Saturday, February 16, 2008

THE SDB: AIR FORCE INTRODUCES SMALLEST BOMB

ABC:
... the Small Diameter Bomb, or SDB. As its name suggests, it is a very small bomb, carrying less than 40 pounds of explosives. By comparison, the JDAM (short for Joint Direct Attack Munition), the workhorse of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, comes in a variety of sizes, the smallest of which carries 200 pounds of explosives.

... As the Air Force now sees it, in today's warfare smaller is better. With these new Small Diameter Bombs, it hopes to accomplish three things at once: get more weapons on each aircraft; fire those weapons from much further away than JDAMs allow; and, critically, with much less explosive inside, aim to strike with surgical precision.

What that last point means is that when the new SDB strikes a target, its blast range is about 50 feet. Compare that to the impact radius of the smallest JDAM: 100 feet … and the 2,000-pound JDAM: 175 feet.

... To understand why that matters you simply have look at some of the Air Force's "successful" airstrikes that have had catastrophic consequences. In one Afghanistan bombing earlier this year, two 2,000-pound bombs not only killed their targets, they also killed nine innocent civilians in a neighboring house, including four women and four children. In warfare they call that collateral damage, and it is uncomfortably common. If numbers are a guide, it is also getting worse: In 2007 airstrikes by U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan killed nearly 300 civilians, compared to 116 in 2006.
WE EXPEND BILLIONS OF EXTRA DOLLARS ON SMART WEAPONS WHICH WILL DO THE LEAST POSSIBLE COLLATERAL DAMAGE.
  • THE ENEMY TRIES TO KILL AS MANY CIVILIANS AS POSSIBLE - IN THE MOST HORRIFYING - TERRIFYING --- TERROR-INDUCING WAY.
  • AGAIN: WE DO THE OPPOSITE.
  • ONLY THE LEFT FAILS TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS.

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