The Command Post - Iraq - Tornados To Drop 'Concrete Bombs'

April 12, 2003

Tornados To Drop 'Concrete Bombs'

(Note -- this story is a week old, and I missed it the first time, but it points to something really remarkable which could be posed as a question: "If you can guide a bomb with precision measured in feet or inches, then why do you need explosives? You can just squash certain targets with concrete." That's what they're doing.)

The jets, normally based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, have already used high-tech weaponry such as the "bunker busting" cruise missile Storm Shadow, which cost Ł750,000 apiece and can pierce several feet of concrete.
But now the crews operating over Iraq from the Ali Al Salem airbase in northern Kuwait are about to go to the opposite extreme and use "inert bombs".

These are basically blocks of concrete shaped as bombs and painted blue to identify them as non-explosive if they are discovered still intact after the war.

(BBC)

Posted By Billy Beck at April 12, 2003 02:01 PM | TrackBack

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Hmmm, that makes one think of say dropping a few cement-heads like Geraldo, Ritter, Fisk, Arnett or maybe even a cement-head cluster bomb of peaceniks all chained together.

Oh, the horror, the horror!

Posted by: BAM at April 12, 2003 02:11 PM

Good grief, that's the living embodiment of the old cartoon "16 ton weight" falling out of the sky. LOL.

Posted by: Ed Bear at April 12, 2003 02:21 PM

Samizcat blogged this a couple of days ago. Oh, well, there's just too much info out there to be up-to-the-minute on everything.

Posted by: Kevin L. Connors at April 12, 2003 02:24 PM

Stoning has a long history in that region of the world. This is just an updated version.

Posted by: Fred Boness at April 12, 2003 03:25 PM

In other word, just a big bullet. A SMART bullet.

Makes sense. A tank with its hull bashed in is just as dead as one that is scattered over a couple of acres in shreds, I guess. And it would tend to seriously cut down on collateral damage.

Hm. You know, this would allow you to 'plink' tanks, SAMs, and vehicles that were parked near civilians, or areas where you could otherwise not strike them for fear of damaging something you didn't want damaged ...

I hope someone gets a pay raise out of this.

Posted by: Jrm at April 12, 2003 03:44 PM

Plus it gives the nearby civilians the nice effect of a "HOLY SHIT!" moment once that sucker bangs through a tank.

Posted by: Teej at April 12, 2003 10:06 PM

This was used by our Air Force clear back in 1998. Many disparaged Clinton at the time for it. It's not that Clinton didn't deserve disparaging, just not in this case.

Posted by: Just Some Poor Schmuck at April 12, 2003 11:51 PM