dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) (02/05/91)
From: dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) In article <1991Feb4.054941.16979@cbnews.att.com>, YZKCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Yaakov Kayman) writes: > > > From: Yaakov Kayman <YZKCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> > Would anyone with some knowledge, military or political, please comment > on the ability of the cream of Iraq's air force (Foxbats, Fulcrums, > Sukhoi bombers) to escape to Iran even though "the coalition" has AWACS > planes aloft 24 hours a day? Surely, even if our supersonic fighters > ... >From a practical standpoint, note that northern Iraq extends over 500 miles north of the Persian Gulf, and is even farther from Saudi Arabia. There are airbases in northern Iraq probably 100 miles or less from Iranian across the border. Unless the U.S. maintained CAP all over Iraq, there is no way our planes or missiles could catch a group of Iraqi planes hopping across the border. Doug
smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) (02/06/91)
From: smb@ulysses.att.com (Steven Bellovin) In article <1991Feb4.054941.16979@cbnews.att.com>, YZKCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Yaakov Kayman) writes: > From: Yaakov Kayman <YZKCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> > Would anyone with some knowledge, military or political, please comment > on the ability of the cream of Iraq's air force (Foxbats, Fulcrums, > Sukhoi bombers) to escape to Iran even though "the coalition" has AWACS > planes aloft 24 hours a day? The relevant knowledge may be geographic -- there are large portions of the border that are beyond the effective range of coalition planes. (That is, I'm sure those areas can be reached -- but only with difficulty, mid-air refueling, and advance planning.) And, of course, once the planes enter Iranian air space they're safe. Btw, I'm basing my estimates of the effective range of coalition planes on the reported difficulty in bombing the northern airfields, at least until Turkey joined in. --Steve Bellovin