Urban fighting highlights need for smaller weapons.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: URBAN COMBAT

The U.S. military services spend billions of dollars on precision-guided bombs, missiles and artillery shells, which, for the most part, have proven inadequate for urban fighting in Iraqi cities.

The problem, military commanders contend, is that most of the munitions that fighter jets and bombers deliver are too large and too destructive to be effective in a war where the goal is to neutralize isolated pockets of insurgents without killing friendly troops and innocent civilians.

Ground-based artillery also has limited use--it delivers too much firepower and rounds often miss the target.

In the urban firefights in Iraq, the most useful and precise weapon is a street-savvy sniper, said Army Maj. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division.

The division spent more than a year in Baghdad, and battled insurgents in some of the poorest and most violent sections of the city, Chiarelli, like other commanders in Iraq, found that close-air support has limited use when the intent is to bring down suspected terrorists scurrying down alleys and darting into buildings.

"Counter-fire in the city was a no-go for me," Chiarelli told an industry conference hosted by the U.S. Joint Forces Command. The insurgents, he said, "were never there when we returned fire ... So we used pattern analysis and snipers instead."

Similarly, Navy pilots launching air strikes from carriers in the Persian Gulf found that most of their missiles and bombs were not suitable for close-air support in tight urban quarters.

Even the smallest precision-guided bomb now available in the fleet--the 500-pound JDAM (joint direct attack munition)--is too big for many types of close-air support missions and puts friendly troops at risk, said Navy Capt. Mark Guadagnini, who commanded Carrier Air Wing 17 aboard the USS John F. Kennedy.

The Kennedy returned in December 2004 from a six-month deployment in the Gulf. The air wing's primary duties were close-air support operations over Iraq. Pilots provided air cover to U.S. soldiers and Marines who were fighting insurgents entrenched in crowded cities. "Targets were in close proximity to our ground forces," said Guadagnini. "Of the 78 bombs we dropped, 60 percent were in a close-air support role."

Air strikes, even with 500-pound JDAMs, put civilians at risk, Guadagnini told a conference of the Precision Strike Association.

"At times, we couldn't even use a 500-pound JDAM, and we had to get down and strafe from 800 feet, right in...