Secret move to upgrade air base for Iran attack plans

[Truth2Tell]

Source: The Herald of Glasgow

The US is secretly upgrading special stealth bomber hangars on the British island protectorate of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, according to military sources.

The improvement of the B1 Spirit jet infrastructure coincides with an "urgent operational need" request for £44m to fit racks to the long-range aircraft.

That would allow them to carry experimental 15-ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs designed to smash underground bunkers buried as much as 200ft beneath the surface through reinforced concrete.

-snip

The Pentagon has drawn up contingency plans for a range of attacks on Iran. The likeliest is a five-day bombardment, aiming to disable nuclear facilities and all major airbases and radar facilities; the most devastating would involve air and cruise missile attacks on 1000 targets, including headquarters and barracks of the Iranian Republican Guard Corps, over more than a month.


Read more: http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.var.1792035.0.0.php

[ileus]

1. Doesn't seem like much of a Secret...

[unhappycamper]

2. I was under the impression that Congress has not (yet) approved the

$88,000,000 to make the refit. Wonder where they're pulling the $$$ from?

[Truth2Tell]

4. Maybe they found

some extra pallets of $100 Dollar bills somewhere? :shrug:

[yava]

19. no problem with $ source

After all,by law, all they need is a printing machine. Doesn't matter for them if $ goes to 0.5 EUR.

[humbled_opinion]

6. Does it really matter... We don't stop the warmongers...

Our Democratic leaders are just as guilty if you ask me. They have the power of the purse and have abused it to keep this occupation, intensification, death trap going in Iraq and now we have the head Abuser in Chief setting his sites on the next target....

i.e., What possibly can our Leaders say to us the morning we wake up and hear that Tehran was bombarded with MOB's killing thousands.. Oh wait thats right that is the way we spread democracy in the world we kill, wound, maim the innocent in the name of peace while the guilty flock to underground caves and bunkers and continue to plot and plan...

What a World!!!!!!

[alfredo]

12. The unmetered oil coming out of Iraqi oil fields.

[RC]

3. And the real threat from Iran is...?

cheney had better be careful, Russia just might know where his secret bunker is and let him know it.

[Mika]

7. That's why Cheney had his bunker hardened after 911.

:nuke:

[melody]

5. If they're going to do it, why are they advertising it? n/t

[Truth2Tell]

10. It's hard to know

if some of these reports are deliberately leaked to try and add to the preassure on Iran. Doesn't mean it's not true.

[melody]

11. If they were going to do it, they'd do it. Surely Iran has enough info about their intentions.

I think it's just yet more saber rattling.

[toska]

8. What a waste ...

Spending that kind of money on a low-lying set of islands. They may not agree with global warming, but that doesn't mean the ocean isn't going to reclaim Diego Garcia.

[awoke_in_2003]

9. Just one little error

The plane in question is the "B2" spirit bomber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-2_Spirit
The B1 was the bomber axed by Carter and resurrected by Ray Guns.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. as a bad copy of a superb russkie supersonic

bomber that US companies said could not be built. Until the USSR put it in the air. Of course, it was short range, horribly fuel inefficient, and had several other major problems, but it scared the shit out of US manufacturers.

The B-1 and its younger brother, the money hog, B-1B, had a radar exposure bigger than the hindenburg, if you covered that bag of gas in aluminum. the B-2 is smaller than a swallow. And the F-117 (which we are retiring as ancient this year) is even smaller.


What I always loved was the ugly buick of airplanes, the Warthog. Anti tank, anti missile, slow and fast, fuel efficient, and despite its age, better at close ground support than any other plane we ever built. I read that the new V-22 was supposed to replace the Hog, but there are a few problems there. The Hog had(s) titanium and composite protection for the pilot, and engines, making it pretty survivable against enemy fire. The V-22 was too heavy for its original design, so they changed the design, and skimped on all armor.

Also the Hog carries more ammo by weight than the V-22 was designed to carry.

[hack89]

14. Are you referring to the TU-160? nt

[awoke_in_2003]

15. "had a radar exposure bigger than the hindenburg"

actually, one of the selling points for the B1 was it's incredibly small (for it's time) radar cross signature. It was the B1 that had an RCS comparable to a bird (it was physically comparable in size to the B52). The B2 doesn't show up at all (unless the bomb bay doors are open).

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. the B-2 has one, no two flaws.

bottom to top, and top to bottom radar, AND high quality heat detection.

As for being radar invisible, it is not bad. But only from a rotating, ground based station. as good as the absorbtion is, if you send a signal from, say, one of the latest satellites the Russians have, in a diffuse, but coordinated, microwave pattern, and you place a huge series of small, unamnned, remote, but computer controlled sensors on the ground, much like the SOSUS underwater system we created for subs, and voila, you get what my ex-bro-in-law had been designing and installing over parts of asia, and eastern europe. Instant tracking, and a defense against "invisible" US planes.

The Russians were also working on not just heat detection, but a phased array system that tracks not a plane, but the wake left in air currents by anything that travels faster than a hurricane or tsunami.

Of course, the Russians also have perfected the advance on our cruise missile. their's happens to match the Chinese one, at 2.3- 2.5 mach. Much faster than our ground defenses can react. And our spaced out based SDI program is looking in the wrong direction to even spot them.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. Well, no one can accuse the Russians of being stupid

they do know how to design good hardware, just have always been cash strapped. Not the case anymore, they got the money going again, as evidenced by the restart of the Bear patrols.

on edit- they have always been a step ahead in the SAM category.

[Trajan]

18. Disregarding the impropriety of an unprovoked attack on Iran

without worldwide consensus .... Isnt it already established that such an event could loosen the dogs of war in Iraq ?

I dont mean that which has already been loosed, but a newly concerted effort to disrupt and infiltrate in Iraq with sectarian Iraqi support ? .... With Turkey already crossing the northern borders at will, can the US afford to make busy in Iran while they ramp up insurgencies in Iraq ? ....

Is Dubya's 'World War III' dream an actual battle plan ?

Sheeeesh ....

The further possibility of obstruction of Hormuz and cutting of shipping lanes, with the resultant spike in Oil prices could be catastrophic for world markets ....

As this what they want ?