Aircraft by Numbers
Why we look a little different in the air . . . and on the ground.

By Charles E. Miller, a retired Air Force colonel
October 25, 2001 10:10 a.m.

he aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, Vinson, and Roosevelt have about 50 to 60 strike (bomb-dropping) aircraft per ship, plus support aircraft for aerial refueling, command and control, and electronic warfare. There may be an additional 24 F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft in Oman, with other support aircraft throughout the region. There are 10 to 15 B-1s and B-52s set up on the islands of Guam and Diego Garcia (and plenty of B-2s in Missouri). There are at least two AC-130 gunships in the region as well.

This is a package of 210 to 220 strike aircraft, and word is that about 90 aircraft per twenty-four-hour period are involved in attacks on the Taliban forces opposite the Northern Alliance line and against other Taliban and al Qaeda sites in Afghanistan. In reality, this is a light dose of U.S. airpower. On Day 18 of the Gulf War there were more than 900 combat strikes by Air Force aircraft alone.

Why the big difference? There is clearly a different target base. The U.S. cannot arrange for anywhere near the region-wide basing rights it had in 1990. The enemy is intermingled with the civilian population of Afghanistan, as well as some potential U.S. allies within the Afghan resistance. Much of what we are looking for is very hard to find, and not necessarily amenable to air strikes. It is very much a different war.

Rear Admiral John Stufflebeem of the Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed surprise at the determination of the Taliban. "I am a bit surprised at how doggedly they're hanging on to power. For Mullah Omar to not see the inevitability of what will happen surprises me," he said, adding, "We are prepared to take however long is required to bring the Taliban down." The message is ambiguous. Did the Joint Chiefs harbor expectations of a week or two of bombing followed by the Taliban turning tail? Was the search for bin Laden concevied as a search and destroy mission? If the Pentagon is just discovering that these are tough warriors, then they may well be behind the civilian leadership in thinking about this war and the future of warfare in general.

This could be what Secretary Rumsfeld is talking about when he says that we cannot think of war in the same old ways. The whole military operation in Afghanistan to date has been conducted so as to make it possible for the U.S. Special Forces to do their jobs. Usually it's the other way around — the Special Forces support the "main operations." And most soldiers, especially more senior ones, are not too confident in Special Ops.

We're hardly watching military business as usual. The Navy, instead of the Air Force, is providing the bulk of the short-range tactical strike aircraft. The Air Force is providing long-range bombers in conventional bombing roles, plus a host of refueling, airlift, and intelligence support — - which is certainly outside their cultural preference. Heavy armored divisions are not even being discussed — - instead, light, highly mobile ground forces are the coin of the realm for this war. The purpose of this campaign is to sweep away the Taliban so we can get at their "guests" — al Qaeda — all the while winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and feeding the refugees.

The Taliban is reported to be "hiding" their forces within the shadows of mosques and schools, most likely in the hope that the U.S. will shoot at a tank or helicopter and hit a church instead. The Taliban vehicles (if real) are not very useful militarily when parked next to mosques and schools. There are also some stories that the Taliban is dispersing their people into the cities. There might be some truth to these stories, but it is difficult to run a country from the cellar. As there are no apparent streams of Taliban fighters leaving positions opposite the Northern Alliance, one wonders if the stories are not part of a poorly conceived plan to frighten the U.S. into leaving for fear of a bloody urban conflict. In the face of the cave warfare that might be coming, this is not much of a plan.