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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Miscellaneous
Message-ID: <1991Apr13.015125.23382@amd.com>
Date: 12 Apr 91 14:21:41 GMT
References: <1991Apr12.055056.13916@amd.com>
Sender: military@amd.com
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From: sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney)


In article <1991Apr12.055056.13916@amd.com>, Tony_Buckland@mtsg.ubc.ca writes:
>2)  How effective were the Stealth fighters?  If other planes were not
>subjected to effective AA, was this not because the Stealths and
>cruises got in first and dealt a suppressing blow to Iraqi AA from
>which it never recovered?

This is myth. The "hole" in Iraqi Air Defence was created by AH-64 Apache
helicopters using Hellfire missiles, with OH-58Ds used to illuminate the two
key search radars. From there, various strike packages fanned out into Iraq to
clean up town. Each strike package included electronic warfare planes (jammers)
and defense suppression (Wild Weasel). 

If you can't see it, you can't shoot at it. Most of the radar-guided stuff was
rendered ineffective by jamming and by the threat of anti-radiation missiles,
such as HARM and ALARM. If you emit, you die. 

Most things which were shot at by cruise missiles were also designated to be
bombed again by manned aircraft because planners didn't trust the cruise 100%
(very difficult to get an after-action report from this first-generation
missile :-). 

-- 
sysmgr@cadlab.eng.umd.edu