Miserable winter weather and lofty terrain could severely hamper a war on terrorists in Afghanistan. Cloud cover and snow will increasingly make laser-guided bombing impossible and few aircraft can work efficiently at the high altitudes of the Afghan mountain ranges, according to a British military expert.
Laser-guided bombs, which were used in the Gulf war, are not reliable unless the skies are clear. 鈥淭he problem is that lasers don鈥檛 work in bad weather,鈥� says Robert Hewson, Editor of Jane鈥檚 Air-launched Weapons. 鈥淩ain and snow scatter the beams and they don鈥檛 pass through clouds.鈥�
This could particularly affect operations around the southern city of Kandahar, where deep tunnels in nearby hills offered protection against the Russian air raids in the 1980s. Snowfall is more common here than around the capital Kabul.
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If the weather is too bad to use laser-guided bombs, an option is to use bombs fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) units, says Hewson. These are programmed with the co-ordinates of the target and have a GPS receiver built into the tail. The GPS receiver checks the bomb鈥檚 position with a GPS satellite and steers it towards the target.
Moving target
But GPS-guided bombs have drawbacks too, not least that they are far less accurate than laser-guided bombs. 鈥淵ou have to have immensely detailed information of the area you want to target,鈥� says Hewson. 鈥淎nd if your target can move, you can鈥檛 be sure you鈥檒l get it.鈥�
Special forces in Afghanistan will now be trying to locate key targets from the ground, using laser range finders to record their exact co-ordinates, says Hewson.
Their missions will have to contend with sub-zero temperatures, as winter draws closer. In the capital city of Kabul, temperatures are likely to fall to around minus 10 掳C by January, says Andy Yeatman of the UK Meteorological Office in Bracknell, Berkshire. Just 22 miles north of Kabul in Bagram is Afghanistan鈥檚 only all-weather airfield which has been cited as a potential key base for NATO forces.
In some of the mountain valleys, conditions will get much worse, says Yeatman. 鈥淲e could see temperatures down to minus 30 掳C in some of the high valleys.鈥�
Thin air
It is not just the weather that could cause problems though. 鈥淚f ground troops need close air support with heavy supplies being dropped off, altitude will be an issue,鈥� says Hewson.
Afghanistan has mountain ranges over 6100 metres (20,000 feet) and the thinner air at that altitude makes it difficult for aircraft to operate.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a problem for B-52s, but helicopters will have a real problem above 10,000 feet and even lower than that if they鈥檙e carrying a lot of troops or equipment,鈥� says Hewson. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e just not designed for fighting people in the mountains.鈥