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'Dumb bombs' helper has targets smartingBy JOHN BALZ
© St. Petersburg Times, WASHINGTON -- In a battle where precision is as important as might, the military's most efficient weapon is a dumb bomb with a brilliant tutor. Smart weapons that can zero on in specific targets, a missile battery instead of a hospital for instance, are the Pentagon's weapon of choice in airstrikes over Afghanistan. Since Sunday, B-1, B-2 and B-52s have been dropping conventional bombs outfitted with a high-tech guidance kit known as a JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition). JDAM uses global-positioning satellite technology that allows pilots to literally download the bomb's flight path up to the minute before its release. The bomb can be dropped from as far away as 15 miles and land within 30 feet of its target. B-2 bombers dropped 652 of them over Kosovo in 1999 but they can be dropped from nearly any fighter jet or bomber. The military has more accurate weapons in its arsenal, such as laser-guided bombs and missiles that can hit targets within a few feet. But they cost up to $2-million apiece and stockpiles are limited. The Air Force and the Navy have purchased about 80,000 JDAM kits for about $20,000 each. Although the barren, battered landscape of Afghanistan is already running low on military targets, weapons experts say JDAMs will continue to be in high demand if the war on terrorism crosses other borders. "It's an inexpensive weapon and it's really appropriate for point targets, especially if terrorists try to hide something in urban areas," said Lt. Colonel Kevin McLaughlin, now an Air Force fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. JDAMs were born out of the failures of some Gulf War bombing runs and the quantum leap to satellite technology that can pinpoint any location on the globe. The military approached its defense contractors and explained that they were stuck with a surplus of bombs that fall only according to the laws of gravity, and upset at smart weapons that missed their targets in cloud cover and thunderstorms. Unlike cruise missiles that can change directions and go after a new target in mid flight, once JDAM-fitted bombs are dropped they follow one path. This limitation makes them ineffective against moving targets like tanks. And while they were built to slice through rain and wind, questions remain about the JDAM's ability to accurately hit a target in a blizzard. If the bomb's GPS technology fails -- which occurs about 5 percent of the time -- it relies on a back-up navigation system that can strike a target within 100 feet. Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants are likely hidden in mountain caves. JDAM bombs can be configured to burrow 15 feet underground before exploding but military planners have no idea if that depth will be enough to destroy their hideouts. "They worked in Kosovo but (the hideouts) weren't as deep as we're going to find in Afghanistan," said Dr. William J. Taylor, the retired director of national security studies at West Point.
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From the Times wire desk
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