Raytheon-made shell kills al-Qaeda leader, U.S. says

Arizon Daily Star ^ | July 17, 2007 | Tony Capaccio

[RDTF]

WASHINGTON - A Raytheon Co. satellite-guided artillery shell, the first weapon of its kind, killed a top al- Qaeda leader in Iraq, the U.S. military said. The firing of two new 155mm “Excalibur” shells was part of a combined Army and Air Force assault July 14 on a meeting house in Arab Jabour south of Baghdad directed against the leader, Abu Jurah, and 14 associates, U.S. forces said today. Raytheon, the world’s biggest missile maker and Southern Arizona’s largest employer, developed the Excalibur with Bofors Defence of Sweden. The statement e-mailed from Baghdad said Abu Jurah was “the top target” in al-Qaeda south of Baghdad, responsible for a terrorist cell that made improvised roadside bombs and suicide vehicle bombs and fired mortars at U.S. troops.

The attack marked the U.S. military’s first acknowledgement that the new precision-guided weapon has been used in Iraq. In combat testing before deployment, the weapon demonstrated accuracy within 20 feet (6 meters) of its target, a precision designed to minimize civilian casualties and accidental U.S. military deaths in a war that is increasingly urban. An unguided 155mm shell can miss its target by as much as 900 feet or 280 meters. The Excalibur has a 50-pound warhead. The Army wanted a weapon with a much smaller warhead than the 200- pound charge on its only precision guided ground-based mobile rocket system, officials said. Abu Jurah was killed by troops from the Army’s 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, who fired the two Excalibur shells, destroying the meeting house, the statement said.

-snip-

[null and void]

The guy captured was senior to the one killed.

I hope he has lots to say...

[bray]

If the Demappearsers were in charge these terrorists would still be alive and well.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[null and void]

I hope that's got some R&D costs embedded. Otherwise it's too expensive.

In the US Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and every conflict up to Desert Storm '93 the average number of rounds expended per enemy killed was 100,000.

$39,000 for a sure kill is very cheap.

[null and void]

I’d much rather hear about how they FOUND him, how his location became known.

I'm sure the NYT will be telling them exactly how we figured out where their collegue was...

[Deut28]

My reference goes more to the point that from the time we first invaded Iraq we fought with the protection of innocents as a high priority.

Sherman was one of the first to demonstrate the theory that when civilian populations pay a price for war, they quickly decide that war is not what they want.

My point is that if the war was fought with those methods from the day we decided to attack Iraq, there would have never been an insurgency.

[chuckles]

....."Otherwise it's too expensive".....

Haven't priced any smart bombs or missiles lately?

[Mr. Silverback]

Sherman was one of the first to demonstrate the theory that when civilian populations pay a price for war, they quickly decide that war is not what they want.

I'm a Sherman fan, but I think you're misreading this in a big way. Sherman took his campaign to the plantations in order to take the war to those who had imposed it on poor Southerners. I could elaborate on this, but suffice it to say that there are a number of reasons that Sherman's goals were far different from the goals we had in 2003, and applying his methods would have been pointless.

Certainly the air-heavy campaign we used would not have produced the result you're thinking if we had just increased it. Pick up a copy of "The Bomber War" by Robin Neillands and take a look at what he has to say about the population of Germany and their will to fight. Bombing and other destruction did nothing to damage their will, but only focused an unreasonable hatred on the bomber crews. Neillands records one oral account about a crewman who had bailed out over germany and was attacked by a mob of civilians that included nuns.

The key element that led to insurgency was the disbanding of the Iraqi army.

[Deut28]

Sherman went well beyond the plantations.

And while I understand Neilland’s points about the violence against bomber crews, it certainly doesn’t explain the fact that the Western Allies were overwhelmed with the number of surrendering Germans from 44-45. Surrendering en masse is a strange way to demonstrate their will to fight.

And you keep restricting the methods to air methods. I never made that restriction. The ground tactics and rules of engagement were also quite different from prior wars.

[edsheppa]

Haven't priced any smart bombs or missiles lately?

JDAM bombs are inexpensive compared to alternatives such as cruise missiles. The original cost estimate was $40,000 each for the tail kits, but after competitive bidding, contracts were signed with McDonnell Douglas (later overtaken by Boeing) for delivery at $18,000 each.

[edsheppa]

Looking further I see that the only sort-of-equivalent bomb does cost a lot more.

The GBU-39 Small-Diameter Bomb (SDB) is a 250 pound (110 kg) guided bomb that is intended to provide aircraft with the ability to carry a higher number of bombs.

The SDB carries approximately 50 lb (23 kg) of high explosive, yet because of its design it has the same penetration capabilities as the 2000 lb BLU-109. During demonstrations, the SDB has successfully penetrated more than 6 ft (1.8 m) thick reinforced concrete. It also has integrated "DiamondBack" type wings which deploy after release, increasing the glide time and therefore the maximum range.

Although unit costs were somewhat uncertain as of 2006, the estimated value for the INS/GPS version was around $70,000. The cost of the second variant was more uncertain, but tentative estimates were $90,000 per unit or more.

But that again seems way too high.

[chuckles]

I think another advantage of the artillery shell is it's only 50 lbs of bang compared to probably 250 for a minimum smart bomb. If you only want to take out a house, the shell will hit the 1ft square coordinate on the roof vs, damaging surrounding houses with 5 times the bang.

I saw these shells on Discovery and they were quite accurate. The bombs are accurate, but you still can't control that much explosive without collateral damage. I'm sure we have smaller bombs, but you have the fuel to get them there, the cost of the "smart add on" and the risk of the pilot to consider. These shells also are neat because you can even fire them the wrong direction, and they correct in flight. Less friendly fire problems. Firing these shells has to be the best way to put small ordinance on a target. There is hardly any downside I can think of.

I do worry about all this "smartness" in war, however. Pretty soon if you injure a brother in law of the bastid you are going for, you might get charged with war crimes in the Hague. I say the brother in law should have turned him in or shot him for the reward to protect himself and his family. I don't like women and children being hurt, but war is tough. The people in Waziristan Pakistan aren't innocent. If we see Osama on satellite, I don't mind taking out the whole village. They knew better.

Somebody I used to admire said, "You are either with us or with the terrorists."

[logomachius]

Actually, they did use an F-16 as back-up. It’s called combined forces:
...
At approximately 1:12 p.m., the house was positively identified allowing 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment to fire two Excalibur rounds destroying the meeting house.

An unmanned aerial vehicle observed persons leaving the house, loading injured individuals into a sedan and fleeing the scene.

An AH-64 Apache helicopter engaged the sedan destroying it.

Three people were observed running from the meeting house to a nearby house.

A U.S. Air Force F16 Fighting Falcon dropped two 500-pound GPS-guided bombs on the second house.
....

[milwguy]

nothing like using all the weapons at our disposal to rid the world of trash like this.