USS Clueless              Voyages of a restless mind

Main: normal long no graphics Contact Log archives Best log entries Other articles Site Search

Stardate 20011007.1129 (On Screen): It appears that the first round of bombing was carried out with cruise missiles. This is hardly a surprise. I would guess that yesterday's fly-over was one last look to make sure nothing important had moved, prior to the attack. It would have been launched primarily by US surface ships in the Indian Ocean, along with assistance from certain British ships including their submarines.

Power is off in Kabul, but whether that's because the power system was knocked out or because of civil defense procedures is unknown. As a civil defense procedure it's completely useless. Cruise missiles don't depend on that. They use GPS and terrain mapping radar. Our bombers have inertial guidance systems and GPS and likely also terrain mapping radar if they feel the need to switch it on; they know where they are at all times. They also have FLIR.

Any bombing we do for the immediate future is probably going to be from very high altitude from heavy bombers, especially B1's. They will be out of range of Taliban AAA, and will have countermeasures against any SAMs that may be launched. SAMs are guided either by radar, which can be defeated by ECM, or by IR homers, which can be decoyed with flares. Whatever they have (which won't be much) it's old, and certainly something that the US knows all about and will have prepared for. So it's unlikely that we will lose many bombers, if any. (discuss)

Update: Power has been restored; it appears that it was intended as a civil defense measure. The bombing was concentrated on the airport.