Australian Broadcasting Corporation LATELINE: Late night news & current affairs February 14, 2003
Experts claim new weaponry could win war
For the people of Basra and the rest of Iraq, the last conflict delivered death and destruction on a massive scale. This time around, however, the US military has developed its strike capabilities to the extent that a war could be won, before troops are needed on the ground. Lateline's Norman Hermant looks at the US weaponry now ready for battle.
Compere: Maxine McKew
Reporter: Norman Hermant
MAXINE McKEW: For the people of Basra and the rest of Iraq, the last conflict delivered death and destruction on a massive scale.
This time around, however, the US military has developed its strike capabilities to the extent that a war could be won, before troops are needed on the ground.
Lateline's Norman Hermant looks at the US weaponry now ready for battle.
NORMAN HERMANT: 1991 -- the world watches one of the most lopsided military routes in history.
An estimated 100,000 Iraqis killed.
Coalition forces suffered less than 500 dead.
12 years later -- vast armies are again facing off in the desert.
But many experts say this war won't look the same.
PATRICK GARRETT, GLOBAL SECURITY: I think this is going to definitely be a very different war than we saw in Operation Desert Storm back in '91.
NORMAN HERMANT: From smart bombs to patriot missiles, the last Gulf War introduced a whole new family of high-tech weapons.
Since then, there have been more.
Stealth bombers pounded targets in Yugoslavia.
Uninhabited aerial vehicles -- or UAV's -- prowled the skies over Afghanistan.
PATRICK GARRETT: Over the last 12 years there's been an evolution in military development, in that, there have been slow steps that have been taken that have increased the capabilities of the armed forces.
NORMAN HERMANT: The latest weapon sits inside a cruise missile.
It's designed to cause electronic chaos.
Top secret HPM's -- or High-Powered Microwave Weapons -- emit powerful electronic bursts as they close in on target, strong enough to infiltrate hardened bunkers, scramble computer circuits, knock-out missile control systems Weapons analysts say this time we will see the impacts of HPM's.
PATRICK GARRETT: It essentially fries the wiring, the internal wiring, and makes them unusable.
The US has been studying these technology for a number of years and they've been building their own defences against it.
But it really is quite an effective means of preventing the enemy from the ability to wage war.
NORMAN HERMANT: Microwave weapons could cripple Iraqi defences and knock out communications even more quickly than in the last Gulf War.
And the Iraqis will also have to face a huge increase in the use of so-called "smart bombs".
The military calls them JDAM's -- or Joint Direct-Attack Munitions.
They have switched from lasers to satellite GPS technology to fix target positions.
They strike with deadly accuracy -- on average, just metres from the target.
Former top RAAF commander Peter Nicholson says this will be a different air war from the one 12 years ago.
PETER NICHOLSON, FORMER AIR VICE-MARSHAL: In the first Gulf War, about 10 per cent of the munitions were precision-guided munitions.
In operation Enduring Freedom, in Afghanistan, it was 80 per cent plus.
I would think in any future campaign it will be close to 100 per cent precision-guided munitions.
NORMAN HERMANT: There is another advantage forces allied against Iraq will have this time -- what the military call "situational awareness".
In plain language, that's information.
Today's US battlefield tank has about as much digital technology as entire command centres had in 1991.
PETER NICHOLSON: Because all the force is networked, the whole tempo of operations, the pace of events occurring, is very much faster, so it's around-the-clock relentless onslaught which has a fantastic and tremendous psychological impact on the adversary.
NORMAN HERMANT: Then there are the frightening scenarios of what might happen if Iraq lashes out with chemical or biological weapons.
The US has pointedly refused to limit its options and hasn't ruled out a nuclear response.
But most experts say it's extremely unlikely that US would resort to nuclear weapons.
The military arsenal in place, they say, is more than powerful enough to remove Saddam and his regime.
Norman Hermant, Lateline.
Copyright © 2003, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
