The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
More Books by James Dunnigan
|
Dirty Little Secrets
Risky Business Over Washington, DC
by James Dunnigan
June 14, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
At 11:50 AM on May 11th, a single engine civilian aircraft, because it was lost,
entered the “forbidden zone” around the While House. Such aircraft are not
supposed to fly within 25 kilometers of the White House (which is close to many
other important government buildings in downtown Washington.) The intruding
aircraft kept coming, but not at maximum speed. The nightmare scenario has a
faster, twin engine, aircraft, piloted by a suicide bomber and carrying about
500 pounds of explosives. This gives you the equivalent, in destructive power,
of a Tomahawk cruise missile. Such aircraft are fast enough to breach the no-fly
zone and hit the White House in eight minutes. The government recently released
details of this incident, including the times various events took
place.
Normally, a small civilian aircraft can fly fast enough that there
is not enough time to get F-16s into the air and in position for an
interception. There are said to be Stinger crews in the White House (or
personnel trained to use Stingers.) But firing the Stinger from the White House
is a tricky business, as there is less than a minute between the time the
approaching aircraft comes into range and it hits the White House (unless the
missile takes out an engine and forces the aircraft to land somewhere else.)
There are some UH-60s stationed in the area, with people on board armed with
M-16 assault rifles. These choppers can be airborne in minutes. These choppers
intercept several aircraft a week that have entered the no-fly zone. But these
helicopters are there mainly to protect the White House from Congress (as in
"what are you doing about all these unauthorized aircraft over
Washington.")
The helicopters could also be equipped with Sidewinder
air-to-air missiles. The Sidewinder has a range of six kilometers and has been
mounted on helicopters for years. U.S. Army Avenger systems (a hummer armed with
Stinger, a .50 caliber machinegun, radar and laser range finder) have been seen
in the area, as well as Stinger missile teams. The Stinger has a range of only
4.5 kilometers. Effective range of the .50 caliber machine-gun is more like two
kilometers. There could also be teams of snipers equipped with .50 caliber
rifles (firing armor, or engine block, piercing incendiary bullets). These could
also take down one of these aircraft, or at least disable the engines and ruin
the attackers aim.
Before you can knock down a suicide aircraft, you have
to be able to track the intruder, and if the pilot comes in at tree-top level,
that will be difficult. Flying like that within the DC area suburbs is also
dangerous, for there are numerous office parks within that area, many with
buildings over a hundred feet high. But the no-fly zone is 1800 square
kilometers, and each Stinger team is only covering about 14 square kilometers.
The Avenger can move around, if it doesn't get stuck in traffic, but is unlikely
to be able to cover more than a kilometer (or two) a minute, while trying to get
in position for a shot. Because of their short range, the Stingers could only be
used as a last line of defense, and would probably be stationed within 5-10
kilometers of the White House. While the attacker could further complicate the
situation by coming in at night, this makes it more likely to collide with some
high rise obstacle that is not well lit.
The May 11th intruder was
traveling slow enough to allow the UH-60s helicopters and F-16s to get airborne
and intercept. The helicopters were next to the aircraft in about ten minutes,
while the F-16 showed up about five minutes later. At the same time, five
minutes after noon, someone on the ground finally made contact with the
intruding aircraft, and got it to turn around. The F-16 was ready to fire a
missile at the civilian aircraft, and the helicopter was pulling away to allow
that.
But a faster civilian aircraft could have made it to the White
House in under eight minutes. Air defense above Washington DC is still a risky,
and unpredictable, business.
|
|
