Roar of Jets in Kuwait a Sign of U.S. Buildup

As global diplomacy plays itself out and President Clinton takes his case for military action against Iraq to the American people, the stark reality of U.S. military might already is roaring over the complacent heads of grazing camels near here.

F-117A Nighthawks, the stealthy “black” jet fighters that were the first to strike Iraq’s most heavily defended command-and-control installations in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, now slice across the desert skies, presenting a razor-thin silhouette. The 12 U.S. Air Force Nighthawks have been deployed on this heavily protected Kuwaiti installation 40 miles west of Kuwait City.

Along with the 102 strike aircraft aboard the carriers Independence and George Washington nearby in the Persian Gulf, they are the main offensive threat to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein if no solution is found in the dispute over allowing U.N. weapons inspectors free access inside Iraq.

And in the seven years since the Gulf War, military officers say, quantum leaps achieved in navigational systems, avionics and precision-guided weaponry aboard these aircraft mean that any future strike would be delivered with even more accuracy and lethal effect than before.

At this base, almost 1,300 Air Force personnel are girding for battle. “Our planning is 99% complete, and it’s never 100% complete because war is volatile and changing,” said Lt. Col. Gary Woltering of Atlanta, commander of the 8th “Black Sheep” Fighter Squadron, which has been training with its F-117As over southern Iraq since November.

The Nighthawks are among the most formidable weapons in what has become the largest U.S. force deployment in this region since the Gulf War. The force, ready for a possible strike dubbed Operation Desert Thunder, includes Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts and F-16 Fighting Falcons in Kuwait; the Navy’s 5th Fleet battle group--the two carriers with F/A-18 Hornets and F-14 Tomcats and eight accompanying warships armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles; and B-52 Stratofortress bombers on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia and B-2 Stealth bombers that can fly from the mainland United States.

On Monday, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced that the United States was sending 5,000 to 6,000 more troops to Kuwait, bringing total American ground forces in the region to about 10,000.

Using tanks and artillery already positioned here, they are to help protect Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from any possible Iraqi reprisals and are “fully prepared to carry out a combat mission against Saddam Hussein,” Cohen said.

Even though some of the most memorable images from the Gulf War were of laser-guided bombs being dropped down Iraqi smokestacks, less than a quarter of munitions used in that conflict were “smart bombs.”

This time, air and naval commanders say, virtually all bombs, rockets and missiles used would be precision-guided. Using improved laser guidance systems, electronic-eye sensors, computers and global positioning satellites, each bomb can be expected to find its mark. And instead of targeting a building, pilots say, they now have the capacity to identify a feature of the structure--like a window or a floor--to be hit.

“Precision gives you the capability to strike hard, fast and not have to return,” Woltering said. “I know when I drop my bombs, they are going to hit their target, and it is going to be destroyed.”

“If you stop and think about it, that is what the ‘90s were all about,” said Col. Robert Awtrey of Fairfax, Va., the former chief of the Pentagon’s air strategy division who assumed command of Air Force operations in Kuwait in June, discussing the array of complementary technological advances that have been made. “Our capabilities really have increased.”

Decisions about targets will be made at a higher level, Awtrey said. But he is already looking at sites his group might be asked to hit to meet Clinton’s stated goals of reducing the Iraqi regime’s capacity to produce chemical and biological weapons and its ability to threaten its neighbors. “If it’s findable . . . then you hit it,” he said.

The challenge is not in executing the strikes but figuring out which installations, if struck, would produce hoped-for changes on the part of Iraq, he said.

Awtrey worries about Iraq’s air defenses, which the United States believes have been partially rebuilt since the Gulf War. “Do I expect casualties? No,” he said. “Can things happen? Yes.”

While avoiding specifics, he would not rule out targets meant to destabilize the regime itself, such as striking the elite presidential guard or a battlefield decision to give allied air cover if part of the Iraqi armed forces decided to revolt and marched against Baghdad. “If the situation presents itself, why of course it could happen,” he said. “There are lots of little events where, if the situation arises, you capitalize on those.”

The accuracy of U.S. bombardment in the past is plainly on display at the Ahmed Al Jaber air base, where all the hardened hangars were pierced in the air campaign in January and February 1991, when this base was occupied by Iraq.

U.S. jets have been stationed here continuously since 1994 to enforce the “no-fly” zone in southern Iraq. But the contingent has doubled since November, in a buildup begun after Iraq’s decision to expel American members of U.N. weapons inspection teams and bar inspection of Iraqi “presidential sites.” Six F-117As were sent then; the other six arrived Tuesday.

As for the 1,300 U.S. Air Force personnel stationed at the base: Their living quarters are divided among semi-permanent, prefabricated dormitories and tents, all of which have heat and air conditioning, and most are equipped with satellite television. They work 12- to 14-hour days, six days a week, maintaining ties with their families through telephones and e-mail.

They are barred under the rules put in effect after the Khobar Towers bombing--which killed 19 U.S. service personnel in June 1996 in Saudi Arabia--from leaving their compound. It is surrounded by an earthen wall and watchtowers even though it is within the larger Kuwaiti air base.

Their dining hall, the “Hog Rock Cafe,” serves tacos and cheeseburgers. In their spare time, the U.S. personnel jog and lift weights, challenge the Kuwaiti airmen to soccer and watch recent movies piped in by satellite.