[DK Zimmerman]

Regrettably, the most telling point of this piece is that by omission, it confirms that we never got a single scud on the ground.

So much for our sensors, intel gathering, and USAF that thinks it can win any war by itself.

[spetznaz]

Regrettably, the most telling point of this piece is that by omission, it confirms that we never got a single scud on the ground. So much for our sensors, intel gathering, and USAF that thinks it can win any war by itself. - DK Zimmerman

From the article: One 30-man SAS team, reportedly deployed from Al Jouf, successfully assaulted a Scud command-and-control center, despite the presence of an estimated 300 Iraqi military personnel.

Also from the article: In addition to their targeting duties, Delta undertook other direct action missions against the Scuds. These included using long-range, .50-caliber sniper rifles to disable and destroy missiles both in rearming farms and those mounted on their TELs. Other interdictions reportedly involved eliminating Scud crews as well as the use of AT4 anti-tank missiles on larger targets

I would say the Special Forces teams did a lot of mayhem against the Iraqis, and they did get several Scuds before they were launched. I have not gotten sufficient info on the efforts of the Deltas in the conflict (although the article clearly shows they did a lot of stuff against the Iraqis) however i have read reports of what the SAS was doing behind the scenes and i can tell you it is not only amazing it is almost superhuman!

[Crossbow Eel]

"So much for our sensors, intel gathering, and USAF that thinks it can win any war by itself. "Now we have:

Unmanned aircraft that can launch missles
Satellites that can see through clouds
Lazerd and GPS guided bombs aplenty
Spec Ops that can move inside Iraq locating the convoys moving the missle/trucks

[Boot Hill]

DK Zimmerman says:   "So much for our sensors, intel gathering, and USAF that thinks it can win any war by itself."

Ever the techy, I figure that just means we don't have enough sensor capability. All the Iraqi scuds (and several other of their missiles) were liquid fueled missiles that used red fuming nitric acid as the oxidizer. This stuff is always out gassing and the fumes should be detectable from quite a distance by viewing in the appropriate optical spectrum or using semiconductor NOx fume detectors. Follow the NOx plume back to its source and that's a gotcha. As long as we weren't tracking camel farts, this might work. Equipping a UAV with this technology could go a long way to locating scuds.

Regards,

Boot Hill