Bombs clear way for ground troops

RAF TORNADOS were bombing Republican Guard targets south of Baghdad last night as part of an aerial offensive to clear a path for US Marines to enter Saddam Hussein’s stronghold.

As Coalition troops fought their way to within 80 miles of the Iraqi capital, the Tornado GR4s were ordered in to drop their enhanced Paveway laser-guided bombs as part of Operation KI/CAS (Killbox Interdiction/Close Air Support), referred to as “Kick Ass” by the Americans.

Killboxes are grid squares, 35 miles by 35 miles, and a “hot” killbox is one that contains identified targets which could hinder the land war advance. The Tornados are ordered in to a specific killbox and given 30 minutes to fire their missiles.

The tactic is known as close air support and the jets will be flying at 20,000ft, within range of Iraqi missiles and anti-aircraft fire.

“It is a very hostile environment,” said Wing Commander Paddy Teakle, who leads the five Tornado squadrons based at Ali Al Salem in northern Kuwait.

“The Iraqis play a very good game of survival with their air defence systems and they are moving them around to prevent them being targeted.”

Once inside their designated killbox, a formation of Tornados uses co-ordinates given by ground forces to seek out and destroy the threat to troops on the ground. As the boxes are cleared, the troops move forward.

“We are swinging our effort heavily in support of the ground war,” said Group Captain Simon Dobb, the RAF detachment commander at Ali Al Salem. “The purpose is to denude the strength and combat effectiveness of Republican Guard positions to the south of Baghdad which present a direct threat to the advancing columns. We are giving our forces the freedom of action to press on with the attack.”

He admitted he had subscribed to the “pack of cards” theory that Iraqi resistance would quickly disintegrate and said that Saddam’s forces were giving a good account of themselves in certain areas.

“He has been particularly clever at moving his air defences around and has not yet used those close to Baghdad to reduce the risk of them being located.”