MOCK BOMB RUNS PART OF EXERCISES SET FOR HONDURAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620025-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: August 2, 1983
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620025-7
0ii TAG
WASHINGTON POST
Z. August 1983
Mock Bomb R
Part of Exercises
Set for non+
By George C. Wilson
and Geor.ge:Lardner Jr. -
WashingtonPOstStaff Writers-
The United' States' will fly mock
bombing -runs over Honduras and
practice quarantine maneuvers at
.sea in the forthcoming air-and naval
exercises off Central America, de-
fense officials said yesterday.
They emphasized. that the mili-
tary plans now being refined do not
call for direct confrontations with
Nicaragua -or. for stopping foreign
ships. Instead, the officials said, the
idea is to display warning signs .t.o
Marxist. forces and -to demonstrate
U.S. support for government troops
in El Salvador.
Military planners yesterday were
studying the best way to demon-
strate U.S. ability to support friend.
f\ ground troops with warplanes
based on carriers. If the plans go
forward as expected, Navy A6 light
bombers will fly practice runs over
Honduras once U.S. troops arrive.
But before this can be done, of-
ficials said, elaborate communica-
tions gear . and other equipment
needed to coordinate air and sea ex-
ercises must be put on the ground in
Honduras. This preparation will take
several weeks, - meaning - the - troop-
support missions probably will not
and ground =exercises involving tie
Army, Navyl.,Nlarines-and Honduran
forces. The exercises.:are expected o
last..about six :months
The Joint' Chiefs of.Staffs oper
ational plan,- which planners are..fill-,
ing in by'designating forces to: carry
at o lit, -calls for "exercising evolu-
'tions" that might- be required off the
east and west coasts of Central
America, including "quarantine,
blockade and interdiction of ship-
ping." The plan orders drills, not the
- real thing, officials emphasize.
. "People that are going down --on
`these maneuvers .are not sent down
to fight."- Defense Secretary 'Caspar
W. Weinberger% said '- recently.
"They're not down there to engage in
war or anything of that kind.
"It's a confidence-builder for the
Hondurans." another defense official
said yesterday of the extensive ma-
neuvers in the works. But officials
conceded that practicing quarantine
maneuvers is designed in part to sig-
nal Warsaw Tact nations and Cuba
that sending war supplies to Nica-
ragua could get dangerous.
A quarantine differs from a block-.
ade in that only ships of certain na-,
tions are stopped, searched and
turned back. A blockade usually
amounts to warning all ships to keep
-out.,of specified areas or risk being
sunk: Navy officials said that if .a
ship'refusesto stop and he searched
in a quarantine; the objective usually
is to disable it, not sink it.
But the `rules of engagement
be flown until September or later. change with every situation. Defense
The plans for practicing quaran- officials said there is no sign that
tine are further along, officials said, .President Reagan is about to impose
mostly because the maneuvers- are 'a quarantine off Nicaragua. The` re-
less complicated than combined air ' quired ships are not yet in position
anyway, they added. f
The . objective;-of a q'uarantme
t
ea of war -?sipplies to Nicaragua,
which,supplies the anti-government;
forces.in El Salvador. `State Depart-
ment spokesman John Hughes said
yesterday "that. "W ebelieve that sig-.
pificant _.amounts `of ammunition,
explosives and logistical supplies
continue to arrive from Nicaragua by
air. sea-and land."
_T"he department's statement came
after puublisbed reports that war sup-
plies.from -Nicaragua to the Salva-
doran guerrillas.had dwindled to a
trickle_
Hughes. giviri' the administra-
tion's interpretation of the decrease,
said: "With a stable force, previously
well-supplied' and having captured
some arms in the field. the guerrillas
have had less need of external sup-
ply of basic weapons since the early
months of 1983. We' have detected
cyclical rises in deliveries prior to in-
surgent offensives, such as prior to
the October, 1982, and January.
1983, offensives."
The" aircraft carrier USS Ranger
was about 100 'miles ,?off the Pacific -
coast. of Nicaragua - yesterday, offi-
cials said. while- the 'carrier USS
Coral Sea -was steaming" from the -
central Mediterranean to' take a po-
z sition off -the country's east coast.,
The battleship USSNew" Jersey'is
sailing from Southeast Asian waters
to join the Ranger,-which is expected
to break from its position off Nic
aragua's Pacific coast.-.-after several
weeks of quarantine and other drills
and head for the Persian Gulf.
-Meanwhile, : on Capitol Hill yes-
terday Republican protests derailed
a. Democratic. effort to apply last
weeks House ban on U.S. support
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100620025-7