US spells out plan to bomb Iran
By
IAN BRUCE
Defence Correspondent
05/16/06 "The
Herald" -- -- THE US is updating contingency plans
for a non-nuclear strike to cripple Iran's atomic weapon programme if international diplomacy fails, Pentagon sources
have confirmed.
Strategists are understood to have presented two options for
pinpoint strikes using B2 bombers flying directly from bases in
Missouri, Guam in the Pacific and Diego Garcia in the Indian
Ocean.
RAF Fairford in Gloucester also has facilities for B2s but this
has been ruled out because of the UK's opposition to military
action against Tehran.
The main plan calls for a rolling, five-day bombing campaign
against 400 key targets in Iran, including 24 nuclear-related
sites, 14 military airfields and radar installations, and
Revolutionary Guard headquarters.
At least 75 targets in underground complexes would be attacked
with waves of bunker-buster bombs.
Iranian radar networks and air defence bases would be struck by
submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and then kept out of
action by carrier aircraft flying from warships in the Indian
Ocean and Persian Gulf.
The alternative to an all-out campaign is a demonstration strike
against one or two high-profile targets such as the Natanz
uranium enrichment facility or the hexafluoride gas plant at
Isfahan.
UK sources say contingency plans have also been drawn up to cope
with the inevitable backlash against the Basra garrison in
neighbouring Iraq.
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