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Old 21st November 2015, 17:01
Paul Thompson Paul Thompson is offline
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Re: Just how would you defeat ISIS?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard T. Eger View Post
refineries, oil drilling sites, power plants, and port facilities would be strategic targets in which ARC LIGHT might be productive.

Regards,
Richard
Hello Richard,

Of the targets that you listed, ISIS possesses only oil drilling sites and power plants, and not very many of either. What needs to be emphasised is just how little effort has been expended against ISIS. Even with the current weak state of the USAF and Allied air forces, a much greater effort can easily be made, even without strategic bombers.

Here is the official Department of Defense statistical review of operations in Iraq and Syria - http://www.defense.gov/News/Special-...herent-Resolve . The various air forces involved are conducting air strikes at a rate of slighlty more than one in every seven sorties. That is an appallingly low intensity of operations, which contributes directly to the ineffectiveness of the campaign taken as a whole. Even in cases when strikes are carried out, on average fewer than two targets are destroyed or damaged in a single air strike.

There are more detailed monthly statistical reports, the most recent one is "Combined Forces Air Component Commander 2010-2015 Airpower Statistics – As of 31 October 2015" http://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/fea...tober_2015.pdf . This shows that on average 1.8 munitions have been expended for every target destroyed or damaged. The munitions used are very accurate, but the majority of those dropped are small and so the overall effect of air power is distinctly limited. There has been a great reluctance to use more powerful area-effet weapons, even guided ones like the Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser, see its description here - http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app5/wcmd.html .

Warm regards,

Paul
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