Air warfare tactics refined in Afghanistan: Planners, air crews fine-tuning targeting techniques and rules of engagement.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

Air Force pilots chasing Taliban and al Qaeda forces on the move in Afghanistan during the past several months often have been in position to strike within just 10 minutes of identifying the target.

But in most instances they could not drop bombs that quickly. They had to wait for approval from higher command.

This way of doing business in the Air Force could change, however, in an effort to improve the effectiveness of combat sorties against "time-critical targets," said a senior Air Force official. The changes largely would apply to rules of engagement, said the official, who requested that he not be quoted by name.

The intelligence available to air war planners and combat pilots in Operation Enduring Freedom makes it possible to identify a target and launch precision-guided munitions against that target within 10 minutes. "That doesn't mean we attack it in 10 minutes," the official said, because "we still have to have a command-and-control decision to attack that target." Such decisions could take hours or days.

Delays experienced in the command-and control "kill loop" are driving Air Force leaders to develop "more refined rules of engagement," he said.

Getting approval to hit a target is "situation dependent." Even if a target is clearly identified, it may be located in a "politically sensitive area ... close to a mosque or residential area," so pilots are not allowed to hit it, the official explained. "You have to ask before you shoot."

As the conflict progresses, the rules of engagement are "evolving," he said. "We are learning things."

This happens in every war. Rules of engagement provide a "middle ground." In the current conflict, he added, "We are getting better."

In one particular air strike mission conducted last November, a B-52 bomber was able to identify and get approval to hit a target within 20 minutes. A Northern Alliance commander, accompanied by U.S. special operations forces, needed to cross through a valley occupied by a large Taliban garrison and troop concentration. Special Forces soldiers used satellite communications to radio a request for an air strike to the Combined Air Operations Center, the Air Force war-planning hub, located in Saudi Arabia. The CAOC received the request and directed an on-station B-52 to contact the Special Forces operator on the ground for target coordinates.

The Special Forces team used a so-called Viper device--a small, portable system comprised of a laser range finder, digital map...