"John Keeney" wrote in message
...

"Kevin Brooks" wrote in message
...

"John Keeney" wrote in message

125 feet? Heck, if you can deliver them accurately a handful of
GBU-28s
should take care of the problem. Granted, the hole wouldn't start out
that
big between the water pressure and the fracturing around the hole I
expect
that problem would get bigger quickly enough.
Now, could Taiwan deliver them (or a local equivalent), that could
well
be an issue.

First, Taiwan has no -28 delivery capability; the USAF limits such
weapons
to deployment on B-2's and F-15E's, IIRC. Secondly, GBU-28 penetration
in
concrete is about 20 feet from what I have read (the over 100 feet
number
is
an earthen penetration. So don't be expectin' to punch many neat little
holes with it in such a structure.

I was thinking along the lines of multiple hits in the same location.
If the first bomb penetrates 20 feet it will also crater x more feet
and fracture y more feet softening the remaining concrete. I
would be kind of surprised if three well placed GBU-28s couldn't
penetrate a hundred feet of reinforced concrete damn, four I would
think a near certainty.
I doubt we've provided GBU-28s to too many folks around the world
but it's not exactly a design concept cloaked in secrecy and mystery.
Taiwan should be able produce a comparable design scaled for their
delivery capability; assuming of course they HAVE a system capable
of making it that far inland. Uh, how far exactly would that be?

Oh, a mere 1200 to 1400 miles up the Yangtze River, maybe 1500 miles from
Taiwan; piece of cake, right? Let's see, F-16's (the most potent potential
ground attack platform the Chinese possess), lugging weapons heavier than
anything the F-16 has ever lugged, on a 3000 mile round trip, with aerial
refueling being a bit of a problem (both because the Taiwanese have no
current refueling capability, and because setting up a tanker track over the
PRC proper might not be the most advisable course of action...). Requiring
successive, multiple hits against the same exact point of impact...yeah,
that's a real doable option! :-)

Are you beginning to see why the idea of actually breaching the dam is sort
of a non-starter in terms of realistic options?

Brooks