This situation has far-reaching implications for LRS. Consider targets that are hidden most of the time, only vulnerable to attack during brief intervals when must expose themselves to fire on or otherwise engage US forces. It is possible that such targets will always be located in littoral areas or close enough national borders for their fleeting moments of vulnerability to be observed by standoff surveillance platforms such as the E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) orbiting outside defended airspace. However, it is difficult to believe that military planners of countries with the geographic depth of China or Russia would fail to grasp the advantages of placing at least some important assets deep inland, well beyond the reach of American standoff surveillance short-range strike systems. Nor, given both demonstrated American proficiency against fixed targets and the difficulties US forces have experienced with more fleeting targets such as Iraq “Scud” launchers in 1991, is it plausible that future adversaries will neglect doing everything possible deny “precision” targeting information to American forces.

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Watts, Barry D. Long-Range Strike: Imperatives, Urgency, and Options. Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, April 2005. [ 3 quotes ] [ page 53 ]