Conventions of warfare: weapons, effects and strategies explained

 WEAPONRY OF THE "NEW WAR" DECONSTRUCTED A
cut-away view of a Tomahawk missile used widely in U.S. attacks.
SOURCE: Federation of American Scientists Original graphic by
JARRETT QUON/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Web adaptation by CHRISTINE
TAN/Daily Bruin SENIOR STAFF

By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Reporter In the past week, the United States has used
conventional, or non-nuclear, strikes to retaliate against the
Taliban. These strikes ““ which include Tomahawk cruise
missiles, Precise Positioning Service guided bombs, a deep-boring
“bunker buster” bomb and standard cluster bombs ““
show the evolution of technology and warfare, allowing for more
precise intelligence and minimized allied casualties. Many weapons
are guided by internal global positioning system units, a U.S.
military space system which allows for real-time flight corrections
and the pinpointing of geographic locations anywhere on earth. The
Rand Corporation think tank said the GPS was developed to allow
U.S. forces to navigate anywhere accurately and securely without
having to reveal themselves by radio transmissions. The GPS network
has 24 satellites orbiting around the earth broadcasting precise
time signals. A GPS receiver on the ground or in the air picks up
multiple satellite signals to interpolate its latitude, longitude
and altitude.

 

Nuts and bolts: bombs and missiles Weapons such as the Tomahawk
cruise missile contain GPS receivers. The Tomahawk was first
outfitted with GPS during the Gulf War. In 1995 in Bosnia and 1996
in Iraq, its success rate went above 90 percent, according to the
Federation of American Scientists, which analyzes science,
technology and public policy. Every weapon from a rifle bullet to a
cruise missile has a circular error probability, which indicates
the distance from the actual target that munition will hit. The CEP
of the Tomahawk missile was reduced after GPS navigation units were
installed in it, allowing for more accurate strikes. According to
Maj. Charles Heyman, editor of “Jane’s World
Armies,” a publication of Jane’s Information Group
which provides intelligence for commercial subscribers, the CEP of
a missile 10 years ago was perhaps 30 meters. This meant the
missile would only come within 30 meters of the target. Today, he
said the CEP could be 10 meters.

  Tomahawks can be launched from ships and submarines to
attack land targets up to 600 nautical miles away, flying at speeds
at about 550 mph.

Advances in technology now allow bombs and missiles to be laser
guided. The GBU-28 “bunker buster” bomb is used by U.S.
forces and allies to hit underground bunkers. This 5,000-pound
bomb, dropped from F-15 aircraft, can penetrate 20 feet of concrete
and 100 feet of earth, according to the FAS. A soldier on the
ground “paints” a laser on the target, and the bomb
guides itself to the reflected laser spot. Its CEP is 8 meters,
according to FAS. “The concussion of it is tremendous, it
shakes your brain and it feels like it shook to the side of your
head,” said one military official from the National Training
Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. “It causes a scare factor, meant
for leaders and not for the people.”

Nuclear retaliation? Heyman said there’s a very low
possibility that al-Qaeda, the terrorist network to which suspected
terrorist Osama bin Laden is linked, has nuclear weapons. He said
that terrorists need a delivery system as well as the weapon, which
for most nations is a missile or bomb, but if terrorists lack the
resources to build an air delivery system, the nuclear weapon could
be put in a truck. “There are rumors ““ and they are
only rumors ““ that some Russian nuclear artillery shells
found their way into the region somewhere,” Heyman said.
“But to actually trigger them is probably beyond the ability
of the terrorist organizations to do,” he continued.
“If they were able to do it they would have probably done
that than crash aircraft into the World Trade Center. They would
have used their ace up their sleeve in the first
instant.”

 

Impacts of destruction While a nuclear explosion would alter the
environment in Afghanistan for years, the conventional weapons
currently striking the country will have a much lower impact,
partly because the natural terrain has changed so much since
ancient times. Researchers are indicating that the recent attacks
to Afghanistan won’t have a major geological impact on the
country. “Typically a bomb makes a crater and it moves soil
around,” said Peter Bird, a professor of earth and space
sciences. “People can plow around it because the soil is not
destroyed.” Bird said a major environmental impact may root
from the large amount of people making an exodus out of
Afghanistan, taking away a proportion of the country’s
agriculturists.

  Military attack strategy

In planning strikes against the Taliban’s military forces,
the United States and its allies first go for targets that need to
be destroyed to allow safe entry of allied aircraft, Heyman said.
After these air defense sites are destroyed, allied forces then hit
radar sites associated with those defense sites, then control and
communication sites because air defense need to be coordinated,
Heyman said. The next targets are the Taliban’s aircraft and
the airfields where they are based. “Already the U.S. and
allies have destroyed the Taliban’s air defenses,”
Heyman said, “This can be inferred by the fact that allied
aircraft have started to operate in daylight at relatively low
levels.”

 

Heyman said considerable planning on the recent air attacks has
been done since the last air strike in Afghanistan in 1998, and
intelligence officers are constantly updating targets. “On
Day One, they would have been able to put a target list in front of
the general commander,” Heyman said. “There would be
intense activity by targeting teams over that next week, bringing
target lists right up to date.” The military gains its
intelligence and reconnaissance with the aid of satellites, manned
and unmanned aircraft, and observers on the ground.

  Visual inspection and thermal imaging of images are two
main methods for determining potential targets and assessing
damage.

According to the military official from Fort Irwin, satellite
imagery helps to accurately strike a target. “I could read
the name tag from a person’s shirt (from satellite
imagery),” he said.

With reports from Hemesh Patel, Daily Bruin Staff.