島川です。
やはりA-10はいますね。
下は「DoD News Briefing」の例です。
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DoD News Briefing
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Wednesday, March 31, 1999 - 3:05 p.m.
Q:
Are we able to get a rundown of exactly what the U.S. contribution to the
NATO forces are over there?
A:
We've given pretty much of a rundown. We've got approximately 210
airplanes. I think you know the major elements: B-52, B-2s,
F-117s. There are also A-10s, F-15s, F-16s, a wide range of--obviously
a large number of tankers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
国防総省のブリーフィングでは、連日このA-10の話題が出ています。
記者はほぼ毎日質問していますが、答える主役のベーコン国防次官補は
知らないと言ったり、その部分のみ答えなかったり、はぐらかしたり、
禅問答みたいにしたり、ジョークにしたり、何とか触れたくない話題の
ようです。結局存在は認めざるを得ず、しかし、直接の攻撃用ではない
云々など、対戦車攻撃用途などは、AH-1攻撃ヘリのほうへ話題をずらし
たい様子です。
相手側の携帯対空ミサイルの脅威があってA-10の低空飛行はさせられな
い、というような言い方も出てきますが、それならAH-1も同じでしょう。
以下、ちょっと長くなりますが、国防総省ブリーフィングを主に、A-10
の話題をひろってみました。
最後のものは、「DEFENSE PRESS SERVICE」の、中東配備のA-10の話です。
============================================================================
DoD News Briefing
Friday, March 26, 1999 5:15 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: Has the A-10 fighter been flown yet?
A: Sorry?
Q: Has the A-10 fighter been flown yet?
A: I don't believe so, but I don't rightly know actually.
Q: Any plans to -- (inaudible)?
A: Well, you know, we have -- the A-10s are available, and I
just haven't focused on what is in every package. So I can't answer
the question.
===============================
DoD News Briefing
Monday, March 29, 1999 - 4:17 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: Can you comment on the report today that A-10s took off?
And can you just confirm that this was the first day that A-10s have been
involved in action?
And a second question is -- there have been a lot of complaints that
there's not been a lot of information forthcoming from here, from yourself.
Most of the information we're getting is from Serb TV. Do you think
it's really good for us to get most of our information from the Serbs?
A: I don't know whether you'd call it information or misinformation.
I try to give you information such as it is and not misinformation.
I think the Serbs frequently concentrate on misinformation. You're
free to do with that what you will.
In terms of A-10s, look, we have planes taking off and landing at airports
all over the world all the time. And it's not good for me or for
the pilots to get into the business of telling you what planes are involved
in what operations when.
The Serbs monitor TV very closely. We know that for a fact.
They are very aware of reports on TV of when planes take off from where
-- and they are trying to use that information to make various defensive
calculations. I think that's clear. We don't have to make it
easier for them to talk about what planes might be doing once they take
off.
==================================
DoD News Briefing
Tuesday, March 30, 1999, 2:03 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: Three-part attack question if I may. One, with the A-10s.
I believe there are eight operating out of Aviano. Any requests for
more, or any intent to send more? Two, the Marine MAGTF offshore
has some Harriers and some Cobra attack helicopters. Any plans to
use those? And third, Army Apaches and Cobras, any plans to use any
those? They're very effective against armor.
A: Well, as I said yesterday, taking your questions in reverse
order, the possibility of moving Apaches into the area for use in the Kosovo
front is currently under consideration. There's no decision yet on
that, but it remains under consideration. In terms of the Marine
helicopters, they, of course, are on-board ship now. There has been
no decision to deploy them into this operation at this time. The
question of A-10s, Gen. Clark has moved, I believe, six or eight more A-10s
from one part of his theater to another down to Aviano. He can make
these intra-theater changes in force on his own, and he's done that.
I think, in the last day or two, he has augmented the A-10 supply in Aviano.
Q: How many do we have roughly? Any idea?
A: Let me check here. I can get you a list. We'll
get that for you. I don't have it right here at my fingertips.
Q: Just a quick follow-up. Is the decision to deploy Apaches
or Marine Cobras conceivably -- is that Gen. Clark's decision, or would
he have to go to NATO to get political --
A: It would eventually be a NATO decision, as I understand it.
It's one that we'll look at in our government, and NATO will look at as
well.
Q: Are the A-10s engaged in offensive strike packages at this
point?
A: I don't believe the A-10s have engaged in an offensive strike
package.
Q: Why is that?
A: Some of it's weather-related. Some of it's where we
are in the mission right now.
Q: But there is still considered a high degree of risk regarding
the A-10s to do a low-level mission?
A: When it's appropriate for the A-10s to engage, they will.
They have not engaged yet in ground attack missions.
Q: Is there any indication that the intensity of the air strikes
are going to change given the meeting between Mr. Primakov and Milosevic?
