Forum: Air Power

Hello,
I'm looking for a reliable source as to the percentage of weapons (bombs) dropped in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I'm really interested in what it was in 2007. I have sources that say 68% of the bombs dropped in OIF were precision guided, but I'm looking for even more recent data for a paper for my military history class.

I'm basically trying to show how precision guided bombs have changed the way wars are fought, with the end of the paper concentrating on the proliferation of GPS/INS guided bombs in the last few years.
Thanks!

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I'm willing to bet that well more than 68% of the ordnance dropped have been guided munitions. You don't see too much pig iron these days.

Agreed, the military "obsession" with keeping collateral damage to a minimum has got to put the percentage of PCMs closer to 90%. And please don't forget that the '99 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was not due to a weapon malfunction. It was the "geniuses" at the CIA that caused that little debacle.

After you finish your paper, I would love to read it over.

Yeah a...um...er...ah...um..."weapon *COUGH* malfunction" that just happened to shack the Chinese Embassy, of all places, seemed a little thin to me at the time of the incident. A bomb from an F-117 that "Malfunctioned", couldn't have malfunctioned over Farmer Fred's field. It couldn't have hit a military target and failed to detonate. No, it just all of a sudden malfunctions and then flies itself into a high profile superpower's governmental facility.

Pretty thin...Pretty thin.

I'm not sure if it's obsession, or just the way you have to do things if you don't want to have the whole world after you. I am going to point out that if nothing else. PGM's have reduced civilian casualties by magnitudes since WW2. I was also going to talk about how now intelligence is a more critical factor than raw power, because nowadays, if you can find it, you can kill it. The bombs will go where you tell them to, so now the big problem is pointing them in the right direction.

I'll put it up when I'm done, although it might not be the ultimate in scholarly quality.

Salute!

Go ask some real players from 'raqi II.

I have been told by the usually unreliable sources ( real pilots and such) that laser-guided and JDAM bombs were the basic training ones with concrete versus tritonal.

Guess a 500 pound or 2,000 chunk of steel and concrete would ruin your day when hitting your dining room table as you lick the lamb chop, huh?

out,

Gums wrote:

Guess a 500 pound or 2,000 chunk of steel and concrete would ruin your day...

Yes, kinetic energy can be just as deadly as an explosive blast, if applied correctly.

I loved the new term for using bombs during IOF..."Applied kinetics".

As for the Chines Embassy, according to the book "transformation of American Airpower", the mstake was using the right address on an outdated map...or at least that's the story. For whast it's worth, I believe it. Can't imagine somebody sticking their neck out like that on purpose. You know how badly politicians keep secrets...

Did some research on that, too.
Somebody used a GPS at the US embassy to create a targeting grid, but "supposedly" something got screwed up when time came to crunch the numbers. It was an honest programming error, speaking from someone who's done programming--errors do happen, and can often end up messing things up.

Yeah, look at the Mars landers from several years ago. Somebody was doing their math in metrics, when another guy was doing his math in standard (US/UK) measurements. Those landers hit the Martian surface like a ton of bricks...only costing NASA, and moreover, the American taxpayers, ELEVENTY TETJILLION dollars. Shocked

since you brought that up, here's a link to Robin Williams talking about that,

Also, stay for the golf! Laughing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwzHWO0G1nY

Hell, stay for Mike Tyson! Laughing

no emoticon for eating, Question

I'm glad I gave up golf, I prolly would have a stroke, (well, 200)
My golf handicap and bowling handicap are both the same, that's why I stay online in case you were wondering...

Quote:

And please don't forget that the '99 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was not due to a weapon malfunction. It was the "geniuses" at the CIA that caused that little debacle.

I Dont mean to rain on your parade sir, but I personally know the gentleman that "painted" that target, And he is not C.I.A.. And you're right, It was not a weapons malfunction.

Forum Veteran Joined: Dec 15, 2006 - 12:28 AM Posts: 760

Tim wrote:

ptplauthor wrote:

Agreed, the military "obsession" with keeping collateral damage to a minimum has got to put the percentage of PCMs closer to 90%. And please don't forget that the '99 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was not due to a weapon malfunction. It was the "geniuses" at the CIA that caused that little debacle.

I Dont mean to rain on your parade sir, but I personally know the gentleman that "painted" that target, And he is not C.I.A.. And you're right, It was not a weapons malfunction.

I don’t mean to rain on your parade sir, but even as if you allege you know the person that painted the target , that doesn’t necessarily mean that the person that painted (plug-in the coordinates)the target is responsible. (As from what I understand he was just following his orders)

Now I’m no insider on this story and have no first-hand information: but from what I understand the crews that fired the weapon were just following their orders though they may have targeted the weapon, from what I understand they only targeted the target that they were told to. From what I understand the mistake that was made was higher up in the command and/or in other departments. From what I understand the people higher in command and or other departments whether it be in the military or the CIA, NATO commanders or what ever agency chose the wrong building and or address thusly targeting the wrong building. I think the map that they were using was outdated and that the addresses were only estimated; I think the map wasn’t accurate it was just an estimation; apparently unbeknownst to the people that were reading the map to determine a target. I think there was also some other screw up; like organization that was the intended target had relocated to a different building. So I think they were targeting the wrong building on the map and they were targeting the former location of the intended organization. From what I understand it was a double foul up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_bombi ... n_Belgrade

(Note that after skimming the Wikipedia explanation I think it was at least a triple foul up. Evidently someone recognized that there was at least one mistake in identifying the target, however it seems that that information was never corrected before the mission due to communication/bureaucracy issues.)

(your post is vague; I realize you’re not necessarily trying to place blame on the individual that “painted” the target)

Forum: Air Power

Percentage of Precision Bombs Dropped?