Agence France Presse October 9, 2001, Tuesday
"Smart" and "dumb" bombs used against Afghanistan
By Jean-Michel Stoulling
In its strikes on Afghanistan the US military is deploying guided "smart" bombs and futuristic weapons barely conceivable 10 years ago, but also the more traditional, unguided and much cheaper "dumb" bombs.
Other than the unmanned Predator or Global Hawk drones, aircraft, ships and tanks are not all that different from what they used to be. Precision guided bombs, on the other hand, are showcases of state-of-the-art technology, according to experts. Among the most notable additions to the US arsenal are Joint Direct Attack Munitions and Joint Stand-Off Weapons, which are highly precise even in overcast weather, and are guided by satellite-linked global positioning systems.
The Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAM, are guidance packages installed on conventional bombs so they can be guided to their target. The packages include inertial navigation systems that correct course deviations caused by winds.
Standoff weapons are precise "fire and forget" cluster bombs fired by aircraft at a safe distance -- about from 27 to 75 kilometers (15-47 miles) -- from their targets. They glide toward their targets, and spread small bomblets over an area the size of a football field.
"The main difference with Kosovo is that JDAM and JSOW were used by few airplanes back then whereas both are available in abundance today and can be dropped from many airplanes," said John Pike. Pike, military expert from Globalsecurity.org, said new technology significantly reduced the risks caused by weather and altitude.
The advantage of the JDAM package is they cost 10,000 dollars, compared with 100,000 for a laser-guided weapon and a million dollars for each long-range Tomahawk cruise missile. Laser bombs also need good visibility. "Dumb" bombs like the Mark 82 are less precise. But at 1,000 dollars apiece, they are definitely less costly and can destroy vast areas.
"Dumb conventional weapons can be used for carpet bombing of a terrorist camp or if you want to destroy a large area, where you reasonably think there are no innocent civilians," said Pike. But despite all the technology, the weapons do not come with a success guarantee. "All of the munitions are accurate, but none are perfect and any is capable of missing occasionally," said Pike.
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said 35 civilians -- including four Afghans working for a UN mine disposal team in Kabul -- have been killed in the US-led strikes. "What we're going to discover in any operation in Afghanistan is what new technology works and what doesn't," says Dan Goure, an analyst at the Lexington Institute.
One question is whether high-powered blasting and penetrating munitions are also needed to blow up underground bunkers, as was the case in Iraq. "It's clear there are tunnels and shelters in Afghanistan, but I'm not sure they are so deep as to require penetrating munitions; certainly JDAMs guidance kits could be used with standard hard target penetrating bombs," said Pike.
Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse
