Gulf War air campaign | |||||||
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Part of the Gulf War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
Over 2,780 fixed-wing aircraft [1] | 1,114 fixed-wing aircraft (550 combat aircraft), numerous air defence systems | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
46 killed or missing 8 captured 75 aircraft ‒ 52 fixed-wing aircraft and 23 helicopters | 10,000–12,000 killed [2] 254 aircraft lost on the ground [3] 36 aircraft shot down in air-air combat several air defense systems | ||||||
2,000–3,000 Iraqi civilians killed |
Operation Desert Storm, the combat phase of the Gulf War, began with an extensive aerial bombing campaign by the air forces of the coalition against targets in Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait from 17 January 1991 to 23 February 1991. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition flew over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs, [4] widely destroying military and civilian infrastructure. [5] The air campaign was commanded by United States Air Force (USAF) Lieutenant General Chuck Horner, who briefly served as Commander-in-Chief—Forward of U.S. Central Command while General Norman Schwarzkopf was still in the United States. The British air commanders were Air Chief Marshal Andrew Wilson (to 17 November 1990) and Air Vice-Marshal Bill Wratten (from 17 November). [6] The air campaign had largely finished by 23 February 1991 with the beginning of the coalition ground offensive into Kuwait.
The initial strikes were carried out by AGM-86 ALCM cruise missiles launched by B-52 Stratofortress bombers, [7] Tomahawk cruise missiles [8] launched from U.S. Navy warships situated in the Persian Gulf, by F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft [8] with an armament of laser-guided smart bombs, [8] and by F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft as well as F/A-18 Hornet aircraft armed with HARM anti-radar missiles. [9] These first attacks allowed F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F/A-18 Hornet combat aircraft to gain air superiority over Iraq and then continue to drop television-guided and laser-guided bombs.
Armed with a GAU-8 rotary cannon and infrared-imaging or optically guided AGM-65 Maverick missiles, USAF A-10 Thunderbolt II's bombed and destroyed Iraqi armored forces, [8] supporting the advance of U.S. ground troops. United States Marine Corps close air support AV-8B Harriers employed their 25mm rotary cannon, Mavericks, cluster munitions, and napalm against the Iraqi dug-in forces to pave the way forward for the U.S. Marines breaching Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's defenses. The U.S. Army AH-64 Apache and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters fired laser-guided AGM-114 Hellfire and TOW missiles which were guided to tanks by ground observers or by scout helicopters, such as the OH-58D Kiowa. [10] The Coalition air fleet also made use of the E-3A Airborne Warning and Control Systems and of a fleet of B-52 Stratofortress bombers. [8] [9]
On the eve of Operation Desert Storm, the Coalition of the Gulf War numbered 2,430 fixed-wing aircraft in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (KTO), almost three-fourths of which belonged to the United States Armed Forces. When the ground assault began on 24 February, that number had increased to over 2,780. Representing a relatively high tooth-to-tail ratio, approximately 60 percent of Coalition aircraft were "shooters" or combat aircraft. [11] The United States Air Force deployed over 1,300 aircraft during the course of the campaign, followed by the United States Navy with over 400 aircraft and the United States Marine Corps with approximately 240. Collectively, the other Coalition partners accounted for over 600 aircraft. [1] Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates all contributed air forces to the campaign, as did the United Kingdom (Operation Granby), France (Opération Daguet), Canada (Operation Friction) and Italy (Operazione Locusta). South Korea, Argentina and New Zealand provided a small number of transport aircraft, with South Korea, Kuwait, Italy and Japan also paying for the cost of 200 airlift flights into Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Germany, Belgium and Italy each sent a squadron of fighters as part of their NATO obligation to protect Turkey, although these aircraft were strictly defensive and did not take part in the campaign against Iraq. [12] [13]
