Now THIS is what I call "carpet bombing"

[Beetlegeuse]

I read the news this morning that the US (with help from it's Iraqi allies) had dropped 80,000 pounds of bombs on an island in the Tigris river that had been an ISIS stronghold. "ISIS hotel," they called it.

When I heard "80,000 pounds" my initial reaction was "Big Whoop. A single B-52 can drop 70,000 lbs. Throw in a few mortar rounds and the odd hand grenade and you've got your 80,000. What so special about this 80,000?"

Then I watched the video.



Notice the zig-zag/grid pattern that the impacts occur in? The sheaf looks very ordered, as if they were targeting grid coordinates and not tactical targets. These weren't just "smart bombs," this was "smart bombing." I've never heard tell of so many smart bombs being dropped on a single target in a single attack.

I can't tell for sure how many bombs (the video of the bombing isn't continuous) but based on the plumes of smoke I'm guessing maybe 40. Ish. Which is an oddly convenient number because 80,000 pounds divided by 40 bombs comes to an even 2000 pounds per. And the US does indeed have a 1-ton smart bomb, the Mk-84 JDAM. The attack was attributed to F-35s and F-15Es and both are capable of delivering Mk-84s.

And the Mk-84 holds nearly half a ton of high explosive. It typically leaves a crater about 50 feet across and 35 feet deep. That's a BIG damn hole. And the bomb shrapnel and blast debris ejected from the crater can be lethal to about 400 yards (but isn't necessarily distributed evenly). The concussion alone can cause severe injury out to 800 yards.

That means a single bomb is theoretically/potentially lethal over an area of about 100 acres.

I looked up the particular island (Qanus Island) on G**gle Earth. It's about 1.5 miles long and maybe 1/3rd of a mile at its widest point. And not a single structure in sight. Nothing 'hardened' to hide in or behind. I'd put it at 200 acres, total. Certainly less than 250.

40 bombs @100 acres each over 250 acres comes to a 16-fold overlap.

So no matter where you were on that island this morning, you were due for a lethal dose of whup-ass about 10 times over. But just like no job is done until the paperwork is finished, no air strike is complete until you've done the BDA (bomb damage assessment). I heard in a radio news blurb that the attack had killed 25 DAESH fighters. Which begs the question, how many were killed but got vaporized or disintegrated, leaving nothing recognizable as a piece of a human body? (I've seen that happen when they shot a human target with a Hellfire anti-tank missile)

Somebody somewhere obviously wanted every swingin' dick on that island to get really, really dead. But I harbor them no ill will and hope they all enjoy their 72 raisins in paradise.

[Obs]

No video of guy jizzing on a girl with a giant bush...


Disappointed.

[Obs]

That is cool btw

[i_SLAM_cougars]

That’s really cool. It’s good to kill terrorists. You can do anything to them and you never have to feel bad about it. Much like pedophiles... which most of them are ironically.

[Beetlegeuse]

I'd be interested to know how they choreographed this. Did they use 40 different laser designators? Or did they have, like, 10 different designators (probably in drones orbiting at high altitude), and each one changing rapidly to its next target after the first salvo of 10 bombs impacted? Or maybe some of them were GPS-guided? Or the maybe the designator could be turned off once the bomb had acquired its target and continued on its own navigation? And if all of the targets had to be "painted" all the way to impact, that must mean they have lasers that aren't discouraged by smoke. Lots of technical questions we probably will never know the answers to.

[i_SLAM_cougars]

I'd be interested to know how they choreographed this. Did they use 40 different laser designators? Or did they have, like, 10 different designators (probably in drones orbiting at high altitude), and each one changing rapidly to its next target after the first salvo of 10 bombs impacted? Or maybe some of them were GPS-guided? Or the maybe the designator could be turned off once the bomb had acquired its target and continued on its own navigation? And if all of the targets had to be "painted" all the way to impact, that must mean they have lasers that aren't discouraged by smoke. Lots of technical questions we probably will never know the answers to.

I like how they bombed the ends first, which gave everyone a minute to run to the middle. Then they obliterated the middle.

[almostgone]

Would love to see a local BDA on this although I feel it would be a positive one. The satellite pics showed all vegetation gone.