FOX THE BIG STORY WITH JOHN GIBSON January 10, 2003
Analysis with Jim Angle, Colum Lynch
GIBSON: Pentagon planners have a new something to worry about if we attack Iraq. Baghdad may actually have a way to keep our bombs and missiles from hitting their targets.
National Security Correspondent Bret Baier live at the Pentagon.
What do they got, Bret?
BRET BAIER, FOX NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it is a major concern here in this building. Senior defense officials tell Fox that Iraq may have purchased a few hundred GPS jammers, Global Positioning System jammers, that may be able to jam U.S. military precision-guided weapons. Now Fox News obtained a photograph of one of these devices, an electronic device that they're -- believed to have been purchased from a Russian company. Now these GPS jammers have been known to interrupt a GPS signal and might be able to send U.S. SMART bombs off target.
We have a second full screen to show you, coming from a Russian air show where these devices were being showed -- sold, rather. It shows a map of Iraq there on the left. You can see that yellow map, and there are circles around it. Those are possible locations for these jammers to be placed.
Now the U.S. Air Force is testing similar devices to see if they really work and, if so, to find out ways around them. In fact, they've been doing this for the past few months. This story is just breaking, however.
It's estimated that more than 80 percent of the U.S. weapons that would be used in a war with Iraq would be satellite-guided munitions. Defense officials say they don't know how effective these jammers would be, but they emphasize that they wouldn't prevent bombing runs.
One official, though, told me that there are still a lot of questions yet to be answered. The implication here is, if these jammers are effective, they could potentially mean higher casualty rates on both sides.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN PIKE, GLOBALSECURITY.ORG: The problem is that if the satellite signal is interrupted by these jammers that the bombs are not going to be as accurate, you're going to hit fewer of the intended targets, more unintended orphanages and hospitals are going to be hit, and I think that that's basically part of Saddam's strategy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BAIER: Now the satellite-guided bombs the U.S. military uses, JDAMs, also have an internal system, a navigational system that would kind of override the GPS. They would be able to hit at targets but perhaps not as accurate in the small circle.
Also, of course, there are laser-guided bomb that we used extensively in Afghanistan. We've seen so much of that gun-camera video. Those would not be affected by those jamming devices.
I just talked to an Air Force general who said, if he were an adversary of the U.S., he wouldn't bet the farm on GPS jamming devices to protect his country -- John.
GIBSON: Bret -- Bret Baier at the Pentagon.
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