U.S. to retaliate for Iraqi attack on spy plane

The pilot of a U-2 like this one said he felt shockwaves from a missile explosion.

By Jamie McIntyre
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is planning a military response to Tuesday's attempted downing of a U-2 spy plane over Iraq's southern no-fly zone, Pentagon sources tell CNN.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry on Friday was asked about the Thursday report. It said it was not yet ready to comment.

Although the United States bombs Iraqi air defenses on a regular basis, the sources said targets this time will likely include early warning radars Iraq uses to track the high-flying, slow-moving U-2s.

VIDEO CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports on U.S. plans to retaliate against Iraq (July 25) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Iraq almost hits U.S. plane in no-fly zone     EXTRA INFORMATION • The Unfinished War: A decade since Desert Storm   • CNN / Cold War Episode 8: The Bomb, Sputnik & U-2 Incident     RESOURCES Message board: Iraq

The radar sites, last hit by U.S. and British warplanes in February, have since been rebuilt, along with a fiber optic network linking them, installed with Chinese assistance. "We don't think to this day that it has been completely reconstituted to the level that it was on the day of the strike, and yet it has largely been reconstituted," said Pentagon spokesman Adm. Craig Quigley said.

Pentagon sources said this week's close call, in which a modified Iraqi surface-to-air missile exploded close enough to rattle a single-seat U.S. U-2 spy plane, is the latest of some two dozen attempts by Iraq to shoot down reconnaissance planes this year.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered a reward for the shooting down of any allied plane patrolling the no-fly zones.

Just last week, the crew of U.S. Navy E-2C Hawkeye reported an unguided missile headed its way while in Kuwaiti airspace. With the risk to pilots growing, the no-fly zone enforcement is under review. "We're going to keep the pressure on Iraq. The no-fly zone strategy is still in place," U.S. President George W. Bush said.

Pentagon sources said Iraq is good at tracking U.S. planes without using targeting radars, which would instantly draw fire from U.S. radar-seeking missiles.

Firing without radars also means Iraq can remove "seekers" from some missiles, which allows for extra fuel and extra lift.

The U-2's main defense is its ability to fly above 70,000 feet. To take its pictures, a U-2 also flies straight and at a constant altitude, making it vulnerable to an improbable, but not impossible, lucky shot.

On Friday, Pentagon sources told CNN that a pair of Iraqi MiG-23 fighter jets violated the southern no-fly zone Wednesday, in an apparent effort to observe a U.S. unmanned reconnaissance drone.

Pentagon officials say the Iraqi jets flew south of the 33rd parallel to get a closer look at a U.S. "Predator" unmanned aerial vehicle that was conducting routine surveillance over the southern no-fly zone.

But a Pentagon official said the Iraqi fighters never got within visual range of the low-flying UAV and made no attempt to shoot it down.

The U.S. Central Command says that Iraqi jets have violated the southern no-fly zone more than 160 times in the last 2 1/2 years.

U.S. and British aircraft monitor the northern and southern no-fly zones, which were put in place following the 1991 Persian Gulf War as part of an effort to prevent the Iraqi government from persecuting the minority Shiite Muslims in the south and the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.