This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 14 Nov 2008, by TransTracker.
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14 Nov 08
TransTrackerFor all those who think airpower is irrelevant to counterinsurgency and to the current war, if it's so irrelevant to the "boots on the grund," why are the boots on the ground making so much use of it?
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The US Air Force (USAF) has seen a huge increase in the number of bombing missions it has carried out over Iraq since the United States' troop 'surge' began. The service's role is poised to expand even as ground forces withdraw, according to current and former defence officials.
Former Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne said that the USAF's breakthroughs in targeting technology and tactics have led to a 400 per cent increase in the amount of ordnance being dropped by the service's aircraft in Iraq since the surge was launched in February 2007.
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One key technology breakthrough in close air support has been the USAF-developed ROVER (Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver), a laptop that can exchange live video imagery with pilots in the cockpit.
The system can be linked to targeting pods on fighter aircraft so that everyone in the targeting loop can see the same things at the same time.
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Since 2001, more than 4,000 of the units have been delivered to US forces and 14 other NATO members.
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To make his point about the effectiveness of close-air-support operations, the senior defence official related to Jane's a recently declassified conversation between two Taliban militants. "Tanks and armour are not a big deal; the planes are the killer. I can handle everything but the jet fighters," the defence official recounted.
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