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From: bcstec!shuksan!major@uunet.UU.NET (Mike Schmitt)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: B-52 capabilities ?
Keywords: B-52, carpet bombing
Message-ID: <1991Feb6.025623.18191@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 6 Feb 91 02:56:23 GMT
References: <1991Feb5.034737.1343@cbnews.att.com>
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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