Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 20, 1991 TAG: 9102200479
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Was this a case of Saddam's braggadocio against Schwarzkopf's bravado, or was Schwarzkopf suggesting that America and its allies have not yet begun to fight?
It is most likely that Schwarzkopf was sending Saddam and the rest of the world a message: After the dazzling performance of the Patriot missile and thousands of pinpoint bombings, the new front about to open on the ground will revolutionize combat.
When most of us think of ground war, we envision an infantryman with a rifle exposing his body to machine guns, artillery fire and land mines. Yet, just as American technology has given us mastery of the skies, there have been important advances made in ground-combat weaponry that put America and its allied forces in position to deliver a quick knockout punch to the best that Saddam has been able to muster.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which has compiled a list of some ground-combat weaponry from unclassified documents, allied forces will have at their disposal the most spectacular weapons and support hardware ever brought onto a battle field.
Allied ground forces are expected to operate almost exclusively at night and to hide during the day. Apache helicopters, Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles perform better at night than do Iraqi systems in daylight. One device allows allied forces to see up to 10 miles in darkness and 40 miles in daylight. The array of electronic gadgets ready to confuse Iraqi forces is unprecedented.
Allied forces can jam anything the Iraqis have, including missile guidance systems and communications that operates in the electromagnetic spectrum. Some systems permit "deceptive imitative communications." There is speculation that the battle for the Saudi Arabian town of Khafji, which was a catastrophe for Iraqi forces, may have been stimulated by phony orders clandestinely issued by allied electronic-warfare wizards.
The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, mounted on a modified Boeing 707, tracks moving vehicles on the ground. It can distinguish between a tank and a truck and sends precise location data to short-range ballistic missiles (AFTCAMS), which can hit a half-dollar 100 miles away. It can also send information to the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), which lays down a sheet of steel fragments large enough to cover seven football fields 40 miles away.
Forget the old war films showing troops coming ashore and immediately exposing themselves to ground fire. Gone are the days of Tarawa and Inchon when Marines had to slog their way across seaside mine fields and withering shore battery fire to seize and hold a beachhead. Today's Marines will use superfast air cushion vehicles, Harrier jump jets and armored assault vehicles and will take the beach from positions over the horizon.
The armor plate on the front slope of the M-1 tank, as well as the British Challenger, has a secret design that makes it virtually impervious to any anti-tank weapon in the Iraqi arsenal. The M-1 tank gun has a super-hard penetrator that not only punches through any tanks the Iraqis have, but when it comes through to the interior, shatters into hundreds of phosphorific fragments that ignite anything inside.
Saddam has taunted the allies, calling them "cowards" for not engaging his forces in a ground war. President Bush has wisely bided his time, waiting for the air war to do more damage before putting ground forces in jeopardy.
Given the awesome arsenal the Americans and our allies have assembled, it appears Saddam's ground forces are about to get an unprecedented technological lesson in a field test of the most powerful and sophisticated ground combat equipment ever employed in warfare. Los Angeles Times Syndicate
by CNB