Message posted by Rocketfox on April 06, 2003 at 8:01:11 PST:

"If you will take your seats please, we'll begin.
While this briefing is not classified, let's keep this information umder our collective helmets for the time being.

"All right, here's a typical tactical scenario, how do we solve this situation ?

"In this recon shot you can see this T-72 tank is located on a narrow street, and sits beside a mosque on one side, and this hospital on the other side of the street. We have a clear sightline to this target but the proximity to the civilian structures preclude using our usual types of ordnance as the civilian casualties resulting would be unacceptable. How do we take this target out using air assets, as the tactical situation for grouns assualt is equally unacceptable at this time, your thoughts please ?"

"Sir? when I was at Nellis in the last Red Flag exercise the Attack assets were equpped with blivets, that is, dummy ordnance weighing the same as regular munitions, but made of concrete that were used for simulation purposes."

"Your point?"

"Well, suppose we fill a Mk-82 bomb casing with concrete, strap on the laser/gps guidance system, and drop it on the tank? There's no blast, but the inertial damage resulting should disable the tank with minimal if any damage to surrounding structures or civilians."

"Go on..."

"When we used the dummies in training, we saw large holes in the ground, and it really tore up the targets, but without the usual large shrapnel radius and concussion that a conventional weapon produces. Additionally, there will probably be less chance of the rounds stored in the tank cooking off and causing collateral damage..."

"This has possibilities... we'll look into it..."

"Moving on to the next item..."

It had to be something like that. For that's what's been reported, tanks and other targets hit in Baghdad using kinetic weapons, concrete bombs with precision guidance packages attached to strike targets placed close to civilian structures.

You have to admire American Ingenuity at times, really..

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