Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: How Many B-2's Are Enough ??? Message-ID: <8447@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 20 Jul 89 01:35:01 GMT References: <8347@cbnews.ATT.COM> <8413@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 28 Approved: military@att.att.com From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) In article <8413@cbnews.ATT.COM>, sun!Central!uokmax!jkmedcal@uunet.UU.NET (Jeff K Medcalf) writes: : : >From: portal!cup.portal.com!mmm@apple.com : >Scenario #1: Soviet Union spends billions building an air defense radar : >system capable of dealing with stealth. By only building 5 or 10 planes, : >we achieve the effect of the entire procurement. : : Except the Soviets are way ahead of us in IR technology (in fact, most if not : all of thier newer fighters have infrared sensors on them, enabling an elec- : tronically silent approach and kill), and may very well opt to up this lead, : put large airborne infrared sensors in service in conjunction with satellites, : and thus spend much less money developing a counter. This would not be good : enough to stop a fleet, but it could stop 5-10. The B-2's stealthiness included a lot of work in masking the planes IR signature, as well as the radar signature. : Dropping biological weapons could be done by missile much more easily and with : less cost. Spies and their supplies, I would assume, have routes in and out : which give them some cover and legitimacy (a record of shipment is better than : something just arriving). Assinating leaders is not as easy as it sounds when : you're dealing with moving people and big aircraft. We learned that in Libya. A B-2 strike like the one done by F-111s in Libya might have been a lot more effective: the defenders might have had *no* warning, rather than the few minutes that they had back then. Reduced AA activity would have made for simpler entry and exit and much easier targeting problems.