Free Republic

KABUL — The acting governor of Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province said Sunday that Taliban fighters had been routinely firing “small and heavy” weapons from the grounds of a local hospital before it was apparently hit by a U.S. airstrike over the weekend. In an interview, Hamdullah Danishi said the Doctors Without Borders compound was “a Taliban base” that was being used to plot and carry out attacks across the provincial capital, Kunduz city. “The hospital campus was 100 percent used by the Taliban,” Danishi said. “The hospital has a vast garden, and the Taliban were there. We tolerated their firing...

With defense and acrimony building in the Persian Gulf, Iran announced plans to test a new laser-guided bomb. Iran's Fars News Agency reported that a prototype of the 2,000-pound smart bomb would be tested "in the near future," the country's air force commander Brig. Gen Hassan Shahsafi said. He said the smart bomb, dubbed Qassed-2, had a longer range and better vision than its earlier version, the Qassed-1. That weapon made its debut four years ago and has since then been in mass production. Qassed is interpreted as "messenger." It was not immediately clear how advanced the prototype is and...

US will supply sophisticated laser-guided-bomb kits, 12 American-made surveillance drones and 18 late-model F-16 fighters to boost Pakistani forces capability to strike in remote tribal areas, a development which could spark unease in New Delhi. The new arms supply, Wall Street Journal said was part of efforts by Pentagon to boost Pakistani forces capability to take on Taliban and Al Qaeda militants. Islamabad is also to receive equipment capable of converting 1,000 traditional munitions into "smart bombs" that can strike targets with precisions, the paper reported. With this new arms aid, US counterinsurgency assistance fund for Pakistan is slated to...

SNIPPET: "A senior Iranian military commander today announced that the Iranian Army is due to test-fire an optimized version of the country's 2,000-pound smart bomb, the Qassed (Messenger), in the near future. Iranian Air Force Commander Brig.-Gen. Hassan Shahsafi told the Fars news agency that early samples of the new version, called Qassed 2, will be tested in the near future." SNIPPET: "He also said that Qassed 1 has already been mass-produced and delivered to the Iranian Air Force."

The Dragon’s Jaw bridge at Thanh Hoa was the toughest target in North Vietnam. It was 540 feet long and crossed the Song Ma, a river 70 miles south of Hanoi. A railroad track ran down the middle, with a highway lane on either side. The bridge rested on a massive center pillar of reinforced concrete, 16 feet in diameter. The abutments were solidly anchored in the hills on both sides of the river. This bridge was a replacement for the original one built by the French before World War II. Viet Minh insurgents managed to destroy the first bridge...

The U.S. Air Force has ordered 160 AGM-158 JASSM air-to-ground missiles. These will cost about $1.5 million each, and several dozen of them will be shipped off to South Korea, which expected to get them last year. JASSM has been delayed due to test failures. However, tests late last year were over 90 percent successful. That kind of good news has arrived just in time. For the last three years, the U.S. Department of Defense has been on the verge of cancelling the $6 billion JASSM cruise missile program. Lobbying, pleading, a large order from South Korea, and the growing...

Italy has bought a manufacturing license, for $34 million, to produce 500 SDB smart bombs, and fifty launchers for their aircraft. The American manufacturer (Boeing) will supply key mechanical and electrical components, and the Italian builder will supply the rest and assemble and test the bombs. Boeing previously did a similar deal with the Italian firm (Oto Melara) to produce JDAM GPS guided bombs. Oto Melara is a division of Finmeccanica, the largest defense firm (nearly $20 billion a year in sales) in Italy. It was four years ago that the air force finally got the SDB into service, in...

The Israel Air Force has purchased a new and advanced JDAM smart bomb with a laser-targeting system that will improve the IAF's ability to accurately hit fast-moving targets. According to an Israeli Defense Ministry official, the order was placed earlier this summer for over 100 LJDAM (Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits

The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world.

011207 Smart Bombs Made Dumb 011207 Smart Bombs Made Dumb? 2001-12-07 12/7/01 8:39:46 AM [notebob: MORE COVERUPS – MURDER CHARGES NEEDED !! ] http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,320425-412,00.shtml Smart Bombs Made Dumb? Did Faulty Batteries Cause Failure Of Precision Guidied Weapons? JOPLIN, Mo., Dec. 6, 2001 (CBS) In Afghanistan, American aircraft have dropped more so-called smart bombs than in any other war, reports CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales. But dozens of these missiles and guided bombs have missed their target, some hitting civilians, allied troops, even our own soldiers. Sometimes faulty coordinates or bad weather are to blame, but in other cases the ...

