'Mother of all Bombs' prepared for Tikrit

The U.K. Times ^ | April 11, 2003 | From David Charter in Qatar and Michael Evans, Defence Editor

[loudmouths]

THE ground battle for the last stronghold of Saddam Hussein’s regime could start as early as Monday.

The first elements of the US 4th Infantry Division, including 44 of the latest Abrams M1A2 tanks and 18 Paladin howitzers, will shortly be in attack position outside Tikrit, 112 miles north of Baghdad.

[El Gato]

Saddam Hussein’s regime could start as early as Monday

Which probably means it will start tomorrow, Saturday at the latest. :) I wonder how many MOABs you can stuff into a C-5 for trasnport to the theater? I know they once transported 6 F-5 fighters at one time, but they only weighed about 8,000 pounds each (empty). C-5 Max cargo is 261,000 pounds, with slightly reduced manuevering capability, implying you could carry 12 or so, and I think there would be room for that many. I wouldn't want to be in Tikrit in the near future, even if we have only have half that many available.

[El Gato]

Galaxy C-17 cargo

Hmm, Galaxy is the name of the C-5, the C-17 is the Globemaster III. Once more AP gets it wrong.

[meema]

I couldn't think of a more appropiate place to drop one of these babies!
May those b******s burn in he!!.

[Uncle Jaque]

Re Delivery Systems; I think I read somewhere last Month that a specially modified B-52 could deliver one of these from a high altitude, above the reach of SAM missiles.

And they are supposed to be extremely accurate, having a GPS guidance system. Those "stub" wings give it quite a bit of latteral maneuverability to target.

I have been hoping to see some Shockanaw a'la' MOAB throughout this affair, as long as it was directed to massed "Republican Guard" hard-cores away from populated civilian areas. If Tikrit is the den of thieves it has been described as, a good darwinian gene-pool cleaning may be in order, and MOAB seems like just the ticket to do the job.

I just hope someone gets at least good pictures, if not footage, of the first one coming down - not just for our edification, but to share with the likes of Kim Il Jung as well. Hopefully it will get the message firmly accross and we won't have to lose any more of our heroic freedom-fighters over there.

[NJJ]

Would it be smart to hit such a facility with a decidedly "non-precision" weapon?

If this is the last stronghold of the baddest of the bad, we may assume that they have chemical or bio weapons and will use them, especially if Saddam is there.

A nice MOAB blast would not only make the question of war crime trials moot, but it would also cleanup any bad stuff that might leak out from damaged munitions stores. I assume we will have enough chemical, bio and nuclear samples from other sites to make our case to the French. We don't need to risk any more lives, just to get more samples.

[mrs slocombe]

[Stopislamnow]

Isn't Tikrit ALL baathist?

Free fire/bombing is in order if it is.

Heard 10th Mountain is in too.

We have entirely too much manpower there just for the Iraqis.

Every country surrounding Baghdad gotta be nervous as hell.

If 1st Cav comes(I know avn regt's are there) heavy, there can be no doubt that Iraq is just a campaign of a bigger azz whupping to come.

[ibtheman]

That is bogus, it the C-5 can carry more than 2 Abrams! I was in a C-5, flying from Oahu, to Cal. It had more than 2, that is for sure! And it had Humvee's loaded to! U.S.M.C. 83-87. We were going to do a live fire training exercise in 29 Palms. Totally awsome, I got to do my job, F.A.C. radio operator, death from above! I do not think it would be wise to say the total count of Abrams loaded!