European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday december-4, 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 3crisis in tha Fiul Gulf War would put High tech to the test by new Day it is Nightfall on the second Day of the attack on iraqi forces in the persian Gulf. An american Abrams tank rumbles up a Sandy escarpment spots an enemy counterpart through an infrared scope and determines its distance with a laser Rangefinder. The gunner fires a and a computer does the rest accurately aiming an Armor piercing Metal Dart High above a hovering . Apache helicopter finds another enemy tank on its radar and fires a hellfire missile. In the final seconds of the missile s flight the Crew activates a laser beam that a paints a or illuminates the tank and locks the missile onto it. Even higher an enemy Mirage fighter is stalking the chopper. It dives and fires a missile using a radar beam to lock it onto the helicopter. But the chopper is alerted to the imminent danger by its radar warning receiver and escapes by releasing a flurry of aluminium particles a a chaff a that deflects the guiding radar beam. However the helicopters Luck runs out a Short time later when a radar guided Hawk missile a american made but captured by the enemy when it overran Kuwait a is fired at it. The chopper releases More chaff but the missiles digital radar system allows it to distinguish Between real and illusory targets. A a a a a a a this is War High tech style. And it is the shape of warfare in the 1990s, military experts said. In the 17 years since americans last major land conflict ended technology has a. Transformed warfare. As a result of this sophisticated weaponry on both sides the experts expect a conflict in the Gulf to be intense and bloody even if its duration is relatively Short. A ten thousand body bags in Dover that by Utah said Thomas Amlie a Pentagon staff member who designs guided missile systems for the air Force. A a v.-. A scenario for a Gulf War prepared recently by the Center for defense. Information a Washington think tank staffed mostly by former military. Officers who tend to be critical of the Bush administration predicted that a . Attack on Iraq would last six to 12 weeks and result in 10,000 americans dead and 35,000 wounded. Iraqi military casualties would total 35,000 dead and 115,000 wounded while 100,000 civilians would be killed or wounded official Pentagon spokesmen refuse to discuss War scenarios potential casualty rates or the Quality of iraqi forces saying such information is classified Quot other analyst question whether casualties would run that High. They also Point out that mechanical reliability has been a problem with Many advanced weapons. Both the Abrams tank and the Apache helicopter for example have experienced High breakdown rates even in the relatively benign climate and terrain of North America or Europe. How they will perform in the intense heat and dust of the Middle East desert remains seen the desert environment May also cause problems for the sophisticated stealth on the flight line a contingent of 22 air Force f-1i7a stealth fighters arrive at stealth fighters based at Tonopah test Range nev., arc in Langley fab in Hampton va., on sunday afternoon. The route to the persian Gulf. On which u. Forces rely. So called a a smart bombs and missiles that Are guided to their targets by radar or laser beams Are vulnerable to countermeasures or unfavourable atmospheric conditions said Carl Bernard a retired army colonel who now works As a defense consultant. Radar can be jammed by another beam broadcast on the same frequency or confused by chaff he said while lasers Are unreliable in Cloudy weather. As with mos wars a conflict in the Gulf would provide a real world Laboratory in which the technology developed since the last conflict will be tested. A. But while there is uncertainty about the performance of High tech weapons there is no question about the degree to which the . Military relies upon. _ them. \. For example the army a mail Battle tank the m1a1 Abrams More than 1,000 of which will eventually be deployed in the Gulf relies on a vast array of sophisticated electronic equipment a infrared night Scopes laser rangefinders and computer targeting systems a to function. Similarly the army a principal tank killing helicopter the Apache relies on night Scopes to find its targets and laser beams to hit them. Its top land based anti aircraft missile the Patriot employs a sophisticated phased array radar system to track and hit targets a us naval forces in the Gulf will be protected from air assaults by Aegis cruisers equipped with a Complex network of radars computers and missiles designed to identify and intercept hostile targets rapidly. . Aircraft also rely heavily on infrared Scopes radar and lasers for targeting and the military Hopes that the people running them can properly operate them under combat conditions. And if War erupts the army plans to. Use data from . Intelligence satellites to help target its Field artillery said piers Wood a former army artillery officer who is now chief of staff of the. Center for defense information. A was an artillerymen the ability to know where the enemy tanks Are where his Headquarters units Are is an incredible advantage a Wood said a my dad did no to know that in the Battle of the bulge. I did no to know that in Vietnam. The question is can they disseminate that intelligence effectively to the soldiers in the Field a a Quot _ much of this new military technology has been used to produce so called a stand off or a fire and forget weapons that can be launched from Long distances and guided to their targets by computers and radar reducing the need to expose humans to hostile fire that in theory should hold Down . Casualties in a conflict. But experts warn that even if the new technologies t work As planned Iraq possesses in array of advanced weapons that will cause significant problems a a they re a third world army. But they have first world weapons a Wood said a arid the effectiveness of those weapons is multiplied by the possibility that they could be on the defensive and dug into stationary experts agreed that the weapons Likely to prove most troublesome to . Forces were iraqis air defense system and its Field artillery. _ its air defense system contains a Large number of modern highly Mobile surface to air missiles including the French made Roland which features radar tracking and computer control of launched missiles. It also contains a variety of soviet made Mobile missiles ranging from the virtually obsolete Sa-2 to the up to Date a 13. Iraqi forces also captured an undetermined number of american a Hawk anti aircraft missiles in Kuwait a and military analysts said it is possible the iraqis May be Able to make them operational against . Forces. Hawk batteries use an advanced radar tracking system that is designed to overcome jamming or disruption. Iraqi artillery includes a Large volume of modern soviet Field guns multiple rocket launchers and an advanced French made 155mm howitzer that is capable of rapid fire bursts of up to six rounds every 45 seconds. A a we be never really faced soviet artillery Bernard said a now we re going to be fighting against the artillery the soviets have developed after world War ii. They have a lot of it and they shoot it very fast and very thick. Their artillery will do a lot of damage no
