ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 11, 1995 TAG: 9512110023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The New York Times
The 20,000 American troops who roll into Bosnia in the days and weeks ahead will be armed with an array of advanced technology and tactics tailored for the Balkan mission, from speedier U-2 spy plane pictures to stealthy anti-sniper teams to tanks specially equipped for blowing up land mines, American military officials say.
Some equipment has never been used in an actual mission, such as a new camera on the Apache attack helicopter that will transmit aerial photographs of the cease-fire zone to a command post within 90 seconds. And proven tactics will be adjusted for the Bosnia mission. Psychological operation troops, for example, will prepare leaflets, radio broadcasts, and posters in Serbo-Croatian advising residents that the NATO force comes in peace but will indeed defend itself.
The 1st Armored Division, the force of 13,000 that will make up the bulk of American troops in Bosnia, will leave in Germany one-third of the 70-ton M-1A1 tanks it planned to bring, but is adding extra Bradley fighting vehicles, which are more maneuverable on winding mountain roads, and triple the usual number of radars to identify and attack hostile mortar and artillery fire.
Leery of possible terrorist attacks - such as the car bomb that killed 241 Marines in Lebanon in 1983 - American forces will patrol in small units and never alone, enforce tight security around the base camps and restrict troops from socializing with local residents. The 1st Armored Division will have intelligence analysts assigned to monitor terrorist activities worldwide that could target American troops in Bosnia.
``There will be special provisions made to provide national and strategic intelligence to them,'' Defense Secretary William Perry said last week. ``We will have a very special, dedicated effort to provide intelligence support for our troops.''
Every military mission has its own variety of threats. Although NATO troops are entering the region under a peace accord agreed upon by all the rival factions, commanders plan for the worst and seek any advantage over an enemy, which in the case of Bosnia may include the harsh winter weather and the mountainous terrain.
``We're flooding the zone with anyone or anything that has the potential to help,'' said one American general.
One of the biggest advantages any military can have is knowing the location of a potential foe. In Bosnia, allied commanders will get a big-picture view from Jstars surveillance planes, which track and send back radar images of large troop movements, as well as U-2 and RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft, which take photographs or eavesdrop on electronic transmissions. Unmanned drones also will be used to photograph the cease-fire area in the American zone
Helicopters will play an important role in monitoring the 2.5-mile-wide cease-fire zone. More than 70 Army Apache and Kiowa helicopters will be equipped with heat-detecting sensors and video cameras that can monitor troops or equipment more than a mile away. The Apaches will have a new system called photo-telesis that can transmit aerial pictures to a command post within 90 seconds.
To help pilots and other soldiers during night operations, the Army has provided 3,000 pairs of its newest night-vision goggles to troops going to Bosnia.
NATO commanders do not expect to face organized armies. The biggest threats will come instead from weather-related accidents, rogue militia, snipers, and an estimated 6 million land mines scattered throughout the country.
The Army, borrowing lessons from the Persian Gulf War, is bringing special plows, rakes and huge rollers that can be hitched to tanks and used to clear a mine field. The Army also has dispatched 180 sets of body armor - blast-proof visors, shrapnel-resistant pants and heavy-duty anti-mine overboots - at $1,300 a suit, for specialists in mine removal.
In the next few months, the Army also plans to test remote-controlled vehicles that could be used to scout mine fields and a special foam that would harden over a mine and prevent it from exploding.
Every American soldier will undergo mine-awareness training at an Army training center in Hohenfels, Germany. ``Personnel are trained to look for signs of mining activities including dead animals, craters, blown vehicles and disturbed soil,'' said Capt. John Suttle, a spokesman for the 1st Armored Division.
The peace agreement calls for rival factions to clear the mines. But Serbo-Croatian-speaking civil affairs specialists will ask farmers and other residents where they believe mines are located. ``We're going to chew up a lot of plowed fields,'' said one Army officer.
To combat snipers, commanders will order soldiers to keep a low profile, conceal critical equipment and throw blankets over windows. Using tactics honed in Somalia, the Army also is sending in anti-sniper teams. Experts from the Army's Sniper School at Fort Benning, Ga., have trained 26 1st Armored Division snipers in stalking and shooting techniques. The Army snipers, working in pairs, will use special rifles equipped with thermal sights that can pick out a person in a building or forest.
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