Associated Press October 3, 2002
U.S. Military Improving Over Time
By MATT KELLEY
WASHINGTON (AP)--If the United States decides on a military attack to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the American forces will be able to do things that were impossible in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, such as redirect missiles to new targets while they are in the air.
The United States has used the 11 years since driving Iraqi forces from Kuwait to improve its weapons, equipment and training and study Iraq's targets and tactics. Iraq, on the other hand, had much of its military might destroyed in the war and must rely on smuggled spare parts to keep its most advanced equipment running.
That doesn't necessarily mean an attack on Iraq would be easy or bloodless, former military officers say.
``Even though they (Iraqi forces) are certainly a third weaker and we are ten times stronger, there are some challenges and some unknowns out there,'' said retired Rear Adm. Stephen Baker, who served on the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt during the Gulf War.
Perhaps the most important advances for the United States have come from the explosion in communications and information technology.
Back during the Gulf War, for example, Navy commanders had to wait two or three days to get assessments of the damage caused by allied bombing runs, Baker said. These days, commanders can get preliminary data almost immediately--either from the planes that dropped the bombs, other aircraft or pilotless drones in the area.
U.S. military commanders now can watch live video of a battle as it unfolds from an unmanned Predator drone. Pilots from the Navy and Air Force can talk and share computerized target data with each other and U.S. forces on the ground. Tomahawk cruise missiles can be told in flight to change their destined targets.
``You've got video conferencing with major commanders and with ships at sea, when during the Gulf War they had to get a printout of the air tasking order (target list) and helicopter it out to the aircraft carriers,'' said John Pike, a military analyst with the consulting firm GlobalSecurity.org.
Another advance--and a direct result of the Gulf War--is the development of more and cheaper precision-guided bombs. Fewer than half of the bombs dropped on Iraq in the Gulf War were guided by lasers or video cameras, while more than 60 percent of the weapons dropped on Afghanistan have been precision munitions.
New weapons include:
. The Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, a $21,000 kit that turns an unguided ``dumb'' bomb into a satellite-guided ``smart'' bomb. The JDAM has been a favorite weapon of U.S. commanders in Afghanistan. The Boeing Co. factory in Missouri which assembles JDAM kits expects to double production by the end of the year.
. The Joint Standoff Weapon, or JSOW, a $150,000 bomb with small wings which allow it to be steered by satellite or laser as it glides to its target. The JSOW was developed after the Gulf War to be dropped by planes out of reach of an enemy's air defenses.
. Laser-guided bombs, which the military has improved and stocked up on during the past decade.
``The technical problem of hitting a fixed location is solved,'' said retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, who commanded the Air Force during the Gulf War. ``We can do it in any weather, we can do it at night and with relatively inexpensive munitions.''
But precision weapons are only useful if the military knows where the targets are. Getting that kind of intelligence is still a problem, though intelligence gathering has improved since the Gulf War, McPeak said.
The best targeting information usually comes from having people on the ground in the area--one reason why the special operations forces teams in Afghanistan have been so important to the success of the war there.
Iraq's military is much weaker than in 1991, when Saddam had a million-man army and some of the latest military technology. Now, estimates put the number of Iraqi troops at around 400,000--and experts say the loyalty and expertise of many Iraqi units are questionable.
The biggest worries for the United States are Iraq's air defenses and its weapons of mass destruction.
Much of Iraq's relatively sophisticated air defense network remains in place despite being struck during the Gulf War and during enforcement of the northern and southern no-fly zones. Recent U.S. strikes have focused on Iraq's fiber-optic communications network, mobile anti-aircraft radar systems and command-and-control centers.
The Iraqis have tried several creative ways to shoot down an allied jet, but those attempts have all failed.
Although U.S. officials assume Saddam has chemical and biological weapons--and probably at least a few Scud missiles to deliver them--there has been no definitive proof of that.
One problem with chemical or biological weapons is they can be small and mobile, and therefore very difficult to find and destroy before they are used, McPeak said.
``You're talking about onesies and twosies. That's a different problem than 50,000 tanks headed in your direction,'' McPeak said. ``That's a tough target--to pick out a single mover and make sure it's the right guy.''
Copyright 2002, The Associated Press.
