Psy-Ops in Afghanistan

Tim Blair has a great post on the practical application of JP-8 and four General Electric F-101-GE-102 turbofan engines with afterburner to a field problem in Aghanistan.   The punchline:

You have to picture this. Pitch black, ten killers sitting down, dead quiet and overlooking this about 30 mile long valley.

All of a sudden, way out (below our level) you see a set of four 200ft white flames coming at us. The controller says, "Ah ... guys ... you might want to plug your ears". Then a B-1, supersonic, 1000ft over our heads, blasts the sound barrier and it feels like God just hit you in the head with a hammer.

He then stands it straight up with 4 white trails of flame coming out and disappears.

• Cost of gas for that: Probably $50,000

• Hearing damage: For certain

• Bunch of ragheads thinking twice about shooting at us: Priceless.