The American government is rushing a shipment of precision bombs to Israel, which is carrying out a 10-day plan to weaken Hizbullah before foreign pressure forces a cease fire. The Bush Administration has given Israel approximately two weeks to continue attacks on the Hizbullah terrorist infrastructure before negotiations should begin, according to the London Guardian. The Administration accepted without debate a decision to rush precision bombs to Israel, despite the chances that Arab countries will compare American arms shipments to Israel to Iran's arming of Hizbullah, The New York Times reported. The shipment of bombs is part of an arms...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Saturday. Citing U.S. officials who spoke on Friday on condition of anonymity, the Times said the decision to ship the weapons quickly came after relatively little debate within the administration, and noted in its report that its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others who could perceive Washington as aiding Israel in the manner that Iran has armed Hezbollah. The munitions are...

The US is rushing a delivery of "smart bombs" to Israel after Israel indicated it needed the bombs for its military campaign against the Hizbullah. The New York Times reported Saturday that the decision to rush the shipment was reached after little debate within the administration. The "smart bombs" - bombs which are equipped with precision guidance devises, are part of an arms deal reached months ago between Israel and the US, but the fighting in Lebanon led Israel to ask for an expedited delivery of the bombs, before the agreed scheduled of supply. According to the report, the US...

BOMB #1 GBU 12 laser-guided bomb BOMB #2 GPS-guided GBU 38 "The pilot then dropped a GBU 12 laser-guided bomb, then circled around and dropped the second bomb -- a GPS-guided GBU 38 -- because the orders from the beginning were for two bombs on the target." Link to This

El Segundo CA (SPX) Feb 02, 2006 Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force have successfully demonstrated the integration of a munition on the B-2 stealth bomber that incorporates an improved, penetrating warhead with an upgraded guidance kit. "The demonstration represents another example of our commitment to maintain the B-2's flexibility to employ a variety of advanced weapons," said Mike Galaway, director of B-2 product development and delivery at Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector. "We also want to ensure that the nation's No. 1 long-range strike asset remains the most versatile and lethal bomber in the inventory."

The United States will sell Israel 5,000 smart bombs, for $319 million, according to a report made to Congress a few weeks ago. The funding will come from the U.S. military aid to Israel, and the bombs range from airborne versions, guidance units, training bombs and detonators. The bombs are guided by satellite, in a system already in the Israel Defense Forces arsenal. The guidance unit receives a signal from a satellite, correcting the bomb's course to the target. The Pentagon told Congress that the bombs are meant to maintain Israel's qualitative advantage, and advance U.S. strategic and tactical interests....

The widespread use of smart bombs in Iraq, and their spectacular success, has the U.S. armed forces scrambling to reorganize to take better advantage of these new capabilities. The difference in bombing effectiveness between the 1991 war, and 2003, was dramatic. In 1991, it took four aircraft sorties to take out one target, while in 2003, one aircraft sortie took out four targets. Not only were more smart bombs used in 2003 (90 percent of all bombs dropped, versus 14 percent in 1991), but the satellite guided JDAM bombs were much more effective than the laser and TV guided smart...

Citing national-security concerns, two Democratic lawmakers are engaged in a last-ditch effort to halt plans for the transfer of an Indiana factory that produces critical technology used in the guidance systems of U.S. "smart bombs" to the People's Republic of China. The Department of Defense denies any impropriety, but some observers are asking: Is it a case of politics as usual, or a cover-up? The Magnequench factory (originally known as UGIMAG) was sold in August 2000 to a consortium that included Chinese interests. In 2001, it was announced the plant would be shut down. The factory is responsible for producing...

US smart bomb technology unit to move to China U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-1st, and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., have made another move in their efforts to prevent the closure of the Magnequench facility in Valparaiso and its re-location to the People’s Republic of China. According to a statement released Friday, Visclosky and Bayh have requested the U.S. Department of the Treasury to release the facts of its investigation into its review of Magnequench’s sale in 1995 to a consortium which included Chinese interests and Magnequench’s acquisition in 2000 of the Valparaiso facility. Visclosky also asked the House Armed...

A B-2 Crew's Journey From Middle America to Iraq Warfront - and Back Home for Lunch By Sharon Cohen The Associated Press Published: Apr 26, 2003 KNOB NOSTER, Mo. (AP) - He woke up from a nap, fresh and ready for the momentous night ahead. Brian Gallo's wife drove him to work in their Ford Explorer, they embraced, and off he went, an American flag tucked in his bags. Thirty miles away, Brian Bogue kissed his wife and five daughters goodbye. "Daddy's going to work," he said. "I'll be gone a couple of days." Then he headed out into the...