ABC News World News Tonight December 5, 2001
US bombs capable of penetrating deep into mountains and caves
PETER JENNINGS, anchor: We're going to take A CLOSER LOOK this evening at the US effort to penetrate the caves in Afghanistan. The US has been working on deeper penetration bombs since the Gulf War against Iraq. Now, it's very challenging to make a bomb that can penetrate 20 feet of concrete and 100 feet or more of Earth also plow straight through a mountain in Afghanistan. But the US believes the weapons have their uses in Afghanistan. And with an explanation here's ABC's Ned Potter.
NED POTTER reporting: The Pentagon said today that anti-Taliban fighters were closing in on the caves used by al-Qaeda. In some cases, perhaps, even reaching cave entrances. US pilots are supporting them with the precision-guided bombs like this one.
Offscreen Voice #1: (From bomb test video) Stand by. Mark, impact.
POTTER: (VO) But with enemy forces believed to be hiding far below the arid mountaintops, perhaps of 1500 feet down by some estimates, a bomb needs to burrow very deep into the ground. The Pentagon has a growing arsenal, though for security reasons, it will not say how deep its bombs can go.
Mr. CLARK MURDOCK (Center for Strategic & International Studies): The name of the game is trying to bring the explosive power of the warhead closer and closer to the intended target. And these intended targets are not just 100 feet below the ground, they may be far deeper.
POTTER: (VO) The Afghan caves have been turned into networks of underground rooms with different chambers dug out for sleeping, communications, weapons storage and prayer.
Offscreen Voice #2: Three, two, one, clear to release.
POTTER: (VO) This bomb, known as a GBU-24, is an Air Force mainstay, developed in the Gulf War and since refined. The Air Force says some of its weapons can be programmed to plow into the Earth but not go off until they've entered the correct room of a bunker deep below.
Mr. FRANK ROBBINS (Air Force Precision Strike System Program): We can actually sense when we're going through dirt, when we're going through reinforced concrete or when we're going through free space.
POTTER: (VO) Other new weapons are rocket-powered missiles. It's hoped they'll be able to fly down the mouths of some caves, though there's no saying any technology is perfect.
Mr. JOHN PIKE (Military Analyst): At some point you're going to need people on the ground to figure out who you've managed to kill and who's still at large.
POTTER: (VO) This is what's happening now. Twenty-first century technology being used to chase an enemy that hides in cave. Ned Potter, ABC News, New York.
JENNINGS: This bombing campaign currently under way in the mountains near the Tora Bora complex has caused civilian casualties. The international relief organization, Doctors Without Borders, says it has picked up more than 80 dead Afghan civilians and 50 wounded. The organization says this does not account for an unknown number of dead left behind in the villages.
Copyright 2001 ABC World News Tonight
