This problem has been showing up in Iraq. Seems the resistance got themselfs a bunch of mortars and they firing them at US bases from rooftops of people’s houses who have nothing to do with the resistance.
Seems like a tough problem cause there is no good way to respond to this. The people are out of sight to get a direct hit at them and responding with mortars only sure to hit some innocent people by mistake.
So how do they get onto the rooftops of these people’s houses undetected? Seems a bit unlikely to me.
I think the possibilities are:
they got onto the rooftops of people’s houses carrying their mortars, undetected. (As you stated.)
they threatened the people in the houses & so forced them to allow them to fire mortars from their rooftops, then afterwards the people in the houses were afraid they would be blamed, so they didn’t report that they were forced into this.
the people in the houses are actually supporting them, and allowed them to go onto their rooftops and fire their mortars, but then afterwards claimed to the US soldiers that they knew nothing about the people firing from their rooftops.
Personally, it seems to me that option 2, and even more so option 3 are more likely to be accurate.
There’s no such thing as “out of sight”. Once you get a UAV or other airborne intel asset up over your target, you can respond with more precise methods - helicopter gunships, heavy snipers, or tanks (using their coaxial machineguns). It’s still not 100% effective in reducing civilian casualties, but it’s better than using artillary.
Your second option is to surround the area and send in the infantry to take care of the problem from the ground up. It’s a bit more complicated and resource demanding, but it’s a lot more thorough.
Of course, your best option is to have intelligence on the ground, so that you’re aware of the enemy before he sets up his equiptment. One good informant is better than 10 howitzer batteries.
Dunno: you’d be amazed at how little deliberate intimidation you have to use when you’ve got a squad of fanatics armed with RPG’s and AK’s…
Actually, the AARs I have seen coming out of the OPFOR at the NTC seem to indicate that drones are quite easy to spoof. The cameras seem to be fairly low resolution and short-ranged.
Perhaps the next generation will fix the problem.
Counterfire radars (like the American Firefinder) can report the location of an enemy mortar while the (incoming) bomb is still in the air. Problem is, it is darn hard to apply force to that location quickly enough to outrace a Toyota getaway vehicle.
Best solution? Get the cooperation of the local police, step up checkpoints and encourage the local people to support the new government.
I had another thought.
Does not it require at least some training to use mortars effectively. To get the tragectory right that requires a bit of skill and practive. This may suggest that its ex-militery that are likely involved in this.
I am unsure as to the effective range of a sniper but perhaps combining some of the detection methods discussed with a network of snipers that can cover the area would be a feasable solution?