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Today, 30 July 2010

› Panjo's owner 'facing jail'

› 'Defensive' media warned

› Mugabe's sister dies

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Yesterday, 29 July 2010

› 'White men still dominate'

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› 'Terrified' Panjo found

› So, is Div really that bad?

› Strikers hit SA streets

Bill Sinyard will never know what damage and death result from the bombs made by his crew.

A senior chief petty officer aboard this US aircraft carrier, Sinyard (40), supervises aviation ordnancemen who build the bombs launched by F/A-18 attack fighter pilots based on the ship, the USS Abraham Lincoln.

"They'll let us know that they were dropped but we won't know the locations ... or what destruction they've done," Sinyard told AFP.

The Abraham Lincoln, sailing in Gulf waters south of Iraq, is one of three US carriers in the Gulf or Mediterranean Sea as a possible war with Baghdad looms. Two more carriers are on their way to the area, navy spokesmen say.

Sinyard said a bomb's target is of no concern to him. "Once we build 'em, I don't care where they're going," said the native of Nashville, Tennessee.

US and British warplanes on Wednesday attacked an Iraqi surface-to-surface missile system which had been moved into striking range of US troops in Kuwait, US military officials said.

The Abraham Lincoln and a second US carrier are enforcing a no-fly zone imposed by Washington and London over southern Iraq. Baghdad does not recognize this or another air exclusion zone in the north of the country.

Asked how he would feel if he learned his crews had made a bomb that killed civilians, Sinyard said: "I really don't have time to think about that. Can it happen? Possibly."

But Sinyard said the chances of civilian casualties should be virtually nil with the "smarter" bombs his crews build now.

In the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq most bombs were simply dropped out of airplanes over their targets. The majority this time will be precision-guided, a factor which makes the bomb assembler's job more complicated, Sinyard said.

"Back in the old days, slap on a fuse, slap on a tail and drop it," he said.

Now each crew of 10 bomb assemblers — whose average age is about 19 — must install guidance systems, cable assemblies and fuse settings, Sinyard said.

"It's not a muscle thing anymore. You have to have intelligence," he said.

The F/A-18s can launch 450 to 900-kilogram bombs equipped with the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kit that uses inertial navigation and global positioning systems to improve accuracy, the navy says.

"It really limits collateral damage," said Captain Scott Swift, a veteran combat pilot and deputy commander of the Abraham Lincoln's air wing.

But despite technological advances and constant efforts to reduce civilian casualties "it's still a difficult problem", said Captain Kendall Card, commander of the Abraham Lincoln.

Authorities in Afghanistan say up to 48 people died last June when a US bombing raid in central Uruzgan province mistakenly targeted a wedding party. The US military said its aircraft were responding to gunfire from the ground and the death toll was much lower.

Sinyard said his crews can build between three and six smart bombs or up to 150 "dumb" bombs every hour.

When he served during the Gulf War the crews worked 72 hours straight, he recalled.

"It was amazing. We offloaded the ship of all bombs in three days," Sinyard said.

He said he doesn't want another war but he's tired of waiting to see what their mission is going to be. "The guys are all ready to go," he said. "The job is simple. It's just the waiting is hardest."

AFP