Evening star., 1923-07-16

history OF war strategy is repeating
itself again and the airplane Is named
by the American military experts at
the Army War College as the prime
method of defense against the at
>tacking aircraft
The announcement is made as the
result of a recent war game expert
ment at the Army War College here.
during which an attacking squadron
of combat planes rendered defending
bombing planes attempting to send
the enemy naval fleet to the bottom
useless. because the defenders lacked
%combat planes to face them.
1t simply works out the old doc
trine of lighting fire with fire: of de-
Tending against missiles by hurting
missiles; of fighting ships with ships,
ana men with men. The latest evo-
tuition does not disregard the salts
factory development of anti-aircraft
weapons since the war. but the war
game effectively demonstrated. in tfe
opinion of War College experts. that
airplanes themselves will in the fu-
ture be the chief defense against hos
tile aircraft
The entrance of the Delaware bay
was selected as the defense point in
the war game problem which was
set as part of the concluding work of
the class just graduated. A hos
tile" fleet made a surprise attack on
the entrance to Delaware bay for the
purpose of landing an enemy" mil
ttary force of 100000 men.
Bombers Unprotected.
Defenders were blue" attackers
were red" When the blue" COM
mander received word of the i'm
pending feet attack, his forces were
Gtr,h tAl hnt - H. ~ -,
upon aircraft to repel the attempted
landing. He rushed a fleet of bomb
Ing a1rplanes against the naval fleet.
But the blue" resources could not
planes 10 accompany and protect the
bomb berS
The enemy had expected just this
development. From the naval air
plane carrier the red" sent up fight
ing planes to engage the numbering
but powerful bombers.
War College umpires watched the
imaginary fight and saw the bomb
ers slowly beaten off by the wasp
Ike IKE attacking .nn planes. The umpires
would have been brought down or
driven off by the enemy combat
planes and that 100000 men would
pour over Americas shore line be-
cause of the lack of combat planes.
This result, it was said. conformed
with expectations OF Army officers
who have studied out the probabilities
of future naval and land engage
ments. The war game. however, was
= not OF a nature to serve as any test
OF the various types of land defenSes
against aircraft developed since the
war to supplement flight air squad
rons in protecting cities or camps
against hostile bomberS.
Despite this new development. a re-
cent War Department memorandum
pointed out the enormous strides taken
In developing anti-aircraft guns. To
replace the present 30-caliber weapon.
which is a relic of war days, new
.o0-caliber machine gun. with a hori-
zontal range of about $1,000 feet and
a straight-up range OF 5000 to 10000
feet. and a rate of fire of about 500
shots per minute. is being made ready.
Fire control is maintained with this
ton, visible night or day UP to 1900
yards.
Other Guns Developed.
Four other guns are being devel-
oped for fighting attacking airplanes
Their descriptions follow:
Gun No. 2.-Nachine gun. 81 miIli-
meter. firing high explosive shells
with fuses adjusted to explode on
contact with balloon fabric. although
perfectly safe to handle before dis
charge from gun. Rate of fire ex-
pected to be 100 to 120 shots per min
ute. Range. 21,000 feet. Tracer am
munition visibility up to $4,000 feet.
Installation Of this weapon planned
IL hot arix, Of