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 worlds biggest missile maker and Southern Arizonas 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. militarys 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 Armys 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, who fired the two Excalibur shells, destroying the meeting house, the statement said.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
It does seem there are or were heavy in the upper management department.
Yeah, but I bet this moo-slime scumbag was just minding his own business and having a good time at a wedding. /s
The ACLU is filing a wrongful death/product liability suit against Raytheon as we speak...
155MM ENEMA
Blowing Motherf**kers to Bits Since 1945.
Built in U.S.A.!
Go, baby, go !
Sounds like a plan.
Excellent advertisement!!
Hope they made/are making more.....
Twenty feet? Wonderful! Man, they’re gonna be killing jiahdis all day with this stuff.
I'll wager none of them were in pain...until they got to Hell, that is.
ROTFL!
Are you saying this thing was fired from a Paladin?
Zot!
In London recently, the headchoppers tried to use Mercedes as weapons. They use cars, we use GPS guided artillery shells...I'll take the U.S. Army every time.
You don't fight an insurgency with area bombing, you fight it with old school counter-insurgency tactics, and that's what we're doing right now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.