U.S. Navy to sink 500 foot ship with JDAM
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18nov04
B-52 and B-1 bomber pilots will blow a decommissioned warship and other targets out of the Pacific next week in an exercise that analysts say is likely to roil North Korea.
The $US10 million ($13 million) exercise, to take place on November 22 and 23, will mark the first US Air Force use of satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions to sink moving targets at sea, commanders in the Pacific said today.
The JDAM, built by Boeing Co, was widely deployed in the US-led invasion of Iraq last year. It is designed to zero in on targets by riding data streams from global positioning satellites.
Dubbed "Resultant Fury", the exercise is not meant to send a message to any specific country nor is it tied to any conflict, said Captain David Faggard, a Pacific Air Force spokesman.
"It's merely a demonstration of the capability we have recently developed," he said in a written reply. "This is the first time this technology has been demonstrated in a maritime environment."
[...]
The exercise will show the United States can destroy vessels captained by enemy navies, terrorists or pirates in "an extremely short amount of time", said Major Mike Eliason, chief of weapons and tactics for Pacific Air Forces.
It will also showcase aircraft known as E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) and E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).
They track targets for B-52s flying nonstop from Guam and B-1s from Texas.
The drill's exact location was not immediately disclosed. Targets on the first day will include platforms towed by remote-controlled tugboats.
Only the towed targets are to be hit to highlight the ability to minimise "collateral" damage, Capt Faggard said.
On Day two, the bombers will attack the Schenectady, a 34-year-old US Navy Tank Landing Ship decommissioned in 2001 that had been mothballed at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, he said.
18nov04
B-52 and B-1 bomber pilots will blow a decommissioned warship and other targets out of the Pacific next week in an exercise that analysts say is likely to roil North Korea.
The $US10 million ($13 million) exercise, to take place on November 22 and 23, will mark the first US Air Force use of satellite-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions to sink moving targets at sea, commanders in the Pacific said today.
The JDAM, built by Boeing Co, was widely deployed in the US-led invasion of Iraq last year. It is designed to zero in on targets by riding data streams from global positioning satellites.
Dubbed "Resultant Fury", the exercise is not meant to send a message to any specific country nor is it tied to any conflict, said Captain David Faggard, a Pacific Air Force spokesman.
"It's merely a demonstration of the capability we have recently developed," he said in a written reply. "This is the first time this technology has been demonstrated in a maritime environment."
[...]
The exercise will show the United States can destroy vessels captained by enemy navies, terrorists or pirates in "an extremely short amount of time", said Major Mike Eliason, chief of weapons and tactics for Pacific Air Forces.
It will also showcase aircraft known as E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) and E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).
They track targets for B-52s flying nonstop from Guam and B-1s from Texas.
The drill's exact location was not immediately disclosed. Targets on the first day will include platforms towed by remote-controlled tugboats.
Only the towed targets are to be hit to highlight the ability to minimise "collateral" damage, Capt Faggard said.
On Day two, the bombers will attack the Schenectady, a 34-year-old US Navy Tank Landing Ship decommissioned in 2001 that had been mothballed at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, he said.
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