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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: SCUD Intercepted!
Message-ID: <1991Feb7.015545.3454@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 7 Feb 91 01:55:45 GMT
References: <1991Jan18.182446.1944@cbnewsc.att.com> <1991Jan23.041452.5888@cbnews.att.com> <1991Feb4.062022.19173@cbnews.att.com> <1991Feb5.042527.5653@cbnews.att.com>,<1991Feb6.032230.21600@cbnews.att.com>
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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
>>Horse hockey. Su-24 comes in to make a runway attack, it will get shot at by
>>whatever can be thrown at it. You don't know if it has chemicals or a lot of
>>bombs. You don't take the chance, either.
>
>So you shoot it down, and a Scud gets through that night because you're
>short of Patriots?  

The Scud is a Mickey-Mouse weapon which has a mickey mouse payload,
no proven ability to carry chemical weapons (Despite working day
and night the Iraqis haven't figured out how to get an adequate way to disperse
chemicals out of an RV).  

The Su-24 has a greater bomb load and greater accuracy to unload missiles. Plus
a certified ability to carry chemical weapons.

Unless you know something I don't, there aren't any shortages of Pats in the
Persian Gulf War. If anything there are lots of "Block 1" Patriots available,
which are designed to kill airplanes, and fewer "Block 2" Pats designed for a
dual-role. Regardless, you use what you have at hand to take out the threat.

>Don't be silly; the military gets paid to take chances.  

They also work on manageable risk. They haven't engaged every SCUD either. They
will engage every serious threat. An Su-24 is a more serious threat than a
SCUD. 
 
>Deploying your weapons wisely includes saving your most capable
>weapons to deal with the most difficult threats.  Although I don't know
>for sure, it would not surprise me at all if the Patriot batteries are
>under orders to fire at aircraft only as a last-ditch self-defense measure.

That's absurd. "Sorry, we couldn't shoot at it because they didn't attack us
directly." If a plane flies into a Patriot's area of coverage and it is
designated hostile, it WILL be shot at. Even if the wreckage is later
identified as friendly :-(.

 Doug Mohney, Operations Manager, CAD Lab/ME, Univ. of Maryland College Park
	        *       Ray Kaplan for DECUS president     *
                          SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU