A sandstorm holds up technology blitzkrieg

Or is it that the way the war is going in Iraq, where the assumed information dominance of the Anglo-American forces is exactly what has created their Achilles’ heel, has pushed it to the backseat?

At every step there have been signs of deep and broad failure of assessment of information and intelligence drawn from the most sophisticated high-technology systems and backed by human intelligence through CIA and other operatives located inside Iraq for months.

The technology, of course, has not gone away. But its relevance to the way Iraqis are fighting is what makes the difference. For example, the Republican Guard, taking advantage of the three days of sand storm and reduced visibility raced forward south to take up positions in the 30-km wide Karbala Gap between the lake and the banks of the Euphrates. Hundreds of other vehicles also raced south.

Under normal circumstances, such a movement would have been noticed by a multiple set of sensors on which US reconnaissance and surveillance systems rely so much. But the sand storm and poor visibility was a major handicap. Helicopters could not get airborne, or if they did, could not play any worthwhile role. On the other hand, Iraqi fighters managed to damage 30 Apache helicopters, besides two M-1 Abram main battle tanks. This was the largest equipment damage to US forces in a single battle. But what came in useful for the American forces was the E-8C Joint STARS (Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System).

This is a capability mounted on a Boeing 707-300 and is equipped to undertake battlefield management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions and through that provide ground and air commanders with ground surveillance. Its essential effectiveness lies against vehicles on the move.

The system was under development during the 1991 Gulf War, but played a crucial role especially once the Iraqi army started to move from its dug-in positions. It was this system that the US was able to use when all the Iraqi tanks and vehicles were racing south from Baghdad. The next challenge was how to hit them.

The helicopters and the ground attack A-10 aircraft were handicapped by the poor visibility and strong winds of the dust storm. So the B-52 heavy bombers were called in, possibly diverted from other missions over Iraq. They laid down area weapons and no doubt inflicted serious casualties. But it is not clear so far how effective this bombing has been.

The other technological asset under the RMA innovation that the Americans have been emphasising from the beginning is the GPS (Global Positioning System) guidance for weapons and equipment. During 1991, Iraqis had set up fires next to tanks and other targets to confuse the heat-seeking missiles and bombs. But the GPS-equipped weapons were immune to such handicaps. But US protests and accusations against Russia would indicate that Iraq has been in possession of systems that can jam the GPS guidance making them less effective.

(Air Commodore (retd) Jasjit Singh, editorial consultant to The Indian Express, will analyse the war daily. Readers can send their queries to him at jasjitsingh@expressindia.com)