National Post (f/k/a The Financial Post) March 22, 2003
Undreamed-of precision: Satellites, lasers at the controls of Iraq bombardment
By Michael Friscolanti
On Wednesday night, when the U.S.S. Bunker Hill fired a barrage of cruise missiles toward Baghdad, it signalled the beginning of what many believe is a new stage in modern warfare.
The bombardment started after U.S. intelligence agents received a tip that Saddam Hussein and his two sons were in a particular building. Although the strike ultimately failed -- Saddam was reportedly injured in the blast -- the attack revealed just how crucial computer-guided weapons would be in the early stages of an attack on Iraq.
From e-bombs to smart bombs to revamped cruise missiles, the U.S. military has an arsenal of high-tech weapons that appear to mark a fundamental shift in the way wars are fought.
"There is no comparison," Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, said on Friday. "The weapons that are being used today have a degree of precision that no one every dreamt of in a prior conflict. They didn't exist. And it's not a handful of weapons, it's the overwhelming majority of the weapons that have that precision."
Unlike the 1991 Gulf War, when fewer than 25% of bombs were guided to targets, almost all of the missiles fired into Iraq over the past few days have been directed by satellites or lasers. They are said to have nearly pinpoint accuracy.
"There has never been so much firepower delivered so accurately before," said John Thompson, director of the Mackenzie Institute, a Toronto-based military think- tank. "In terms of rubble for rubble or destruction for the dollar, it's never been so efficient."
That new standard of efficiency is most evident in the military's unprecedented reliance on smart bombs, which use Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
Twelve years ago, such munitions were used only in special operations. Today, after a decade of fine-tuning, they are considered the norm.
"There is a revolution that's occurring -- or a remarkable evolution -- in military affairs," said Patrick Garrett, an analyst at the defence policy think-tank globalsecurity.org. "One bomb, one kill. That's what they're looking for."
Many of the new "one kill" bombs are actually older missiles retrofitted with a guidance kit known as Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM). Simply put, JDAMs allow the so-called "dumb" bombs to steer.
Used for the first time during the war in Kosovo, the JDAM kits, which cost approximately US$20,000 each, include a tail fin and a small computer that interacts with the U.S. Air Force's 27 GPS satellites.
The bombs can be unleashed by an assortment of U.S. fighter jets. They then use radio signals from satellites -- which can pinpoint any location on Earth -- to plot their path to a target. The weapon's guidance system receives constant signals telling it to adjust its fins and stay on target.
When it does reach the target, a JDAM is usually accurate within 13 metres.
"There's a huge advantage, militarily, of using GPS," said Richard Langley, a University of New Brunswick engineering professor and expert on GPS. "It's an all-weather system. Some of the navigation systems, such as the laser-directed weapons, become useless in smoke and fog, whereas GPS is unaffected."
GPS-guided bombs also cut down on collateral damage, which not only saves innocent lives, but inflicts the least amount of possible damage on a country that the bombers will eventually have to help repair.
"It's important to note, though, that no system is fail-safe," Dr. Langley said yesterday. "Where the problem comes in is entering the co-ordinates of the target into the device, and at some point, humans have to do that job. And if co-ordinates are entered incorrectly, the munition has no way of knowing."
But for the military, the potential for precision far outweighs the potential for human error. More than 6,000 JDAMs have already been shipped to the Persian Gulf.
It is not the only satellite-driven weapon over there.
The BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile, which is fired from warships and submarines and powered by a turbojet engine, uses stored digital pictures of the target area for more precise strikes. Armed with maps and photos, the missile can search for and recognize the target it needs to engage.
The AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), nicknamed "Jazz-em," is equipped with folding fins and 1,000-pound explosive warheads capable of destroying underground targets. It is also satellite-driven.
"The pace of technological revolution has certainly accelerated," Mr. Thompson said. "You can kill what's there much more efficiently than you ever could before."
Killing, however, is not the only thing America's new weapons can do.
Although rarely discussed, the U.S. military has reportedly developed a series of surveillance devices, such as "mini-drones," which are capable of flying inside buildings and relaying video to nearby troops, and small reconnaissance robots, which could be sent down streets and alleys ahead of soldiers.
The government has also reportedly created an "e-bomb" capable of dismantling computer networks and radar transmitters and crippling other electronic devices.
The project is shrouded in secrecy, but it is believed the e-bomb is a Tomahawk cruise missile armed with a special warhead. Rather than exploding when it reaches its target, the e-bomb would release a high-energy pulse of microwaves that would be akin to the shock of a lightning bolt. The powerful burst of low-frequency radiation, believed to be approximately two-billion watts, would overload and eventually destroy everything from telephone lines to power sockets. It is believed the bomb can even disable the electronic ignitions in vehicles and aircraft.
Whether they have a role to play against the apparently primitively armed Iraqi military forces remains to be seen, but e-bombs could be extremely effective in future conflicts. "They would be useful against any adversary that is dependent on on electronic systems," said Loren Thompson, a defence analyst at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think-tank.
In modern warfare, electronics are the foundation of virtually every weapon more sophisticated than a rifle or a hand grenade.
"There's been a lot of discussion behind closed doors in the Pentagon and in the trade press that these things are now being tested," Thompson said.
Of all the new technology being unveiled in Iraq, one of the most important is actually a remake of a weapon made famous during the first Gulf War.
In 1991, the Patriot was the centrepiece of the military's televised news briefings, which repeatedly depicted the missile intercepting enemy Scuds. Its reputation was shattered years later, however, when it was revealed that few of the interceptions actually occurred.
Since then, the government has built a slicker Patriot that bears little resemblance to the original. Powered by rocket motors and a built-in radar, the new version also actually strikes the target, whereas the old one merely exploded near it.
And according to Pentagon officials, this one works. On Thursday, it apparently knocked out two Iraqi rockets that were fired at troops along the Iraq-Kuwait border.
Whether that proves true remains to be seen, but analysts are giving the U.S. military the benefit of the doubt.
"The Rumsfeld vision of the technological transformation may be a little bit in advance of what the technology can deliver," said Martin Chadwick, a military analyst at York University.
"But if not smart bombs, they're at least semi-smart."
GRAPHIC: Color Photo: U.S. Navy Intelligence Specialist 1st Class Kenneth Moll, Reuters; A cruise missile is fired from a U.S. cruiser. Twelve years ago, such munitions were used only in special operations. Today, after a decade of fine-tuning, they are the norm.
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