Posted on 07/18/2007 10:10:35 AM PDT by 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.
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(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
Bttt
Peace through superior fire power.
American and Swedish ingenuity at work.
Although the AQ leadership praises suicide bombers as glorious martyrs, they themselves don’t want to die. This development has them crapping in their robes.
Kewl!
I hope this bumps up Raytheon’s stock...I’m in
1. Is this the one they captured?
2. Is there any other kind of Alqaida than ‘top’?
different name
No....different instances.
The guy captured was senior to the one killed.
Note to Congress. Quit waving white flags and pretending like they are sheets on your cots. This is what we want to see more of: precision-guided weapons killing terrorists.
It even looks painful.
Peace work, neatly done, reasonable rates. Inquire, 1-888-PENTAGON and leave off the last N for nuclear.
“Candygram!”
Blowing Motherf**kers to Bits Since 1945.
They change their names more often than their . . . (was going to say underwear, but I actually don't know and don't care.)
If the accuracy keeps improving on these things, we’ll be able to put one right up a terrorist’s arsehole without blinking.
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