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Air Force senior intelligence officer: Russia is using “dumb bombs” in its Syria airstrikes
Washington Post ^ | 10/1/2015 | Craig Whitlock

Posted on 10/01/2015 11:57:17 AM PDT by lodi90

The U.S. Air Force’s senior intelligence officer said Thursday that Russia lacked precision-guided weapons for its bombing campaign in Syria and would likely inflict substantial civilian casualties as a result.

Lt. Gen. Robert P. Otto, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, told reporters in Washington that it appeared the Russian forces were using “dumb bombs” instead of weapons guided by lasers or satellites. The Russian air strike campaign began Wednesday in areas north of the city of Homs that are controlled by anti-government rebels.

“To me, it was representative of what you’d expect from dumb bombs, being dropped from airplanes at medium altitudes, which is not that impressive,” Otto told journalists from the Defense Writers Group.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Russia; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: putin; russia; syria
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To: lodi90

War hurts. Who would have thunk?


41 posted on 10/01/2015 12:37:14 PM PDT by Fhios
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To: Zhang Fei

The current accuracy of gravity bombs the Sovs are using far exceeds the capability of WWII systems, there is no comparison.


42 posted on 10/01/2015 12:37:26 PM PDT by xone
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To: rrrod

“Why waste high priced ordnance on mussies?”

Because you only want to hit the baddies. All Muslim sects have an honor code to come to the defense of innocent Muslims, particularly if they’re attacked by non-Muslims. Being allied with a Shia minority and bombing innocent Sunnis is a great way to stir up volunteer Sunni jihadists from 100s of million Sunnis. We’ve walked this tightrope for 12 years in Iraq and are still there.


43 posted on 10/01/2015 12:43:35 PM PDT by Justa
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To: xone
The current accuracy of gravity bombs the Sovs are using far exceeds the capability of WWII systems, there is no comparison.

How so?

44 posted on 10/01/2015 12:45:43 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: lodi90

Not to be confused with the dumb bomb we have in the White House.


45 posted on 10/01/2015 12:47:22 PM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
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To: lodi90

Saw some of the attacks on BBC and they need a lot of practice


46 posted on 10/01/2015 12:48:02 PM PDT by butlerweave
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To: lodi90

Save for later ( lots of good responses)


47 posted on 10/01/2015 1:00:51 PM PDT by lulu16 (May the Good Lord take a liking to you!)
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To: lodi90

Personally, I am waiting to see some TU-95s loaded with 500 pounders do the Russkie version of Arc Light over there.


48 posted on 10/01/2015 1:09:01 PM PDT by datura
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To: Jewbacca
Again, blowing up everything is a better strategy to break the will of a people. Think: Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. Killing soldiers is one thing, but when you level the town, people quit fighting.

Think Sherman's March to the Sea.

Wars end when the decision makers have their wives and daughters begging them to please make it stop.

49 posted on 10/01/2015 1:13:18 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
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To: DaxtonBrown

Russians practice actual war, not “police actions”.


50 posted on 10/01/2015 1:14:37 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: lodi90

Maybe Vlad should have checked with 0bama before deciding what bombs to use?


51 posted on 10/01/2015 1:16:05 PM PDT by MichaelCorleone (Jesus Christ is not a religion. He's the Truth.)
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To: Zhang Fei
* Each B-17 might carry 8 500lb bombs, meaning that a 1000-bomber raid would result in 8,000 bombs being dropped in a matter of an hour or so, vs the dozens that can be dropped from the few Russian aircraft deployed.

But less than 10% of those 1000 aircraft x 8 WWII bombs per aircraft (on a big raid, maybe every third day at most) with 10 crew per bomber + 5-10 ground crew ... But less 10% fell within 500 feet of the target.

By the end of Reagan's buildup of conventional forces/start of Gulf War I, we'd be able to carry more weight from an A-10 or A-6 or A-1, fly three or four missions a day, keep the aircraft over target for hours between re-arming trips with air-to-air refueling, and use only 1 bomb per target with a 90% HIT rate on targets as small as a single tank. And an A-1 or A-10 only needs one pilot.

52 posted on 10/01/2015 1:16:11 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: Lower Deck
Russia will go in and carpet-bomb the crap out of the area figuring it’s better to kill 1000 civilians if it gets them 1 ISIS fighter. We’ll see how that goes over with the locals.

Machiavelli said "Do not do your enemy a small injury", by which he meant do not use just enough force to piss him off, while not impairing his willingness and ability to retaliate.

In WW2 we devastated Germany and Japan. Yet we don't see Japanese and Germans demonstrating in the streets in 1946 about any desire for revenge. Nobody there wanted to give us a reason to come back and finish the job.

53 posted on 10/01/2015 1:19:06 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
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To: lodi90


54 posted on 10/01/2015 1:21:23 PM PDT by JoeProBono (SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED;-{)
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To: Justa
Because you only want to hit the baddies. All Muslim sects have an honor code to come to the defense of innocent Muslims, particularly if they’re attacked by non-Muslims. Being allied with a Shia minority and bombing innocent Sunnis is a great way to stir up volunteer Sunni jihadists from 100s of million Sunnis. We’ve walked this tightrope for 12 years in Iraq and are still there.

The Muslims will always be able to drum up some reason for jihad. Doing it this way gets the war over with sooner.

55 posted on 10/01/2015 1:22:57 PM PDT by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
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To: lodi90
Air Force senior intelligence officer: Russia is using “dumb bombs” in its Syria airstrikes

Much more cost effective; why spend the considerable extra money for smart bombs when a "raghead" is a "raghead"?

56 posted on 10/01/2015 1:23:33 PM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Why Have Boehner & McConnell Advanced 0bama's Agenda Faster Than Pelosi & Reid?)
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To: smokingfrog

Makes sense.


57 posted on 10/01/2015 1:31:22 PM PDT by RinaseaofDs
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To: lodi90
GIT-R-DONE!
58 posted on 10/01/2015 1:45:40 PM PDT by CivilWarBrewing
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To: smokingfrog
collecting INTEL

and REALLY, REALLY, REALLY making Obama look like a fool:

Just for shits and giggles, Putin should give a briefing with "Comrade General Ezekiel" on the day's specific targets and call the Russian/Iranian/Chinese/Assad organization as:

Ground Operations Group (GOG), and the Navy/Marine detachment at Tartus and Latakia as:Marine Assault General Operations Group (MAGOG).

Watch heads explode......either that or the world.

59 posted on 10/01/2015 1:51:31 PM PDT by DCBryan1 (No realli, moose bytes can be quite nasti!!)
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To: PapaBear3625

“Doing it this way gets the war over with sooner.”

Are you dumb? The Soviets followed the massive bombing strategy in Afghanistan. They were there less than 10 years and lost 15K troops while killing 100,000 mostly civilians. We’ve been there 14 years using precision munitions and have lost less than 4K while killing 40,000 mostly combatants.

Tell me again which strategy is better?


60 posted on 10/01/2015 2:05:00 PM PDT by Justa
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