Why no infra-red satelites over Iraq with our billions spent?

Question

Why have not our Generals suggested 21st century satelites over the hot spots like Bagdad to catch the insurgents planting I.A.D.s? It would save lives of our solders!

Answer 1

Dude, you should be in charge of the entire US Military you're such a genius. God, I don't know why no one thought of having satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles flying over hot spots...

Answer 2

Because a satellite travels in an orbit. As a result the satellite will only actually be over Baghdad for several minutes a day.

In addition these orbits can be predicted so the enemy would know when to stay indoors.

Besides - sensors are not the problem. The problem is in how many people it takes to monitor the imagery those sensors produce and figure out if that is terrorists emplacing an IED or a street cleaning crew.

Answer 3

Ah another individual with an "Enemy of the State" view of the world !! I like the IDEA, but sadly it's just not viable:

Imaging sources (satellite and manned/unmanned aerial vehicles) can't maintain a 24 hour watch of an area the size of Baghdad: Satellites for the simple reason of orbital mechanics, and aircraft because they have to land and refuel...

As others have pointed out... it's VERY difficult to discern an object as small as an IED... or the activity of one being planted. Although the movies LOVE to show you brilliant operators panning and zooming their satellite image in on Gene Hackman's WALLET... that technology just isn't around.

I used to look at US Navy imagery of the Gulf States... taken from the F-14 TARPS pods... You see buildings, trucks, cars, and groups... but you can't ID good-guys from bad-guys walking down the street.

Also... scanning an area of the size of Baghdad is just an insurmountable task... the people and computers needed to do as you suggest would be cost, and logistically prohibitive. You'd literally need to hire THOUSANDS of additional analysts.

Just FYI, Congress slashed the Signal Intelligence budget for YEARS on this matter... as well as our HUMINT budgets

Answer 4

Because Baghdad and it's surrounding suburbs/communities are about the size of Los Angeles with a population of several million people. Your telling me that we will be able to watch every road, intersection or potential target plus everyone with bad intentions with "21st century satellites"?? I want some of what your smoking, must be some good stuff if you think something like this is even remotely possible!!
Satellite technology is good but hardly capable of telling the good from the bad when there are large areas and several million people to choose from. If something like this was available wouldn't you think that we would be using it for fighting crime or securing our borders here in the states? Remember, "Enemy of the State" is a movie, not real life-yet!!

Answer 5

For God's sake, learn something about satellites before you write something like this. Spy satellites orbit the earth at an altitude of two hundred miles up. If you've got several of them up in space you might get 10 or 15 minutes per day over Baghdad.

Geo-stationary satellites, the ones that don't move, are at an altitude of over 23,000 miles up in space. You aren't going to see squat with one of these.

Answer 6

So you believe that a satellite going 17,000mph can detect, isolate and report on a 'cold' explosive that is the size of a dinner plate?

No, the technology isn't there for that. Maybe in the movies, but not reality

Answer 7

The only thing which can protect our troops in Baghdad is the withdrawal from Iraq and stopping this bloody ware.

Answer 8

my friend ( war buddy ) using informants is much cheaper than using such kind of facility, you can mail me ([e-mail] ) am Iraqi