A: I think it's premature to address that, because I don't think
we have a good read-out yet on what happened at that meeting. It's
something that obviously we and our NATO allies hope to learn more about,
but we don't know yet.
Q: There's a disaster relief team that's over right now checking
out the refugee situation, I think in Albania. And when they come
back, a decision will be made on sending maybe several thousand troops.
Could you talk about how many troops would possibly be involved and compare
that to the effort that we have had with the Kurds in Iraq?
A: I think it's premature to answer that question.
Q: Can you explain why NATO would have to decide on a deployment
of Apaches? Is that because Apaches are essentially a ground system?
A: This is a NATO operation. And all parts of it --
Q: You say that the campaign against the ground forces is under
way. You're not using the A-10s; the B-1s are not deployed.
What are you using, and is the weather, the weather allow you to use the
laser-guided precision munitions from F-15s, F-16s?
A: The short answer is yes, the weather has not been great, but
there are pockets of better weather or less bad weather that allow us to
attack certain targets under certain conditions. So we are using
those precision-guided -- yes.
===================================
DoD News Briefing
Tuesday, March 30, 1999 - 5:20 p.m.
Update: OPERATION ALLIED FORCE
Vice Adm. Scott A. Fry, Joint Staff Director of Operations
Rear Adm. Thomas R. Wilson, Joint Staff Director of Intelligence
Mr. Bacon: We have Vice Admiral Scott Fry, who is the Director
of Operations on the Joint Staff, and Rear Admiral Thomas Wilson, who is
the Director of Intelligence on the Joint Staff. Each one has a brief
presentation which they'd like to make without questions, and then they'll
answer questions after the presentation is over.
Q
Admiral Fry, can you tell us, we're a week into the campaign now.
Any plans to stand down or halt for a day or two? And two, why aren't
the A-10s being used in what they're designed for, to take out tanks and
armor? They're, we're told, flying CSAR. Why are they
doing that?
Vice Admiral Fry:
Let me answer question one. There is, to my knowledge at this point,
no desire to pause or have a stand-down or wait for awhile. This
campaign is one of keeping the pressure on the target sets that Admiral
Wilson and I have talked to. We have flown strikes for six nights,
and we were going to going to continue that level of effort in servicing
all of those target sets.
With respect to the A-10s,
you get back to the issue of the robustness of his air defense systems.
It isn't just the mobile SAMs and the communication links between them
and the radars, but there are thousands of MANPADs, and once you get down
below 15,000 feet with the weather as bad as it's been, but even in good
weather, worse in good weather, you're going to place our pilots at a tremendous
amount of risk, and we've got to weigh that as we proceed with this campaign.
Q
The surface-to-air missile, the shoulder-fired SA-7s, are going to be there
in profusion, so you're really never going to get to the point, are you,
where you've got the air defenses eroded to the point where it's safe for
them to go in?
Rear Admiral Wilson:
It's not safe to go in there now. We're going in a very heavy air
defense system, and we are doing our best and are very successfully degrading
and suppressing it while we go in.
When you degrade the ability
to cue tactical systems such as the SA-7s, then you increase your ability
to operate in different environments and different altitudes. It's
obviously of increased danger when you're down lower, and we have to make
the determination that we can conduct the operations with the appropriate
amount of risk for the situation.
==============================
DoD News Briefing
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Wednesday, March 31, 1999 - 3:05 p.m.
Q:
What did you strike them with? The tanks?
A:
I do not know the precise weapons that they were struck with.
Q:
Not A-10s?
A:
No, they were not A-10s. Nor do I know whether they were American
planes that struck them. This is an allied effort, and there are
allied strike packages flying every day.
Q:
I was checking the forecast a couple of hours ago, and the latest observation
over Belgrade. I was given visibility of seven miles, a ceiling of
10,000 feet, broken clouds. Are we going to operate below 10,000
feet? The Joint Chiefs said everything was above 15,000 basically
yesterday.
And any idea when you plan
to use the A-10s against the armor?
A:
Ivan, I've tried to make it very clear that we are not going to announce
from this podium, certainly I'm not going to announce, the ways in which
we will deploy our forces, the altitudes at which we'll be flying, or the
types of aircraft that we'll be flying at particular altitudes. I
just don't think it makes sense to do that. You may think that, but
I'm not going to make such an announcement. So those types of operational
details are "verboten" from this podium as far as I'm concerned.
===================================
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1999
12:00:01 -0500
Reply-To: sthara@HQ.AFIS.OSD.MIL
Sender: DEFENSE PRESS SERVICE LIST <DEFENSE-PRESS-SERVICE-L@DTIC.MIL>
From: Press Service <afisnews_sender@DTIC.MIL>
Subject: No Silver Bullet to Stop Serb
Aggression
To: DEFENSE-PRESS-SERVICE-L@DTIC.MIL
The environment is still unsafe for A-10 tank busters and other
low-flying aircraft due to a profusion -- thousands -- of Serb
shoulder-fired air-defense missiles, Fry said. "Once you get
down below 15,000 feet, � you're going to place our pilots at a
tremendous amount of risk," he noted. "We've got to weigh that
as we proceed with this campaign."
