DoD News Briefing
Thursday, July 2, 1998 - 1:30 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
........ Q: Could you give us an update on developments in the no-fly zone around Iraq? Have there been any additional threats to any allied aircraft? Any paintings?
A: No. There have been no additional threats. Secretary Cohen said he hoped this was an isolated incident and it appears that it has been that. We have noticed a little increase in defensive movements of Iraqi air defense assets. As you know, when they're worried about the security of the air defense assets they move them around and we have seen a slight increase in movement in these assets, but we have seen no additional threats, no additional illuminations. A U-2 flew two days ago after this happened without incident. This reinforces our initial belief that this was an isolated incident.
Q: Do you have any report of any battle damage? Did the missile actually hit the SAM site?
A: We have no indication that it did hit the SAM site, and in fact although we're still looking, I don't believe we've found any damage so far.
It may help to understand how the HARM missile operates. They're designed to detonate above a radar installation and to spread, to shoot out a stream of shrapnel that destroys the radar. So if it were to detonate over a lake, as the Iraqis said, they said actually went into a lake, or if it were to detonate over the ground or even over some buildings it might be very difficult for us to detect where that detonation had occurred because what you get is a rain of shrapnel down, little pellets, basically, rather than a building that explodes.
Q: You say it appears to be an isolated event. Do you have any evidence that would suggest it was an action by a rogue operator?
A: Well, the short answer is no, we don't. I suppose you could conclude that that might have been what happened, but it could have been a mistake. A number of things could have led to this. They could have been making a test. It doesn't look like that's what they were doing, but there are a number of things that could have happened.
We don't have a good explanation for why this incident occurred.
Q: Let me turn that question around then and ask it the other way. Do you have any evidence to show that this was ordered by Baghdad?
A: We do not.
Q: Do you have solid evidence in fact that the planes were targeted?
A: I believe it to be solid evidence. There were multiple reports of radar illuminating these planes, and it was not just a nanosecond beam of radar. It lasted for some seconds. So, I think, we have pretty firm evidence that it was an illumination.
Q: Has the pilot who fired the missile, is he still in theater or has he been brought back to the United States?
A: I assume he's still in theater. I mean, this is what pilots are trained to do, protect their colleagues when they're flying in dangerous areas. Although fortunately we have not had to fire many missiles in this area recently, this was the first one fired since November 4th of 1996, pilots live with the expectation that this could happen on any mission and they're very well trained to deal with this. That's what happened in this case. It's their business.
Q: Has this particular missile site, this exact location, been reconnoitered? Has it been tested since? And what did the photo reconnaissance show?
A: I already went into the damage assessment. I can't answer the question as to whether it's been tested since.
Q: Is there any new direction to U.S. pilots in terms of how they might respond to being painted in the future or to other allied pilots?
A: No, not that I'm aware of.
Q: Can you say that patrols are regular in numbers...
A: The patrols have continued without interruption and my understanding is without change. Now, we gather a huge amount of information every day in this area that is used to plan the missions we fly. And one of the main points of gathering this information is to make sure that the missions are as safe as possible. They have to go over certain areas to do their job and we need to know what threats they face over those areas, so we are constantly gathering information and making adjustments in the mission such as the number of planes that fly, the time they might fly, etc. So it's not... We don't fly by rigid, pre-set patterns. We're always responding to the information we get. But there has been no major change in the pattern of flight in Operation Southern Watch.
Press: Thank you.
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