The U.S. Defense Department has significantly improved its ability to find Iraq’s mobile Scud missile launchers since the 1991 Gulf War, but the vehicles might still prove elusive, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Oct. 11).

U.S.-led coalition forces did not destroy any mobile Scud launchers during the Gulf War, but Pentagon officials have said they would be better prepared if the United States were to go to war with Iraq again.

“With Scuds you have got to pounce very quickly,” said Rear Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, the Navy’s director of air warfare.

U.S. officials said that 10 years of patrolling no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq have improved knowledge of the terrain and of Iraqi tactics.  Improved communications, sensors and more accurate, all-weather precision munitions allow forces to strike a target within 10 minutes of identifying it, Air Force officials said.  Unmanned aerial aircraft now allow the U.S. military to monitor an area continuously.

“We have the ability to stare at a particular piece of ground instead of just taking snapshots of it,” retired Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn said.

Some military personnel, however, warned that the task of finding and attacking Scuds would still be difficult.  The process of relaying information to headquarters can significantly slow the process — a lesson learned in Afghanistan — officials said.

When the target information is relayed to command centers in Saudi Arabia or the United States, “the clog starts to happen,” Fitzgerald said.

Air Force officials said they are addressing that problem (Greg Jaffe, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 15).

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