================================
DoD News Briefing
Thursday, April 1, 1999 - 4:45 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: The Air Force put out a media-type report this morning indicating
that the A-10 had in fact been used. Can you confirm that?
A: Yes, it has been used, but I don't know yet whether it's been
-- it's been flown in missions. I don't myself know whether it's
actually launched ordnance yet, but it has flown in strike missions.
=====================================
DoD News Briefing
Friday, April 2, 1999 - 2:45 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: Has the A-10 been used yet to go after tanks or armor columns?
A: The A-10 has flown in strike packages. I don't think
it's launched any ordnance yet.
Let me tell you, the primary uses of the A-10s so far have been in
its OA-10 role as an observer plane. It has a very good loitering
capacity and it's been very helpful in helping other planes keep track
of armored columns and deployments, so they can vector in to attack them.
The A-10, also in part because of its loiter capability, is a very important
part of the combat search and rescue operations.
======================================
DoD News Briefing
Saturday, April 3, 1999 - 1:45 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: Can we assume that the A-10s still have not been used at all?
A: (Bacon) A-10s have been used, as I explained yesterday,
in several fundamental ways. I don't believe they've dropped ordnance
yet; you may know for sure. But they have been used primarily in
their observer mission, their OA-10 mission, because of their loitering
capability. They've been used in ways that have helped other planes
vector themselves in to attack.
=====================================
DoD News Briefing
Sunday, April 4, 1999 - 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q:
Have the A-10s flown today? Flying combat missions?
A:
I can't answer that question.
Q:
Serb TV is reporting once again that they've shot down a NATO jet.
Anything to that?
A:
Not as of the time I came in here. I didn't have any report of that.
Of course, this is what, the tenth such report that they've made so far?
Q:
...video, and it says fuel tank on it in English. You know nothing
more?
A:
I know nothing. I'll check, obviously, but I've heard nothing about
that.
Q:
Is there any allied help going to the UCK that you're aware of, or any
other consideration at all?
A:
I'm not aware that there is allied help or that it's under consideration.
Remember, our goal is disarmament. We don't want to fuel the fighting
and the arms race in Kosovo. We want to end it. Our goal is
peace, not continued war.
====================================
DoD News Briefing
Monday, April 5, 1999 - 3:15 p.m.
Presenter: Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr1999/t04051999_t0405asd.html
Q: Ken, have the Apaches started to move? And if not, how are they going
to move? And with the good weather, have you started
using A-10s yet?
Mr. Bacon: First of all, the Apaches have not yet started to move. How
they move is still being worked out. They could fly down
themselves. They could be carried in other planes, and that will all be
worked out as we work out other details, such as the precise
placement. I had said they could go to Tirane. It turns out they could
go someplace else now. We may decide not to put them in Tirane
in order not to clog up that airport for a period time while humanitarian
aid is coming in.
Q: Have you started using the A-10s yet?
Mr. Bacon: Well, as I've explained many times, we are using the A-10s regularly
in an observation capacity. I'm not aware yet that
they have dropped any ordnance. They have been in strike packages, but
I don't know whether they've stuck anything yet.
Q: One last question to flog a dead Warthog here. Would you take the
question on the Warthogs and let us know when you found they
started using them in ground attacks?
Mr. Bacon: I will, but Charlie, I've been very explicit in telling you
that the primary role of the A-10s has been in the observation
capacity because of their loiter ability. And I would anticipate that that
will continue to be the case. But I will -- we will do our level best
to tell you the first time that an A-10 knocks out a tank. I suppose that's
what you want. We will do our level best.
===============================
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Mon, 15
Mar 1999 16:30:02 -0500
Sender: DEFENSE PRESS SERVICE LIST <DEFENSE-PRESS-SERVICE-L@DTIC.MIL>
From: Press Service <afisnews_sender@DTIC.MIL>
Subject: Vigilant Pilots Face Iraqi
Threats
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
AL JABER AIR BASE, Kuwait -- Vigilance has replaced complacency
in the skies over Iraq, according to U.S. fliers patrolling the
no-fly zones.
Currently, active duty Air Force and Air National Guard
squadrons make up the wing here. They include the 68th Fighter
Squadron, with F-16CGs from Moody AFB, Ga.; the 55th, with F-
16CJs from Shaw AFB, S.C.; and three National Guard A-10 units,
the 103rd Fighter Squadron from Pennsylvania, the 104th Fighter
Squadron from Maryland, and the 108th Fighter Squadron, from
Connecticut.
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-----------------------------------
島川雅史 mshmkw@tama.or.jp
mshmkw@jca.ax.apc.org
-----------------------------------