One of the most effective weapons of the air war against Serbia was accidentally found. The BLU-114/B filament bombs, which have now cut Belgrade power supplies on several occasions, were originally developed by the US navy to confuse air defence radars.
These are considered "soft weapons" - they cause no direct damage or serious injury. The cylindrical bombs open at low levels above ground, "dispensing" graphite filaments and charged carbon particles over electricity sub-stations and generating plants.
The filaments and particles adhere to transformers, etc, shorting exposed connections and activating trip switches. The equipment may not be damaged, but must be cleaned of filaments before it can be reactivated. Even though the Serbs do this quickly, power was cut off for several hours.
This week, however, both soft and hard (high-explosive) bombs have been used together. The latter cause damage and destruction which take much longer to repair. Let us not forget that Sarajevo, when under the Serb shelling for 40 long months, had no power or clean water for weeks on end. Its hospitals had to cope with hundreds of casualties without light, hot water or electrical equipment.
"Hardening" electrical generating and distribution plant for nuclear war was a serious concern for the big countries during the 1950/60s and was discussed here. Nothing could be done about direct hits, of course. It can be seen that electricity sub-stations are quite vulnerable to air-dropped material.
The filament bombs are "psychological" weapons, causing considerable interference with people's lives. A number of "nonlethal" weapons (such as sticky materials to hamper movement by rioters, etc) have been developed in recent years. The research on non-lethal weapons is mainly for anti-riot equipment.
It is early to draw definitive conclusions from the present conflict. The lessons drawn by the Americans from the 1973 October War were clear. AD guns and machine guns had not been superceded by AD missiles - they had to be used together.
Huge amounts of materiel, especially ammunition, would be expended, necessitating stocks on site.
The late President Herzog of Israel has described the Egyptian interlocked air-defence (AD) missile system around the Suez Canal. SAM 2 (range of 50,000 metres), SAM 3 (30,000 metres) and SAM 6 (22,000 metres) high-level missiles were complemented by shoulder-launched short-range SAM-7 and conventional AD guns. So Israeli planes attacking the Suez Canal crossings were forced down to meet a "wall of lead" at lower levels. These missiles, probably modernised, are still in the Serb inventory.
The successful four-barrelled Russian ZSU-23 AD machineguns could fire 4,000 rounds per minute. The Egyptians had about 800 of them, so the ammunition problem can be imagined. The Serbs do not seem to have them or their replacements. They do have the old (1957) ZSU-57-2 57mm mobile AD guns. The Americans have long had an answer to the high-level missiles; indeed, it seems that only two planes have been shot down by missiles at any level. Pilotless reconnaissance planes have certainly been shot down. Two Serb AD missiles are stated to have been launched last week. Both missed, or more likely, were diverted by airborne electronic counter-measures. The Serbs claim many more successes, of course.
AD systems can be "suicidal"; a radar pulse stream hitting an aircraft can automatically trigger a return air-to-ground missile down the stream.
High and medium level bombing has had its failures. It is probably true that only a very small proportion of the missiles and bombs have missed their targets. This is no consolation to innocent victims and it fuels the Serb propaganda machine. Although more low-level attacks on tanks, troops, etc, are being carried out there is still caution. The Serb army alone had 1,850 AD guns. And it is clear that airpower, particularly when operating from levels above say, 10,000 feet, cannot stop "ethnic cleansing".
NATO's decision-making depends on consensus - and so seems ponderous. But NATO's credibility is involved, once again. The consequences of failure would be bad for everyone - even Serbia-Montenegro. More NATO troops are heading for Kosovo's borders.
Some 645 people, mainly ethnic Albanian refugees, were rescued at sea yesterday in two separate rescue operations conducted off Itlasy's southeastern coast, the Italian coast guard said.
In the first incident, some 470 Albanian Kosovan refugees, mostly women and children, were saved overnight after being left to fend for themselves by smugglers who abandoned them in a damaged boat.