Posted on 07/18/2007 10:10:35 AM PDT by RDTF
WASHINGTON - A Raytheon Co. satellite-guided artillery shell, the first weapon of its kind, killed a top al- Qaeda leader in Iraq, the U.S. military said. The firing of two new 155mm “Excalibur” shells was part of a combined Army and Air Force assault July 14 on a meeting house in Arab Jabour south of Baghdad directed against the leader, Abu Jurah, and 14 associates, U.S. forces said today. Raytheon, the world’s biggest missile maker and Southern Arizona’s largest employer, developed the Excalibur with Bofors Defence of Sweden. The statement e-mailed from Baghdad said Abu Jurah was “the top target” in al-Qaeda south of Baghdad, responsible for a terrorist cell that made improvised roadside bombs and suicide vehicle bombs and fired mortars at U.S. troops.
The attack marked the U.S. military’s first acknowledgement that the new precision-guided weapon has been used in Iraq. In combat testing before deployment, the weapon demonstrated accuracy within 20 feet (6 meters) of its target, a precision designed to minimize civilian casualties and accidental U.S. military deaths in a war that is increasingly urban. An unguided 155mm shell can miss its target by as much as 900 feet or 280 meters. The Excalibur has a 50-pound warhead. The Army wanted a weapon with a much smaller warhead than the 200- pound charge on its only precision guided ground-based mobile rocket system, officials said. Abu Jurah was killed by troops from the Army’s 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, who fired the two Excalibur shells, destroying the meeting house, the statement said.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
Bttt
Peace through superior fire power.
American and Swedish ingenuity at work.
Although the AQ leadership praises suicide bombers as glorious martyrs, they themselves don’t want to die. This development has them crapping in their robes.
Kewl!
I hope this bumps up Raytheon’s stock...I’m in
1. Is this the one they captured?
2. Is there any other kind of Alqaida than ‘top’?
different name
No....different instances.
The guy captured was senior to the one killed.
Note to Congress. Quit waving white flags and pretending like they are sheets on your cots. This is what we want to see more of: precision-guided weapons killing terrorists.
It even looks painful.
Peace work, neatly done, reasonable rates. Inquire, 1-888-PENTAGON and leave off the last N for nuclear.
“Candygram!”
Blowing Motherf**kers to Bits Since 1945.
They change their names more often than their . . . (was going to say underwear, but I actually don't know and don't care.)
If the accuracy keeps improving on these things, we’ll be able to put one right up a terrorist’s arsehole without blinking.
Fantastic! Got to see this weapon being tested on Futureweapons a few months ago. This is one very impressive system. Superior precision fire power indeed.
“the weapon demonstrated accuracy within 20 feet (6 meters) of its target”, Osama!....Better to stay in the cave when you have to poop!
and the Paladin
Well done boys!
I saw that episode, they fired it about 15 deg. off of target and it still hit dead nuts on. I was wondering when we might be hearing about those...
Reach out and BOOM! someone!
That should go on the cover of their annual reports to stockholders!
According to another article many survived the initial attack. Apache’s then used their missiles, followed up by two 500 pounders from F16’s. Based on that I don’t think these new shells were successful at all.
Do these shells control their movement by means of fins?
here is the link to a live leak video of the attack.
(If someone could tell me the html tags to embed a video, I will do that next time.)
Thanks!
If its the one that was on "Weaponology" on The Discovery Channel.....yes, fins and on-board GPS receiver. They aren't cheap...but their damned effective!!!
All they are going to need to clean up that mess is a mop and some buckets
This is big in terms of shaking up AQ leadership because they no doubt have relied on US fears on collateral damage in choosing their resting places. Now, taking refuge in even populated areas could make it their last resting place.
$39,000 apiece - same as lobbing in a new Mercedes.
An interesting news story would be to contrast the efforts and expense the U.S. forces incur to limit casualties among non-combatants to the extremes the terrorists will go to in order to maximize causalities among non-combatants.
With WWII methods and the lethality of modern munitions, there wouldn’t be an insurgency.
There is nothing like ordnance right on target!
I seen that show, it was amazing. A world away from what we had in the 60’s and early 70’s.
Ohfercryinoutloud. The shells hit the house square on and blew up real good. That counts as "success" in any reasonable analysis.
I love it!
$39K is cheap, cheap, cheap...
Bump for home
Up your nose with a 155mm!
LOL...it’s reports like these that give me the warm fuzzies...god bless the USA and Corporate America!
I hope that's got some R&D costs embedded. Otherwise it's too expensive.
The AC-130 gunship series has been able to do that for decades. I saw a video of one putting a 40mm round in the left hip pocket of a dummy from 16,000 ft in pitch darkness.
While it’s interesting to read about what they killed him with - and I’d like pictures! - I’d much rather hear about how they FOUND him, how his location became known.
I dunno...less rounds needed, less rounds through the tube and less $$$ paid in collateral claims just might mitigate that price tag a bit.
Not painful at all. It is the ultimate in stand off weapons. Can be fired from 10-20 miles away and the enemy never hears it coming. All you need is someone in the air or on the ground to paint the target, acquire the gps co-ordinates and bingo, they are gone. Much cheaper than using planes and their gps guided munitions. I believe some of these are being fielded in Afghanistan in the near future. Will be perfect for the kid of cross border strikes I think we are presently contemplating. If you start hearing about pakistani tribal area having a rash of premature suicide bomg explosions, you should not be surprised.
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