A newly declassified report says that the US Department of Defense (DoD) and manufacturers overstated the effectiveness of advanced aircraft and "smart" weapons used against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.
The report issued by the US General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the US Congress, expands on a classified summary which was made public a year ago. The summary says that GAO investigators concluded that many claims of the Pentagon and manufacturers on the lethality of their smart weapons, particularly the Lockheed Martin F-117 stealth fighter, the Tomahawk Land-Attack Cruise Missile (TLACM) and laser-guided bombs "-were overstated, misleading, inconsistent with the best available data, or unverifiable".
The GAO says that the F-117's bomb hit rate ranged between 41% and 60% - less than the 80% claimed after the war. It goes on to say that the TLACM's reputed 98% success rate does not accurately reflect the system's effectiveness. "Claims of a one-target, one-bomb capability for laser-guided munitions were not demonstrated in the air campaign," the GAO continues.
"It may well be that the F-117 was the most accurate platform in Desert Storm. Desert Storm data, however, does not fully support claims for the F-117's accuracy against targets," it adds.
The report notes the inability of US military forces to locate and attack Scud missile launchers. It says that the record against mobile Scuds under highly favourable circumstances was poor.
"The USA did not have the combination of real-time detection and prosecution required to hit portable launchers before they moved from their launch points," the GAO says.
Source: Flight International