In terms of quantity and quality, Coalition airpower was superior to its Iraqi counterpart. This was particularly the case in special capabilities which the Iraqis simply lacked, including aerial refueling, airborne command and control, electronic warfare, precision munitions and stealth aircraft. Such capabilities were primarily (if not exclusively) provided for by the United States. [14] In space, sixteen military communications satellites (fourteen of which belonged to the United States) were supplemented with five commercial satellites to provide the vast majority of communication within the theater of operations. Combined they had a total transmission rate of 200 million bits per second, or equivalent to 39,000 simultaneous telephone calls. [15] A range of other satellites provided additional intelligence-gathering services, including the Defense Support Program, Landsat program, SPOT, and six meteorological satellites. [16]
One area where the Coalition was deficient was in tactical reconnaissance. Aircraft specializing in reconnaissance were reportedly given low priority due to lack of space and the belief that strategic platforms could take over their role, a belief which would prove misplaced. Efforts to compensate for this deficiency included using regular fighter aircraft in the reconnaissance role and RQ-2 Pioneer unmanned aerial vehicles. Deployed mainly by the U.S. Marines, the RQ-2 was sufficient for certain missions but lacking in many respects compared to dedicated aircraft. [16] [17]
Aircraft | Type | Deployed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Royal Saudi Air Force | |||
Panavia Tornado ADV | Interceptor aircraft | 24 [20] | |
F-15C Eagle | Fighter aircraft | 69 [20] | |
F-5E/F Freedom Fighter | Light fighter | 87 [21] | |
Panavia Tornado IDS | Interdictor/Attack | 24 [21] | |
RF-5E Freedom Fighter | Reconnaissance | 10 [17] | |
E-3 Sentry | AEW&C | ||
C-130 Hercules | Tactical airlift | ||
KE-3A Sentry | Tanker aircraft | ||
KC-130 Hercules | Tanker aircraft | ||
Bell 212 | Utility Helicopter | ||
BAe 125 | VIP Transport | ||
Royal Air Force/Fleet Air Arm/Army Air Corps (United Kingdom) [22] | |||
Panavia Tornado F3 | Interceptor aircraft | 18 | |
Panavia Tornado GR1 | Interdictor/Attack | 48 | 6 GR1a variants |
SEPECAT Jaguar GR.1A | Attack aircraft | 12 | |
Blackburn Buccaneer S.2B | Attack aircraft | 12 | |
Hawker Siddeley Nimrod | Maritime Patrol Aircraft | 8 | 3 R.1, 5 MR.2 variants |
C-130 Hercules | Tactical airlift | 7 | |
Vickers VC10 | Aerial refueling | 9 | K2, K3 variants |
Lockheed Tristar | Aerial refueling | 2 | |
Handley Page Victor | Aerial refueling | 8 | |
BN-2 Islander | Utility aircraft | 1 | |
BAe 125 | VIP Transport | 1 | |
SA 341B Gazelle | Utility/Armed helicopter | 24 | (British Army) |
Westland Lynx | Attack/light utility helicopter | 24 | AH.7 (British Army) |
Westland Lynx | Maritime attack helicopter | 10 | HAS.4GM/HAS.3CTS (Royal Navy) |
Boeing Chinook HC1 | Transport helicopter | 17 | |
Westland Sea King | Medium-lift helicopter | 22 | 20 HC.4, 2 HAS variants (Royal Navy) |
French Air Force [23] | |||
Mirage 2000C | Multirole fighter | 12 | Assigned to Al-Ahsa |
Mirage F1C | Multirole fighter | 8 | Assigned to Doha (Opération Meteil) |
Mirage F1CR | Reconnaissance | 4 | Assigned to Al-Ahsa |
SEPECAT Jaguar A | Attack aircraft | 24 | Assigned to Al-Ahsa |
C-160G Gabriel | SIGINT | 1 | Assigned to Al-Ahsa |
DC-8F Sarigue | Electronic warfare | 1 | Operated from France |
Transall C-160 | Transport aircraft | 5 | Assigned to Riyadh |
KC-135FR | Tanker aircraft | 5 | Assigned to Riyadh |
Nord 262 | Airliner | 1 | Assigned to Riyadh |
Mystère XX | VIP Transport | 1 | Assigned to Riyadh |
SA 330 Puma | Search & Rescue | 2 | Assigned to Al-Ahsa |
Royal Canadian Air Force [19] | |||
CF-18 Hornet | Multirole fighter | 18 [20] | |
CC-130 Hercules | Transport aircraft | ||
Boeing CC-137 | Aerial refueling | 3 | |
CC-144 Challenger | VIP transport | ||
Italian Air Force [19] | |||
Tornado IDS | Interdictor/Strike | 10 [21] | |
Aeritalia G.222 | Transport aircraft | ||
Kuwaiti Air Force [19] | |||
Mirage F1 | Multirole fighter | 15 [21] | |
A-4 Skyhawk | Attack aircraft | 20 [21] | |
Royal Bahraini Air Force [19] | |||
F-16 Fighting Falcon | Multirole fighter | 12 [20] | |
F-5 Freedom Fighter | Light fighter | 12 [21] | |
Bell 212 | Utility helicopter | ||
United Arab Emirates Air Force [19] | |||
Mirage 2000 | Multirole fighter | ||
C-130 Hercules | Tactical airlift | ||
Bell 212 | Utility helicopter | ||
Qatar Air Force [19] | |||
Mirage F1 | Multirole fighter | ||
Alpha Jet | Light attack/trainer | ||
