Page 19: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2013)

www.marinelink.com 19? On October 5, 2002, an explosive-laded small boat was rammed into the side of the French tanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen. The hull was pene- trated, causing an oil spill and Þ re. One crew member was killed and 12 were injured. The terrorists were af Þ liated with al-Qaeda.? On October 12, 2000, al Qaeda terrorists rammed an explosive-laded small boat into the USS Cole (DDG-67) in the port of Aden, Yemen, causing the deaths of 17 U.S. Navy sailors, injuring another 39, and doing signiÞ cant dam- age to the destroyer. While U.S. Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies are respon-sible for deterring small boat attacks by terrorists in the navigable waters of the United States, attacks against U.S. assets and interests on the high seas or overseas may call for a military re-sponse. The U.S. Navy has a variety of capabilities for this possibility, but it can?t be everywhere. Thus, the U.S. Air Force is also developing the capac-ity to conduct maritime strike opera-tions against small boats.The test and evaluation phase of the development involves the use of multiple types of live munitions against small boat tar- gets in waters of the Gulf of Mexico for various surface and depth scenarios, to a maximum depth of ten feet. Man-agement actions are taken to decrease the potential adverse effects on human safety and the environment, including use of safety boats, aircraft and high-deÞ nition video cameras to ensure the test area is clear. Tests are necessary because current weaponeering systems do not accu-rately model the impact of air-launched weapon detonations on or under water on small boats. Damage effects of these conditions must be known in order to generate the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) for USAF strike air- craft to counter small maneuvering mar- itime targets. The test objectives are to: (1) generate usable weaponeering data against small boats; (2) develop TTPs to engage small boats in all weather and (3) determine the impact of the TTPs on Combat Air Force (CAF) training. Maritime strike testing has been iden-tiÞ ed as a high national defense priority. The project has been categorized as a Joint Urgent Operational Need (JUON), meaning that, if not addressed immedi-ately, it will seriously endanger person- nel or pose a major threat to ongoing operations. The weapons being tested range from 20-mm and 30-mm machine guns to HellÞ re and Maverick missiles to laser- guided Paveway bombs with an explo-sive weight of up to 945 pounds. During that testing period, a B-1B Lancer supersonic variable-sweep-wing bomber launched a GBU-10 laser- guided bomb to take out a remotely-controlled mobile surface vehicle. The GBU-10 has a published accuracy (?cir- cular error probable? in USAF-speak) of 3.6 feet, making it a good weapon against a small target like a boat, al- though its 945 pound warhead may be more than needed in this scenario.The Paveway bombs are now available to the military in a GPS-guided version in addition to the laser-guided model, providing increased ß exibility for com- bat commanders.Like all military weapons systems, one hopes that they will never have to be used in combat, but it is good to know that they are available when and if needed.MR #10 (18-25).indd 19MR #10 (18-25).indd 1910/3/2013 10:47:30 AM10/3/2013 10:47:30 AM