Wrong Weapons, Wrong Wars: The Self-Destructive Logic of War

February 7, 2007
Wrong Weapons, Wrong Wars: The Self-Destructive Logic of War

Yet the Pentagon continues to spend money on weapons that are ill suited for the fights "we are
in." As a top U.S. Air Force commander told Aviation Week and Space Technology, the most expensive fighter aircraft ever built may be ready for war but it's not ready for the war we have today in raq. The F-22 isn't "ready for Iraq" because it probably can't fulfill its core mission,
especially in the Baghdad area. In straightforward language, the F-22 would be electronically
"blind" despite having the most advanced suite of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
devices in the U.S. Air Force.

This brings us back full circle. U.S. Air Force Gen. Ronald E. Keys is concerned that the
surveillance suite of the $350 million aircraft may not be able to operate around Baghdad.
Although nominally a fighter aircraft, the F-22 also can act as a signals intelligence
interceptor, which would be its role in Iraq. General Keys notes, however, that the electronic
spectrum around Baghdad is polluted by the myriad jamming devices that coalition forces primarily
employed to thwart remote detonations of the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that have
inflicted 70% of all U.S. fatalities in that war.

The potential problem was discovered when the first F-22s were operating near U.S. navy ships
off the Atlantic coast. Navy radars overwhelmed the F-22's automated sensors. Even now, larger,
multi-station, purpose-built electronic intelligence-gathering airplanes encounter difficulties
around the Iraqi capital because of the extreme density of jamming devices. Supporters of the F-22
propose that one headquarters should coordinate F-22 intelligence collection missions with the use
of both airborne and ground-based jammers.