Word: targets
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Cordovez to journalists gathered in Geneva last week. That advice was the first sign that the pace had slowed in what was to be the final round of talks aimed at settling Afghanistan's eight-year-old civil war. Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev had set March 15 as the target date for concluding the negotiations, promising that if it was met, Moscow would begin withdrawing its 115,000-member army of occupation from Afghanistan by May 15. Yet last week key negotiators, including Pakistani Minister of State Zain Noorani, whose government represents the mujahedin rebels, admitted that the putative deadline...
...high-performance engines warn of unseen jet fighters. Images of war darken the imagination. Moments later four slender U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter-bombers are framed against a hot blue sky. From a distance they are lethal mosquitoes: stiletto nose, ! bulging belly, tightly angled wings. Passing over their target area, the fighters roll out into a curved line, vanishing behind a range of mountains. They are preparing to drop bombs on American soil, but groundlings needn't worry. The object is to dominate a point spread, not an enemy...
...team triumphed over the runner-up by dropping a single bomb one yard closer. In theory, spring-loaded reflexes and microscopic eyes should make a winner. Pilots joke that proficiency in arcade video games helps too. But skill isn't everything. "Getting that little bitty death dot on that target isn't easy," says Anderson. "You might get bumped by turbulence or the cart ((bomb rack)) might be slow. The jets aren't perfect...
...made his 3,000-foot climb. The contest allows 30 seconds from the climb to post-pickle recovery. Back at the base, the pilots gather in briefing rooms, close their doors and punch up video tapes of the day's run. Maybe one pilot stayed too long over the target, jamming the next man. Somebody probably flew too low, or too high. "The R.O.E. ((rules of engagement)) in a debriefing is no rank," says Cowboy Dulaney. "A lieutenant can tell a colonel what he did wrong -- with a little tact...
Gunsmoke's final two days gave Hamilton a chance to test his faith. The target was an old Navy surplus plane surrounded by protective earthen dikes. Pilots had to approach it "in the weeds" -- 200 feet above ground again -- from 150 miles out, flying over pretarget locations at precise times. Finally, Hamilton and others had to evade smoke missiles while dropping a bulky parachute-equipped 500-lb. bomb. Hamilton, alone among all Gunsmoke pilots, elected to try an F-16 computer program called dive toss. The pilot fixes the target inside a box projected on the up screen, punches...