Dumb bomb, dumb writer?

Vincent J. Curtis

11 Sept 24

RE: War is part of our climate change problem. Op-ed by Tricia Clarkson, co-chair of the Peterborough Alliance for Climate Action. The Hamilton Spectator 11 Sept 24.

Arguing for peace on the grounds that war is bad for the climate is certainly novel, and may say something about the values of the writer. However, the writer claims that the use of “dumb bombs” dropped in Gaza by Israel undercuts Israel’s claim that they try to minimize civilian harm.

I don’t expect most people to know this, but “dumb bomb” is a military term of art, meaning that the bomb has no internal guidance system: when dropped it is a mere projectile falling in accordance with Newton’s Laws of Motion.  The bomb may be dumb, but the aircraft carrying it isn’t; and the F-16 aircraft which drop these as ordinance have quite remarkable guidance systems built into their electronic suite.

The computers on board the Israeli F-16s can plot and project continuously on the pilot’s display where the bomb would land if dropped at the aircraft’s altitude, speed, and direction.  Since a 2,000 lb aerodynamically-shaped bomb isn’t much affected by winds, the pilot is able to put the (comparatively) inexpensive dumb ordinance on the target practically with the accuracy of a guided weapon.

I don’t expect a climate activist to be up on the very latest military technology, but her error shows the hazards of drawing vicious conclusions from impressions that one doesn’t fully understand.

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