Word: exocets
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Iraq has already received from France 20 Exocet air-to-surface missiles, the same weapon that the Argentines used to such deadly effect against the British in the Falklands war last year. Once the Super Etendards are equipped with the Exocets, the Iraqis would have a weapons system capable of hitting and blocking Iranian oil facilities that still ship an estimated 2.2 million bbl. per day of crude...
...this leads to the other side of the sword. We must not misuse this enormous power against nations like Nicaragua. On a pragmatic level, even vastly superior naval forces are vulnerable to some kinds of stealthy attack, like the Exocet missiles used against Britain in the Falklands conflict. But on a much broader, moralistic plane, it would be simply wrong to abuse our strength, even if there were a reason to use it at all. Reminding unfriendly regimes of American power is fully within the legitimate parameters laid down in the Constitution, and recognized by international law. Attacking nearly defenseless...
...region has been rife with reports that France, which has already provided more than $4 billion worth of arms to Iraq, may soon supply it with Super Etendard jet fighters equipped with the kind of air-to-surface Exocet missiles that Argentina used against Britain in last year's Falklands war. A likely target for Saddam Hussein: Iran's major oil outlet at Kharg island in the Persian Gulf. The very idea provoked a quick Iranian counterthreat. If France or any other nation intervened in the war by supplying such weapons, or if Iraq seriously damaged the facilities...
...technology, as well as its "pivotal political role" in Western Europe. Mitterrand last month was shown a report prepared by the DST that claimed that the KGB has penetrated an estimated 30% of classified French military and industrial technology. Among prime espionage targets: advanced French aircraft carriers and the Exocet air-to-surface missile. Soviet agents have been prowling naval bases like Toulon, on the Mediterranean, which houses two carriers and the nuclear submarine Rubis...
...example, is being tested by pilots who know both the terrain and target locations ahead of time. The expensive ($1 billion apiece) Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers equipped with the AEGIS air-defense system have never been pitted in simulated combat situations against low-flying missiles like the Exocet. When the Army's new DIVAD-system air-defense gun, called the Sergeant York, was unable to hit maneuvering planes, it was tested instead on hovering helicopters. The Army says that is now the gun's main function, even though it does not fulfill that task particularly well...