Posted on 01/05/2002 4:14:44 PM PST by knak
UNITED STATES defence chiefs may have to review their strategy for phase 2 of the war after it emerged that Baghdad could have acquired a radar system capable of detecting America's multi-billion-pound fleet of stealth bombers.
The radar is believed to be the same Czech-built type used by Serb forces to shoot down a US F117 Nighthawk stealth bomber and seriously damage another during the war in Kosovo in 1999.
US intelligence chiefs believe that Iraqi generals attempted to buy a system for £176 million from the Czech Republic in 1997 but the deal collapsed after it was exposed by the CIA.
The Telegraph, however, has learnt that after the closure of the Czech defence company Tesla-Pardubice in 1998, two of its Tamara radar systems, which Iraq wanted to acquire, "disappeared", and might have been acquired by rogue arms traders working for Baghdad.
A former employee of the company said last night: "Tesla-Pardubice closed in 1998. It had two radar systems that had not been sold but they have disappeared. Nobody knows where they are."
Rob Hewson, the editor of Jane's Air Launched Weapons, said the weight of circumstantial evidence indicated that Iraq had probably acquired a radar system capable of "seeing" stealth bombers.
He said: "The Pentagon is faced with the prospect that Iraq may have a system that can see stealth bombers and they are very, very worried."
The disclosure is likely to affect the next stages of the war against terrorism and influence whether the US decides to carry out a full-scale attack against Saddam Hussein's regime.
Last week it emerged that stocks of US air-launched cruise missiles had been virtually exhausted after attacks on Kosovo and Sudan, further hampering Pentagon plans for an attack against Iraq.
The B2 stealth bomber and the F117 stealth fighter both played vital roles in the Kosovan and Afghan wars and, together with the mass use of cruise missiles, they are part of a crucial first phase of US attack plans.
Such is the sensitivity surrounding stealth aircraft that even the mere suggestion that an enemy power may have the capability to detect or shoot one down is enough to ground the 20-strong fleet.
A spokesman for the US Department of Defence, said: "It stands to reason that Iraq would want to get its hands on a radar system capable of detecting stealth bombers.
" In the Gulf war, it was the early F117 attacks that put most of their air defence systems out of commission. But we don't know whether they have such a system at the moment."
The Czech radar system uses passive detection to pick up electronic emissions from stealth aircraft.
A spokesman for the Czech Embassy confirmed that when the company went bankrupt in 1998 it still had at least two Tamara systems, but he refused to comment on whether they had disappeared.
The B2 stealth aircraft is painted with a substance that absorbs radar waves, producing an image on a radar screen the size of a large marble. The Serb forces, however, demonstrated what can be achieved by being able to detect stealth aircraft.
During the Kosovo conflict, the Serbs are believed to have plugged powerful computers into their air-defence radar system that help to reveal the flight paths from the faint stealth radar signatures.
When a stealth bomber was suspected to be flying through their area they saturated the sky with missile and heavy machine-gun fire and managed to shoot one down.
Osama bin Laden has been named Iraq's Man of The Year, according to the official Iraqi press, because of the way in which he has "raised the image of Islam and defied the might of the USA".
I'd be sorry, too, if I posted an article as "1/6/01" as breaking news on 1/6/02.
I'm on your side brother!
I imagine that this system has a unique emissions signature, and can be targeted easily as a result.
That may be your experience, but it depends on what squadron you're talking about, particularly in the Navy; I have first hand knowledge of the Marine Prowler squadrons and their sortie rates from a variety of locations. The flexibility of operating from the deck of a carrier is another advantage. The Navy doesn't use TERPES either.
The Prowler typically carries 6 transmitters, the Raven carried 10.
The Prowler can carry up to ten transmitters as well, but typically will carry three pods and two tanks or three pods a tank and a HARM, but they can carry two HARMS as well.
The Prowler's ECMO-1 spends most of his time working nav solutions. They are just starting to get an integrated GPS - which the Raven had for years.
Had the ADVCAP upgrade not been 86'ed back in ~ '93, the Prowler's would have had a GPS too. You and I both know that ECMO 1 is not tasked with operating the jammers; his job is com/nav, DECM and HARM targeting. As for not being able to steer those antennas, have the manual steering knobs on the jammer pod control boxes been disabled? Doesn't the AYK-14 provide for auto, semi-auto and manual operation?
Also, I can't imagine anyone who works in the Pentagon telling any reporter that they're "very worried" about any radar system Iraq may have. In the case of a war, the bombers will fly, defensive radar threat or none.
middle class folks here in socal need the work.
I am so tired of paid for t.v. military analyst spewing about capabilities of communist crap weapons that makeup the armory of puke nations like Iraq.
pant pant pant
What do you think of Russian Stealth capabilities? That 'in the middle of fueling' explanation had to get somebody started on the road to retirement, yes?
This is the golden years?
As for the Kitty Hawk fiasco, I certainly hope that a number of people were retired as a result of that. I can't remember if Prueher was still CINCPAC then or had already been posted to Beijing, but a lot of mickey mouse stuff took place on his watch.
I liked the line about the Saudi's being more culpable than Iraq. I really wonder why more focus isn't placed on them--it looks like a natural for the liberal press.
I think that, if you go after the root of Osama terror network, you should hit both Saudi, Iraq, and Syria to a lesser degree. They all cooperate and pull their resources these days. Saudi provides money and some organization. Iraq provides militarty technology, training for using them, and intelligence organization to support Osama's operation. Syria's role is more for local operation such as anti-Israel terrorism. They all work together to wipe out Israel and eject Western influence. It is not like early 1990's when they were suspicious of each other. They must have realized by now that, to counter their enemy, they have to work together if they want to achieve anything significant. The West sees the whole event through oil politics. But their adversary sees it as grander struggle.
There may be another moment of truth when the West realizes that the cost of keeping Saudi as ally has become too much to be justified. As for Iraq, you cannot rule out, at this stage, that Iraq provided technical and organizational support to Al-Qaeda. There were a few circumstantial evidences. Any person in the position of Saddam will try to find a way to get even rather than stay in a cage of international sanction indefinitely.
Western oil interests have ample reason to remove Saddam. But, now their reason got some legitimate boost due to 9/11 attack. After temple mount riot last year, there has been a unusual amount of diplomatic traffic among those three Arab nations mentioned above. We should assume that even more such contacts have been made under the surface. All these were documented in this forum. There was one article not long ago(2 months ago) which described a concerted operation by Syria and Iraq to shore up a pro-Jihad faction in Saudi establishment, including royal family, government officials, intelligence service, and military. The penetration of these pro-Jihadists are supposed to be very deep and go up to high level. So we see all these three countries making concerted efforts.
The best bet is not taking down Saudi and let Iraq live but taking down both countries and squeezing Syria. This is not a either-or proposition. It is a both-and proposition.
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