After Iraqi raid, JSOW missiles lose luster

WASHINGTON — Arms clients of the United States are taking a second look at the oft-touted Joint Stand-Off Weapon, which performed poorly in the U.S. air attack on Iraq earlier this month.

Defense sources said several U.S. allies interested in the systems are requesting information on the Feb. 16 U.S. attack on Iraqi air defense installations around Baghdad. U.S. F-18 fighter-jets used the JSOW in the attack and most of the weapons missed their mark.

Pentagon officials attributed the poor performance to mishaps in both software programs as well as by operators of the JSOW. They said powerful winds blew the weapons off-course. The JSOW is a missile that unleashes submunitions over a wide area.

But questions being asked by U.S. allies interested in the system concerns the computer program meant to correct such factors as poor weather and high winds.

The JSOW is part of the U.S. export package for the F-15E. So far, only Israel, Japan and Saudi Arabia fly the fighter-jet and receive or have ordered the JSOW as well as the Joint Direct Attack Munitions. South Korea is interested in procuring the aircraft as well.

The U.S. Navy's deputy chief of naval operations for naval warfare, Vice Adm. Dennis McGinn, said the extent of human error was incapable of being corrected by the system. He said that force and direction of the winds over Baghdad were incorrectly assessed by military planners.

"What happened was a combination of a difference between predicted and actual winds in the target area, the mission planning profile that was chosen based on that prediction and the way in which the weapon itself calculates wind in the target area," McGinn told the Washington Times. "The centroid of the pattern of bomblets was not precisely where it should have been because of this wind anomaly. And that is the fix that is already out in the fleet right now."