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From: gwh%soda.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: B-52, B-1, B-2, and F-14 in Des. Storm
Summary: some answers
Keywords: B-2 F-14
Message-ID: <1991Jan24.032221.17890@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 24 Jan 91 03:22:21 GMT
References: <1991Jan21.033250.29291@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: UCB Open Access Computing
Lines: 46
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: gwh%soda.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)

In article <1991Jan21.033250.29291@cbnews.att.com> ccc@anomaly.SBS.COM (Cole Calistra) writes:
>1. I have not heard any mention of the B-1B, or the B-2 Stealth Bomber 
>   being over in Saudi Arabia, or any of our staging areas.  Are there
>   in fact any of them over there?  If not, why not?  Wouldn't the B-2
>   be even BETTER suited than the F-117 for night bombing under the Stealth
>   radar avoidance?  Wouldn't the B-1B be better for carpet bombing than 
>   the B-52 since it's faster, or are they not in service yet?

There's not a whole lot of point to it; the Stealth bomber is designed to 
penetrate a high-lethality Integrated Air Defence System with minimal nuclear
strike missions.  It doesn't have a lot of payload, nor is Iraq that lethal
an air defense environment (due mostly to Iron Hand and Wild Weasel strikes
of unusual effectiveness).

>2. Is the SR-71 still in service in Turkey as was reported in sci.military
>   (or should I say rumored) bacak in July and August?  

Maybe.  Stay tuned for details when/if declassified...?

>3. Can the F-14 be used as a bomber, if necessary?  Either way, are there
>   any other armaments besides the Sidewinder, Pheonix, Sparrow missles, and
>   the cannon that would work or fit on the F-14?  What is the F-14's main
>   role in Desert Storm since the engagement of Iraqi planes has been 
>   limited at best?  Is it just CAP and escort for the bombers that are there?

The F-14 is not currently cleared with any air-to-ground weapons.  It was
tested with them once, but there were some problems and it was decided never to
solve them (for both budget and mission reasons).  F-14's have been flying
some CAP roles, with not a whole lot of information available about details.

>4. Are the Canadian CF-18's able to be dual role attack and fighter planes
>   like the US F/A-18's are?  

Yes.  They're F-18A/B's, fully functional, with some minor detail changes in
radio equipment and secondary equipment.


  == George William Herbert ==   * UNIX ate my last .sig, Waiting for Plan 9! *
 == JOAT for Hire: Anything, ==  #########  I do Naval Architecture, ##########
===+++ Anywhere, my price +++=== # Spacecraft Design, UNIX Systems Consulting #
 ==  gwh@soda.berkeley.edu   ==  # RPG writing/development, and lots of other #
  ==  gwh@ocf.berkeley.edu  ==   ## random stuff, of course.  I'm a JOAT 8-) ##