U.S. Strikes Terrorist, Taliban Sites; Sea Services Mobilize for Long War

Richard Burgess, Managing Editor

The information included in this report was obtained from official press releases, various news reports, and the private sector broadcast media.

Even while the nation's armed services were still positioning their forces at home and overseas for what is likely to be a very long campaign against the terrorist network that struck the U.S. homeland on 11 September, Navy and Air Force aircraft and cruise missiles were attacking targets inside Afghanistan in order to weaken the Taliban forces and the Al Qaeda terror network.

Navy aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wings Eight and Eleven, based on the nuclear-powered aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Carl Vinson, respectively, began a series of long-range strikes on targets in Afghanistan as Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the two carrier battle groups' cruisers, destroyers, and submarines--as well as Royal Navy submarines--combined with Air Force long-range bombers to hit Afghan air defenses, airfields, headquarters complexes, radio and television stations, terrorist training camps, Taliban troop concentrations, and other facilities throughout the country. Defense officials said that most--85 percent--of the targeted facilities had been destroyed in the first several days of attacks and that all or almost all of the Taliban's MiG-21 and SU-22 jet interceptors and radar-guided SA-2 and SA-3 surface-to-air missiles had been destroyed or rendered inoperative.

The Operation Enduring Freedom strikes that began on 7 October represented a successfully coordinated operation between Navy and Air Force aircraft in striking targets deep inside the Asian landmass. The Navy F-14 and F/A-18 strike fighters, topped off by S-3B tankers and directed by E-2C radar warning aircraft, were able, with the help of U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force tankers and early warning aircraft, to make history in conducting the longest-range combat strikes ever flown by carrier-based aircraft. Navy EA-6B Prowler electronic attack aircraft provided radar-jamming support for the Navy strike fighters as well as for the Air Force B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers that hit targets in Afghanistan.

The Air Force bombers--as well as the Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft that were used to drop relief supplies to the Afghan people--were escorted by Navy fighters, according to Pentagon sources, during the initial strikes. Air Force fighters in the region were restricted from action by the host countries in which they were staged.

History also was made by the Air Force B-2 bombers, flying from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, in carrying out the longest-range strikes ever made by manned aircraft. The B-2s rearmed in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and flew additional strikes, on their way back to Missouri, in a shuttle-bombing operation reminiscent of the 8th Air Force missions that shuttled between England and the Soviet Union during World War II. The B-1 and B-52 aircraft flew their missions directly from Diego Garcia.

The initial 50 Tomahawk missiles launched on 7 October were fired from ships assigned to the Enterprise and Carl Vinson battle groups, and from a Royal Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). The U.S. ships participating in the strike included the Ticonderoga-class Aegis guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided-missile destroyers USS McFaul and USS John Paul Jones, the Spruance-class destroyer USS O'Brien, and a Los Angeles-class SSN. The Tomahawks launched in later attacks originated from a number of ships, including the Royal Navy SSNs HMS Trafalgar, HMS Triumph, and HMS Superb.

The aerial weapons used by U.S. Navy aircrews against targets in Afghanistan included precision-guided weapons, including 2,000-pound Joint Direct-Attack Munitions (JDAMs) and 1,000-pound GBU-16 laser-guided bombs. The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) and the AGM-84E Standoff Land-Attack Missile (SLAM) also were known to be available, but no report of their use had been made public as of 15 October.

Two other carrier battle groups are deployed overseas and potentially could be used in action in Operation Enduring Freedom. The USS Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group--which departed the East Coast on 19 September on its previously scheduled deployment with Carrier Air Wing One embarked to relieve the Enterprise Battle Group--steamed to the Mediterranean and participated in Exercise Bright Star, which began on 8 October in Egypt. Also participating in Bright Star were the USS Bataan amphibious ready group (ARG) and the embarked 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and other Marine Corps units deployed from the United States. (The USS Kearsarge ARG and the 24th MEU, relieved by the Bataan ARG, have returned to the U.S. East Coast.)

The USS Kitty Hawk Battle Group, forward-deployed to Japan, departed Yokosuka on 21 September but returned on 30 September, only to head out to sea again the following day with only a small number of Carrier Air Wing Five aircraft and personnel embarked. Her relatively clear deck made her available for other purposes, including the accommodation of Army, Air Force, or Marine helicopters. The USS Peleliu ARG, deployed from the West Coast with the 15th MEU embarked, also is on station in the Fifth Fleet operations area. The USS Essex ARG, forward-deployed to Japan with the 31st MEU, was participating in an exercise off Okinawa in mid-October. The USS Bon Homme Richard ARG--with the 13th MEU embarked--was conducting predeployment amphibious training in mid-October in the waters off the U.S. West Coast.

The largest Royal Navy task force since the 1982 Falklands War has been arrayed off Southwest Asia in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 26 Royal Navy ships in the force--already in-theater for previously scheduled exercises in Oman--are centered on the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible and the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean. Canada contributed one destroyer, two frigates, and a supply ship, as well as two CP-140 maritime patrol aircraft, to the U.S.-led coalition. Australia offered surveillance aircraft, and France made available a frigate and a refueling ship.

Coast Guard Plays Key Role In Homeland Security Strategy

The Coast Guard has exponentially increased its port-security operations in the United States since 11 September as part of Operation Noble Eagle. The service is now devoting 50 percent of its resources to port security, up from ten percent before the attacks, said Rear Adm. Terry M. Cross, assistant commandant for operations. The increase has come at the expense of drug-interdiction operations and environmental enforcement.

Coast Guard cutter crews are now busily employed in escorting Navy ships in and out of ports, boarding and inspecting commercial vessels, and patrolling the nation's ports, harbors, and waterways. Naval protection zones of up to 500 yards have been established around all Navy and Coast Guard vessels. A "Sea Marshal" program also has been established that assigns Coast Guardsmen to ride U.S. and foreign private-sector ships of any significant size that are operating in U.S. waters. As of 10 October, the Coast Guard had called up approximately 2,765 reservists (of 8,000 authorized by the Secretary of Transportation), as well as members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, to assist in its massively enlarged security operations.

President George W. Bush has authorized the call-up of 50,000 reservists from all services in response to the 11 September terror attacks. As of 10 October, the Department of Defense had activated 2,350 Navy and 333 Marine Corps reservists.

Navy and Marine Corps active-duty and reserve fighter aircraft were used extensively for air-defense patrols and "strip alert" in the days immediately following the terrorist attacks. A number of aircraft, including some at undisclosed locations overseas, are expected to remain in their air-defense roles.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made available 27 special fisheries agents, drawn from NOAA's Office for Law Enforcement, to assist the U.S. Marshals Service in the continuing investigation of the terrorist activities in Boston, Mass., and New York City.

4th MEB Re-Activated

The Marine Corps has activated a new unit--headquartered at Camp Lejeune, N.C.--to consolidate and integrate the Marines carrying out the Corps' numerous security responsibilities into a more effective antiterrorism force. The principal components of the re-activated 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade are the Marine Corps Security Forces Battalion, which includes two--and will eventually include three--Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) companies; the Marine Security Guard Battalion, which provides security guards to U.S. embassies; the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines (an infantry unit); and the Chemical/Biological Incident-Response Force (CBIRF), established in 1996 to give the Marine Corps, and the nation, a trained "force in being" that could rapidly react to chemical, biological, or radiological attacks against the United States. The 4th MEB eventually will have approximately 5,800 Marines assigned to it. *