The US-British blitz of targets in Afghanistan yesterday used some of the world's most modern weapons on one of the world's least developed nations.
Night strikes began with ship- and air-launched cruise missiles. The ruling Taliban's air defences and Osama bin Laden's training camps, blamed for last month's attacks on the US, were targeted, US defence officials said.
About 50 Tomahawk missiles, each costing about $1 million, were fired from land-based bombers, US and British submarines and surface ships to disrupt "terrorist targets", said chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen Richard Myers. Further missiles will have been fired in later attacks, after this briefing.
Going into action were swing-wing B-1, bat-wing B-2 and heavy B-52 bombers, a Pentagon briefing was told by Mr Myers and US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld.
Upgraded B-52Hs - eight-engine giants of Vietnam War vintage - can carry bombs and cruise missiles. Swing-wing B-1s carry bombs guided by satellites through clouds or at night.
The cruise missiles' guidance system would have analysed the rugged Afghan terrain over which they hurtled to home-in on their targets. As they approached, the missiles would have used the Global Positioning System, a satellite navigation tool, to make any last-moment course modifications.
In London, the prime minister Mr Tony Blair said at least one British missile-firing submarine took part in the strikes, billed as the first in a long, multi-pronged, US-led campaign against global terrorism.
Such missiles fly at subsonic speeds, close to the ground to avoid radar. They would have been a weapon of choice for attacking heavily defended targets such as anti-aircraft batteries and clearing the way for carrier-based strike aircraft.
But cruise missiles would not be the obvious choice to use against bin Laden, who was said to be moving constantly.
On Friday, the US military launched an advanced KH-11 imaging spy satellite, said to be capable of tracking small groups of Afghans, their pack animals and their campfires. Intelligence officials said they already had advanced eyes and ears focused on landlocked Afghanistan. Elite forces using advanced night-vision goggles may eventually be used in the fight. Their likely targets will be the surviving camps, rickety tanks and aging Taliban warplanes.
Available US weapons are: US B-52 and B-1 bombers on British island of Diego Garcia in Indian Ocean;
Upgraded B-52Hs: eight-engine giants of Vietnam War vintage.
B-2 stealth bombers: Batwing planes capable of non-stop, round-trip bombing missions from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.
Tomahawk Cruise Missiles: In addition to US bombers, sea-launched versions carried by US/British warships. Costing nearly $1 million, 18-foot-long weapons guided by onboard computer maps and satellites.
Joint Direct Attack Munitions: 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound satellite-guided bombs carried by bombers and smaller US and British jets.
Aircraft Carriers: Three (USS Carl Vinson, USS Enterprise, USS Theodore Roosevelt) in Gulf, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean. Each has 75 warplanes from F-14 and F-18 attack jets to EA-6B radar-jammers to foil air defences. Fourth carrier (USS Kitty Hawk) believed bound for Indian Ocean. British carrier HMS Illustrious also in Gulf region with warplanes.
Air Force attack jets: In addition to Navy jets aboard carriers, the US and Britain have more than 200 fighters, attack jets and air refuelling planes in the Gulf.
Aegis Cruisers, destroyers, attack submarines: More than 30 US and British warships in region are capable of firing long-range cruise missiles.