ATO from the January strikes on Iraq

Hello out there,

I recently did a piece on the Jan 16 24-strike aircraft raid on five Iraqi air defence sites and I wondered if you guys might have some views on the follwing:

a) working from sources it seemed that the RAF launched 2 Paveway III at al Nasariyah, the southernmost target parallel – I posited that they probably did this to open the way for US sorties penetrating further north. Likely? And why four Tornado GR1, plus 2 F3 escort, to drop only two bombs, despite having more than enough fuel etc to carry multiple 2000lb each?

b) DoD sources credit the F-15E/AGM-130 combination with taking out the Taji surveillance radar. This figures to me as this target is the most remote from land or sea bases and a good match for the long arm of the F-15E. Is range the reason why F-15s hit this site?

c) DoD seems to indicate that F/A-18 / AIM-154 JSOW hit the remaining three sites – C3 at Al Taquddum and As Suwayrah and surveillance radar in southern Baghdad.

i) what was the target complex in the Al Doura neighbourhood of southern Baghdad – Al Rasheed air base?

ii) did the F/A-18 / JSOW combo hit these sites. Did F-16CJ instead play a hard-kill lethal suppression role on surveillance radar? The Al Taquddum site seems a long haul from the USS Harry Truman.

iii) Most of the JSOW sloughed away (as reported by AFM) uniformly. Was this wind deviation/attack angle, software/hardware fault or, unlikely but intriguing, some form of Iraqi jamming? I remain to be convinced of the latter but I’m convertable. Can a JSOW-hound out there tell me something that will make me believe the fables about Iraqi GPS jammers?

I await your expert views …

outremer