THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 3, 1995 TAG: 9506030279
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
The Russian-made SA-6 missile that apparently brought down a U.S. Air Force F-16C over Bosnia on Friday is an old but sophisticated weapon that gives pilots little warning of an attack and is extremely difficult to evade, according to a former F-16 pilot.
``You've got real problems if this missile comes at you,'' said Bob Gaskin, a retired Air Force colonel who now is an analyst at Business Executives for National Security, a pro-defense lobby group.
Gaskin said the downed F-16C Fighting Falcon was equipped with an advanced radar system and probably carried special ``jamming pods'' on its wings to frustrate the guidance systems of any attacker. The plane probably also carried ``chaff'' and flares that could be dropped in an attempt to decoy any incoming missile.
But at 20,000 feet, a typical altitude for the kind of patrol the doomed plane was on, those defenses are of limited value against the SA-6, Gaskin said.
The SA-6 was first seen by the outside world in Moscow in 1967.
In the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, Israel's pilots found they could not defeat the SA-6 when flying so high. They were forced to operate much closer to the ground, exposing themselves to other Arab weapons, Gaskin said.
The SA-6 is fired from a launcher mounted on tracks and guided by a radar system mounted on a separate tracked vehicle. The system can be set up to fire and then moved to a new location within minutes. The missiles detonate on contact or by signal from the ground command.
Gaskin said that typically, the missiles are launched in groups of three, two seconds apart.
The F-16's radar detection system is supposed to tell the pilot if his plane is being tracked, has been locked onto by a potential adversary, or has been fired on. But Gaskin said that with the SA-6, the radar may show only that the plane is being tracked when, in fact, missiles are on the way.
And the incoming missiles, he added, are small, hard to see and travel at three times the speed of sound. They're also so accurate that they can be set to detonate on contact with the target; most anti-aircraft missiles explode close to the target, relying on the force of the explosion for a kill.
It was unclear Friday whether other allied planes with additional radar jamming and other electronic warfare equipment were operating near the F-16 when it was downed.
Air Force EF-111 Ravens and Navy EA-6B Prowlers, which are designed and equipped especially for such missions, are in the area, an Air Force spokesman said.
The Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt is off the coast of Bosnia and its aircraft are making 80 to 110 flights a day in the region. The carrier's air wing includes Prowlers, but the Navy would not say whether Roosevelt planes are helping enforce the ``no-fly'' zone there.
U.S. Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he spoke Friday afternoon with Defense Secretary William J. Perry, who was trying to determine whether the F-16 was accompanied by such aircraft, and, if not, why.
``I'm puzzled as to how this plane could have been shot down,'' Warner said. ``We have adequate assets in the region to suppress missiles.''
Said Gaskin, ``What this means is that these guys can't go into that area anymore without more of a counter-missile threat.''
That the Serbs had SA-6s was no surprise, but their willingness to use the missiles against a NATO jet signals that ``they no longer view the UN as neutral, they view them as combatants.''
Friday's downing was only the second suffered by a NATO aircraft in the 782 days of Operation Deny Flight, the military's title for its effort to restrict flights over Bosnia. As of Wednesday, NATO planes had flown almost 61,000 sorties in that mission, a Pentagon spokesman said. MEMO: Staff writer Robert Little contributed to this story.
by CNB