PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC
Move will provide extra C-130 airstrips as well as improved helicopter access to support special forces in Afghanistan
The US military is looking to broaden the basing of aircraft deployed against Afghanistan by opening up three airbases in neighbouring Tajikistan.
The USA has also extended the array of weapons and aircraft being employed against the ruling Taliban and allied al-Qaeda forces.
US Central Command has dispatched an assessment team to Tajikistan to inspect three military facilities at Kulyab, Khojand and Turgan-Tiube as possible bases for US military forces.
The inspection follows the recent visit to the former Soviet republic, along with Uzbekistan and Russia, by the US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
According to Brookings Institute analyst Fiona Hill, Khojand offers the best supporting infrastructure, as it is located in the most developed part of the country. But the two southern airbases at Kulyab and Turgan-Tiube are better positioned for access to Afghanistan. The latter two bases are already home to the Russian 201th motorised infantry division.
Unlike neighbouring Uzbekistan, the US military has had no previous experience of operating from Tajikistan.
The US Army has already deployed elements of its 10th Mountain Division at Khanabad in Uzbekistan, and is finding that many of the country's 13 airbases have not been well maintained since the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
Neither government in Tashkent or Dushanbe has openly consented to US mounting combat missions from their territory, nor are they ever likely to give their blessing publicly "as they are concerned about becoming lightening rods for local dissent," adds Hill.
Full access would enable the US Air Force to deploy shorter- range tactical fighters to the regionin support of anti-Taliban Northern Alliance forces.
It would also allow a substantial increase in the sortie rate, which is currently ranging between 70 and 120 missions daily depending on US Navy carrier availability in the Arabian Sea.
At a minimum, the Tajikairbases will provide improved helicopter access to Afghanistan to enable support of US special forces, as well as an alternative base for the Lockheed Martin C-130-based Commando Solo broadcast aircraft and for humanitarian-aid transports.
The range of USAF aircraft deployed against Afghanistan is widening, with the introduction of the Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint STARS ground surveillance aircraft and RQ-4A Global Hawk long-endurance unmanned air vehicle.
The US Marine Corps has also flown the first combat missions over Afghanistan using ship-based Boeing AV-8B Harrier IIs.
The USA has also confirmed that it has used the 6.8t BLU-82 Commando Vault bomb, more commonly known as the "daisy cutter" and dropped out of the rear of a C-130, at least twice.
Source: Flight International
