Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060340
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Medium
They have described for reporters here saturation bombing that will last around the clock for three or four days and be carried out by more than 2,000 planes, ranging from high-level, eight-engine B-52 bombers to two-seat F-15E Eagles capable of performing at Mach 2.
Allied planes already have flown more missions over Iraq and Kuwait than were carried out against Japan in the last 14 months of World War II. In less than three weeks, they have dropped more high-explosive tonnage than did the combined allied forces during all of that war, according to a British defense consultant. But that initial air campaign, military officials said, has not been as intense as the one awaiting the dug-in Iraqis in Kuwait and southern Iraq.
When asked last week about Iraq's ability to withstand the allies' opening air attacks, the U.S. commander, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, said, in apparent reference to the planned new campaign, "The best is yet to come."
The U.S. Air Force plans to shift a high percentage of its planes north for the days preceding a ground attack. Air Force liaison specialists will travel with each armored battalion to coordinate fire control, spotting and relaying targets to pilots overhead.
"The B-52s will fly over from high altitude straight and level and aim for a specific area, more like a harassment or zone type of bombing," Air Force Maj. Bob Baltzer told pool correspondents. "We'll roll the F-15Es in at night, and during the day the F-16s will attack with precision bombing. They can put a 2,000-pound bomb on a bunker. They will be hitting specific gun emplacements and command centers."
The F-15E Eagles have sophisticated radar and optics for finding and hitting targets in the dark. Allied commanders hope that the intense bombing will pressure the Iraqis, who are believed to hold a 4-to-1 advantage in armor over the 705,000-man allied force, into moving into the open, making them vulnerable to A-10 "Warthogs," warplanes specifically designed to destroy tanks.
It is still possible that air power alone could defeat Iraq, and a British officer said Tuesday that the allies' air attacks were "continuing to apply the grinding wheel to the Iraqi military machine." But military commanders in Saudi Arabia and Washington increasingly believe that a ground war will be necessary to dislodge the Iraqis from Kuwait.
Once the ground war begins, the Air Force role will switch to one of close air support. The allied plan will follow closely the air-ground doctrine under which NATO soldiers trained in Europe for combat against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The doctrine calls for coordinated air attacks to open a way through enemy lines for armored thrusts, even against numerically superior forces.
As the deaths last week of seven Marines hit by a U.S. jet's missile showed, there are considerable dangers inherent to close air support of ground troops. But Baltzer told correspondents that the Air Force and Army had worked to evolve a plan of fire control and maneuver that would minimize the risks of misidentifying targets and attacking friendly forces.
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this will work perfectly," he said. "Something will probably go wrong. But the main thrust of what we are doing is to make sure we get eyeballs on the right target."
by CNB