European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 20, 1991 the stars and stripes b Page 3 in the Sulflow tech woes plagued some units by Dave Schad and Chuck Vinch staff writers High tech wizardry has emerged As the Symbol of the persian Gulf War but some ground troops in the conflict were nevertheless plagued by old equipment and shortages of new technology. One commander it. Col. Tom Leney has described serious shortcomings with his army cavalry units Vietnam Era radios. He also said he had to limit some of his squadrons activities during the War because the unit lacked enough High tech navigation devices. A the biggest constraint i had was communications and a position location systems a a said Leney commander of the 2nd so 4th Cav. Leney whose unit is part of the 24th inf div Mech said his soldiers were moving in state of the Art combat Chi cles linked by radios developed in the Early 1960s. Several times during his divisions 200-mile drive into Iraq the cavalry unit had to Stop repair radios and reorganize before moving on Leney said. Army officials say they Are Well aware of the problems experienced by Leney and other commanders and Are taking Steps to Correct them. A the radios we be used since Vietnam were Good for their time but they re outdated a one official said. A with the airland doctrine you need interface laterally vertically air to ground you name it. Its a multidimensional Communia our radios were unreliable. Wed be going along and suddenly wed lose communications. A cavalry Squadron commander it. Cot. Tom Leney tons  the army a next generation of tactical radios is the single Channel ground and airborne radio system which will eventually be used by All units in the Field in eluding armoured infantry and helicopter units. The system is virtually Jam resistant because it has a built in a frequency Hope feature the official said. A it randomly cycles through different frequencies on a regular basis coordinating All the radios on a particular net that Are keyed into the system a he said. A anyone else trying to eavesdrop on a particular frequency would Only be Able to catch a Short burst of transmission before the sys Tern hopped to another frequency. The army has More than 7,000 of the new radios in the Field and plans to buy 37,000 More under its initial contract. A a significant number made it to troops in operation desert storm the army official said. However the system is in its relative infancy since it passed initial tests less than three years ago. A a it a a situation where technological advances Are increasing expectations in the Field a a he said. A troops Are saying a Why can to we get these things a Well they will. But this is a new system and its going to take some time to Field it a it Leney a division pushed to the Euph rates River Valley in Iraq in 2 a Days cutting off the iraqi army a main Supply and escape routes. During the drive the cavalry Squadron stayed 25 Miles ahead of the divisions main body scouting out the enemy. A was a Cav Squadron we Are the commanders eyes and ears on the Battlefield a said Leney 39, from Seattle. A a we re useless if we can to Tell the commander what we see. Our radios were unreliable. Wed be going along and suddenly wed lose  in the end Leney said his soldiers worked with what they had and the communications shortcomings did no to affect the wars outcome. A but remember we had the luxury of controlling the Pace of operations a said Leney who carried two spare radios in his command vehicle. A against a Warsaw pact opponent we  have had that luxury. A they would be been the attackers. The difference would have been More  Leney said he thinks part of the reason for the seemingly slow Pace of new communications gear is that radios done to have a constituency within the army. A they Arentt sexy a he said. A the Armor Community wants tanks the infantry wants Bradley and the artillery wants rockets. Nobody pulls for radios even though they affect the entire  the army official acknowledged that items such As radios often lose out to tanks and helicopters in terms of funding priorities. Quot but its not fair to say no one at the department of the army level sees the need for better Battlefield commo gear Quot he said. During its drive into Iraq. Leney a division used two types of hand held precision navigation devices to keep the attack on track the Loran system and the global positioning system. The systems rely on sat Ellics or ground based Antenna networks to provide constant location updates. Leney a 280-Vchicle, l,200rmcmber cavalry task Force had fewer than 50 of the devices. A a in a have Given up a platoon of tanks to have enough Guss for my whole Squadron a Leney said. A i had millions of dollars Worth of my tanks and Bradley and their effectiveness was severely degraded without a $2,000 navigation device. A As with the new radios the army is in the Early stages of making such devices Standard equipment. A but its Only very recently just a couple of years ago that the electronics Industry has been Able to produce hand held receivers Quot the army official said. The army purchased about 5,000 of the devices through commercial sources for operation desert storm in what the official called a basically a Quick fix off the shelf  the service plans to map out a formal procurement Effort soon. Because Lencyk a unit lacked sufficient numbers of the devices he had to adjust his tactics lie made his Squadron tighten its armoured formation More than army doctrine Calls for and refused to let vehicles moment night without such devices. A we would be gotten lost without them a Leney said. A there Are no landmarks in the desert to navigate  tomahawks quickly proved their Worth against Baghdad hello Honey Marine Thomas Weber of Cherry Hill  talks to his Girlfriend Back Home from a base near Jubal saudi Arabia. Weber is awaiting orders to head Home. Washington apr after the opening hours of the persian Gulf War the allies relied almost exclusively on Tomahawk cruise missiles and the Stealthy f-117a fighter bomber to hit targets in Baghdad Iraq Pentagon officials say. It was the first time the tomahawks had been used in combat and the officials said heavy use of the missiles launched from ships and submarines was partly in response to the Early Downing of Allied pilots some of whom were shown on iraqi television. A by Day three based on the fact that we did not want to have any More pos held up on to the Tomahawk was one of the two weapons systems selected As the primary assets to go into Baghdad where the air defences were still heavy a said one Pentagon official who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity. It previously had been reported that the radar evading f-117a was the main aircraft used in bombing runs against key targets in Baghdad but Many details about the tomahawks role in the highly successful air War have been shrouded in secrecy. A total of 284 Tomahawk missiles were used 196 in the first two Days the official said. The missiles which can carry either a nuclear or a conventional 1,000-Pound warhead Are $1.3 million each for a total Cost of $369 million. After launching from sea the missile is propelled by a solid fuel rocket Booster until a Turbofan engine takes Over powering it As far As 700 Miles. Radar detection of the Tomahawk is difficult because of the missiles Small Cross Section and because it can Fly at altitudes below a radar systems Range. But the Pentagon officials said last week that they had not ruled out the possibility that some tomahawks were shot Down or knocked off course by iraqi anti aircraft guns or surface to air missiles. They said they have no hard evidence of any downings. A preliminary study of the tomahawks performance has concluded that at least 80 percent of the missiles fired at Iraq hit their targets the officials , does no to count those that fell Short or Long but still damaged their targets. That Success rate is about the same As had been achieved in testing officials said. More surprising they said was that the missiles destructive Power was greater than had been anticipated. That led to a decision to fire fewer tomahawks at each target the officials said. Of those missiles that did no to reach their targets some May have broken up in flight or their warheads failed to detonate. More than a dozen attempted missile launches failed because of technical problems the officials said. The missiles were used mainly against strategic targets Fri and around Baghdad nuclear biological and chemical weapons production plants military command posts buildings housing computers for military communications and buildings used by government leaders such As the presidential Palace and the ministry of defense. Other targets included electrical Power plants and air defense systems the officials said. The last tomahawks were launched feb. 1, about three weeks before the Start of the ground War. A we ran out of targets a one official said in explaining Why the launching stopped. He added that it also was determined that it would be cheaper to hit remaining targets with aircraft bombs which Cost far less than tomahawks. The officials denied that the decision to Stop firing tomahawks was related to a growing wave of publicity about iraqi claims of damage to civilians and civilian buildings. A we have looked to see. And the answer is to our Best estimate and from our Best sources this weapons system has not done any collateral damage Quot one official said