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From: adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Equipment Comparison
Message-ID: <1991Mar18.004807.24378@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 18 Mar 91 00:48:07 GMT
References: <1991Mar12.233727.1299@cbnews.att.com> <1991Mar14.040036.27807@cbnews.att.com>
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From: adrian@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt)

In article <1991Mar14.040036.27807@cbnews.att.com> maarrrk@gauss.ucsb.edu (Mark Erickson) writes:
>
>	Equipment is only as good as the people who use it, and the
>	Iraqis did not appear to have their act together at all.

Perhaps, but superior equipment does give advantages.  Otherwise, why not
save millions of pounds (or dollars, for you ex-colonials :-) and buy
Spitfires instead of Tornados (or B-17's instead of B-1's)?

Returning to the specific question: if the U.S. had not had its smart weapons,
Baghdad would look different today.  Either it wouldn't have been attacked at
all, or it would have been flattened.  You don't go for specific buildings if
your only surface-to-surface missile is a Scud.  The results of tank battles
would be different, given the relative armour thickness and weapon capability
of the M-1 and T-72.  Allied T-72's might have done more to Iraqi M-1's than
Iraqi T-72's did to U.S. M-1's, though.  The air war would probably still have
been won by the Allies, since we would have made some use of the MiG-29's.

Incidentally, that comment about buying Spitfires instead of Tornados does
make me wonder - would an old Mosquito do well as a cheap stealth fighter?
It's mostly wooden, so it doesn't reflect much radar.  The few metallic
areas could be covered with RAM, as they are on the F-117.  And as it has
old piston engines, the Mosquito doesn't show up so well to anything looking
for IR.

 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

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