Paul, News update from Jane's Defence Weekly...
Options for ground war
A NATO ground force to oust Federal Republic of Yugoslavia troops from
Kosovo would require at least 100,000 troops, including a "robust corps" of heavy and light US units, US Army generals say.
On the eve of NATO's 50th anniversary summit in Washington, NATO
officials were insisting that an escalation of the air campaign would achieve NATO's objectives. However, some current and former US Army generals told Jane's Defence Weekly that a ground offensive should be launched arguing that air strikes alone will not solve the crisis.
"I don't advise incremental changes in the battle... it doesn't work," says a top US Army general at the Pentagon, referring to this week's arrival of US Army AH-64A Apache attack helicopters and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems in Alabania. "Let's go in with enough forces and do it now, and not screw around. You need both [air and ground power] to achieve the objective."
If NATO's ultimate goal is to repel Serb forces from Kosovo an effective NATO ground force could be deployed in less than a month, he argued.
"Ground troops were taken off the table too soon. I don't think the Serbs are 10-feet tall. They'd be no match for a combined arms team" of air, land and sea power.
Retired US Army Gen George Joulwan, who commanded NATO forces in
Bosnia as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe and participated in
the 1996 Dayton accords with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, said he was "upset" that US President Bill Clinton did not pursue the ground option from the beginning of Operation 'Allied Force'.
After facing reports last week that members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had expressed misgivings about the plan to use a limited air campaign prior to its start, President Clinton said it was the best of many "bad options... but I would far rather be standing here answering these questions [than] having you ask me why we are... not lifting a finger to do anything" about the uprooting of undreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Based on the belief that the Yugoslavia has eight to 10 brigades operating in or around Kosovo, the generals said NATO should send at least 100,000 ground troops and give them "unlimited commitment." Despite limited infrastructure in the Balkans, they believe such a deployment could be expedited.
"The chances the Serbs would cave in under the air bombardment is only
50/50 at best," says retired Maj Gen Edward Atkeson, at the Institute of Land Warfare Institute. "As soon as you get the [ground] corps there, you want to start building the next one."
Greg Seigle, JDW staff reporter
Jane's Defence Weekly |
