dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) (02/05/91)
From: dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) There has been some discussion at my site (an elsewhere, I'm sure) about what the B-52's might be doing in Iraq & Kuwait. My understanding from the military briefers is that they have been bombing only Republican Guards and Iraqi army units in Kuwait -- but not buildings etc. in Baghdad. Can anyone confirm this? Along the same lines, I'd like to know just what the conventional bombing capabilities of B-52 are. E.g. Carpet bombing -- I gather this popular term refers to completely covering some target region with craters. How big or small can this target region be? Is this useful against hard bunkers? How do current capabilities/ doctrines differ from those of the Vietnam war? Modern bombing -- Can the B-52's use precision guided munitions? Do they? Thanks for whatever info you can give me. Doug
major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) (02/06/91)
From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt) > From: dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) > Along the same lines, I'd like to know just what the conventional bombing > capabilities of B-52 are. E.g. > Carpet bombing -- I gather this popular term refers to completely covering > some target region with craters. How big or small can this target region > be? Is this useful against hard bunkers? How do current capabilities/ > doctrines differ from those of the Vietnam war? > Modern bombing -- Can the B-52's use precision guided munitions? Do they? My first tour in Vietnam was as a B-52 (Arc Light) targetting officer. (as an Army second lieutenant - go figure). "Smart bombing" pinpoints their targets - to about 8-digit coordinates. B-52s take out grid squares! A 'target box' for a 3-ship strike is about 1 1/2km x 3km. "Targetting" doctrine probably is not too much different from Vietnam. "Weaponeering" current capabilities probably are - with the more modern munitions - but I'm not uptodate on that. mike schmitt