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COMMENT: Aircraft by Numbers
Thursday, October 25, 2001
(10:10 AM)
By Retired Air Force Colonel, Charles E. Miller

Why we look a little different in the air . . . and on the ground?

The 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?
(More: National Review Online News Source)
2001 © National Review Online.

Dan