ACCESSION NUMBER:232887
FILE ID:PO-410
DATE:06/25/92
TITLE:DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, JUNE 25 (06/25/92)
TEXT:*92062510.POL
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT REPORT, THURSDAY, JUNE 25

(North Korea/nuclear, Scuds)  (320)
NEWS BRIEFING -- Spokesman Pete Williams discussed the following topics:

PRESS REPORT WRONG ON SCUD LOSSES
Williams dismissed a press report that U.S. air attacks on Iraqi Scud
missiles during the Persian Gulf war were less effective than believed.

The number of Scud mobile missile launchers destroyed was probably less than
originally believed, but the measure of success was in how many fewer Scuds
were fired after the air offensive against them was launched, he asserted.

"We did in fact reduce Iraq's ability to fire missiles," from an average of
five launched per day in January 1991, before the air assault concentrated
on them, to an average of one per day during February, Williams noted.

"We don't have a clear idea about how many Scuds were destroyed," and no
destruction of mobile missile launchers is confirmed, partly because aerial
photographs cannot easily distinguish between a destroyed launcher and a
destroyed tanker truck, he said.  And destruction of Scud production and
storage facilities is less than previously believed, he added.

Many air sorties were diverted from other missions to locate the Scuds -- a
strategy which paid off as Scud launchings declined, he said.

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