.

In the Gulf War, US laser-guided smart bombs often were blinded by rain, clouds, smoke or dust. A new generation of smart bombs, including the joint direct attack munition, or JDAM, use global positioning system satellites for guidance.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq