U.S. to retaliate for Iraqi attack on spy plane
July 26, 2001 Posted: 10:08 PM EDT (0208 GMT)

By Jamie McIntyre
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is planning a military response to
Tuesday's attempted shootdown of a U-2 spy plane over Iraq's southern
no-fly zone, Pentagon sources told CNN Thursday.

Although the United States bombs Iraqi air defenses on a regular basis,
the sources said targets this time will likely include early warning
radars Iraq uses to track the high-flying, slow-moving U-2s.

The radar sites, last hit by U.S. and British warplanes in February,
have since been rebuilt, along with a fiber optic network linking them,
installed with Chinese assistance. "We don't think to this day that it
has been completely reconstituted to the level that it was on the day of
the strike, and yet it has largely been reconstituted," said Pentagon
spokesman Adm. Craig Quigley said.

Pentagon sources said this week's close call in which a souped-up Iraqi
surface-to-air missile exploded close enough to rattle a single-seat
U.S. U-2 spy plane is the latest of some two dozen attempts by Iraq to
shoot down reconnaissance planes this year.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered a reward for the shooting
down of any allied plane patrolling the no-fly zones.

Just last week, the crew of U.S. Navy E-2C Hawkeye reported an unguided
missile headed its way while in Kuwaiti airspace. With the risk to
pilots growing, the no-fly zone enforcement is under review. "We're
going to keep the pressure on Iraq. The no-fly zone strategy is still in
place," President Bush said.

Pentagon sources said Iraq is good at tracking U.S. planes without using
targeting radars, which would instantly draw fire from U.S.
radar-seeking missiles.

Firing without radars also means Iraq can remove "seekers" from some
missiles, which allows for extra fuel and extra lift.

The U-2's main defense is its ability to fly above 70,000 feet. To take
its pictures, a U-2 also flies straight and at a constant altitude,
making it vulnerable to an improbable, but not impossible, lucky shot.