02 November 2001
Defense Department Report, November 2: Afghanistan Operations
(High-tech surveillance aircraft on way to Afghanistan) (350)
Two types of high-technology reconnaissance aircraft, which will
enable U.S.-led coalition forces to track vehicles on the ground in
all weather, will soon be deployed in Afghanistan, a Defense
Department spokesman said November 2.
Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem told journalists at a Pentagon briefing
that the reconnaissance aircraft are known as JSTARS and Global Hawk.
"JSTARS brings a capability to track vehicles in all weather. That
will be helpful when you're looking for trucks or SUVs [sport utility
vehicles]" or other types of vehicles that are moving around, he said.
Global Hawk, he said, is "a long-endurance unmanned air vehicle" that
flies at high altitudes, adding that the "ability to put a vehicle
over Afghanistan for long periods of time keeps eyes on." Global Hawk
does have the "capability of looking through weather," he said, "and
we'll certainly take advantage of that, but it also has sensors that
will be terrific when it's bright and shiny."
Asked whether the United States was preparing to send liaison teams to
oversee operations such as the distribution of relief supplies and the
setting up of field hospitals, Stufflebeem said "The answer is an
emphatic yes." He referred the questioner to the U.S. Agency for
International Development, as the lead U.S. agency in the matter, for
details.
Bad weather -- mainly freezing rain -- has hampered recent efforts to
insert more liaison forces into areas controlled by the anti-Taliban
Northern Alliance groups in the northern part of the country,
Stufflebeem said. He also said plans are under way to bring quantities
of cold weather gear to Northern Alliance forces in order to give them
the ability to fight in winter.
In air operations over Afghanistan November 1, Stufflebeem said U.S.
and coalition aircraft made strikes on nine planned targets and
several engagement zones, including a focus on active and suspected
terrorist and Taliban cave complexes. About 65 aircraft were used,
including about 50 from aircraft carriers, along with 8-to-10
long-range bombers and some land-based tactical aircraft.
Humanitarian daily rations continued to be airdropped November 1,
Stufflebeem said. Two cargo transport planes dropped more than 34,000
food packages, bringing the total to date to approximately 1,100,000.
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