At the time of the Gulf War the Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) was the sixth largest in the world, consisting of over 750 fixed-wing combat aircraft operating out of 24 primary airfields, with 13 active dispersal fields and 19 additional dispersal fields. [24] [25] [26] Iraq had also constructed 594 hardened aircraft shelters to house nearly its entire air force, protecting them from attack. [27] Iraq similarly possessed an impressive amount of air defenses. Its inventory included 16,000 surface-to-air missiles total, both radar and infrared guided, with over 3,600 of these major missile systems. Up to 154 SAM sites and 18 SAM support facilities were located in Iraq, with another 20 or 21 sites in the Kuwaiti theater of operations (KTO). Iraq also possessed a large number of anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), with 972 AAA sites, 2,404 fixed AA guns and 6,100 mobile AA guns. [28] Providing complete coverage of Iraqi airspace were 478 early warning radars, 75 high-frequency radars, and 154 acquisition radars. [24]
Much of this equipment was combined into an integrated air defense system (IADS) overseen by Kari, an automated C2 computer system developed by Iraq and built by French contractors in the wake of Operation Opera (Kari in turn is the French spelling of Iraq backwards). Kari tied the entire IADS to a single location, the national Air Defense Operations Center (ADOC) located in an underground bunker in Baghdad, and in turn divided the country into four defense sectors each overseen by a Sector Operations Center (SOC) located at H-3, Kirkuk, Taji and Talil; a fifth SOC was added at Ali Al Salem to cover the recently conquered Kuwait. Each SOC oversaw the local airspace and commanded anywhere from two to five Intercept Operations Centers (IOCs) per sector. The IOCs were located in bunkers constructed at Iraqi Air Force bases and tied into local radar systems, whose information they could pass on to their SOC and thence on to Baghdad. In this way a SOC was capable of simultaneously tracking 120 aircraft and selecting for the appropriate weapon system to engage them. The SOC could automatically target for SA-2 and SA-3 SAM systems in their sector, which meant the SAMs did not have to turn on their own radar and reveal their position, or an IOC could direct local interceptors to engage the targets. Baghdad itself was one of the most heavily defended cities in the world—more heavily defended several times over than Hanoi during the Vietnam War—protected by 65% of Iraq's SAMs and over half of its AAA pieces. [29]
Aircraft | Origin | Type | Variant | In service |
---|---|---|---|---|
Combat Aircraft | ||||
Mirage F1 | France | Multi-role aircraft | F1EQ/BQ | 88 |
F1K (captured from Kuwait) | 8 | |||
Mikoyan MiG-29 | Soviet Union | Fighter aircraft | MiG-29A (Product 9.12B) | 33 |
Mikoyan MiG-25 | Soviet Union | Interceptor | MiG-25PD/PDS | 19 |
Reconnaissance-bomber | MiG-25RB | 9 | ||
Mikoyan MiG-23 | Soviet Union | Fighter aircraft | MiG-23ML/MF/MS | 68 |
Fighter-bomber | MiG-23BN | 38 | ||
Mikoyan MiG-21/Chengdu J-7 | Soviet Union/China | Fighter aircraft | MiG-21MF/Bis/F-7M | 174 |
MiG-19C/Shenyang J-6 | Soviet Union/China | Fighter aircraft | 45 | |
Sukhoi Su-25 | Soviet Union | Attack aircraft | Su-25K | 62 |
Sukhoi Su-24 | Soviet Union | Attack/Interdictor | Su-24MK | 30 |
Sukhoi Su-22 | Soviet Union | Fighter-bomber | Su-22M2/M3/M4 | 68 |
Sukhoi Su-20 | Soviet Union | Fighter-bomber | 18 | |
Sukhoi Su-7 | Soviet Union | Fighter-bomber | Su-7BKL | 101 |
Tupolev Tu-16 | Soviet Union | Heavy bomber | Tu-16KSR-2-11 | 3 |
Tupolev Tu-22 | Soviet Union | Medium bomber | Tu-22B/U | 4 |
Xian H-6 | China | Strategic bomber | H-6D | 4 [31] |
Transport | ||||
Antonov An-26 | Soviet Union | Transport | 5 | |
Ilyushin Il-76 | Soviet Union | Transport | 19 | |
Dassault Falcon 20 | France | VIP Transport | 2 | |
Dassault Falcon 50 | France | VIP Transport | 3 | |
Lockheed Jetstar | USA | VIP Transport | 6 | |
Trainers | ||||
Mikoyan MiG-29 | Soviet Union | Conversion Trainer | MiG-29UB | 4 |
Mikoyan MiG-25 | Soviet Union | Conversion Trainer | MiG-25PU | 7 |
Mikoyan MiG-23 | Soviet Union | Conversion Trainer | MiG-23U | 21 |
Mikoyan MiG-21 | Soviet Union | Conversion Trainer | MiG-21U | 62 |
Sukhoi Su-25 | Soviet Union | Trainer/Attack | Su-25U | 4 |
Sukhoi Su-22 | Soviet Union | Trainer/Attack | Su-22U | 10 |
BAC Jet Provost | United Kingdom | Trainer | 20 | |
Aero L-39 Albatros | Czechoslovakia | Trainer/Attack | 67 | |
Embraer Tucano | Brazil | Trainer/COIN | 78 | |
FFA AS-202 Bravo | Switzerland | Trainer | 34 |
Type | Origin | In Service | Deployment | Organization |
---|---|---|---|---|
Major SAMs | ||||
SA-2 Guideline | Soviet Union | 160 [28] [32] | Major cities [33] | 20-30 batteries [28] |
SA-3 Goa | Soviet Union | 140 [28] [32] | Major cities [33] | 25-50 batteries [28] |
SA-6 Gainful | Soviet Union | 100+ [28] to 140-150 [32] | Strategic targets [33] Republican Guard [34] Armored Divisions [34] | 36-55 batteries [28] |
Light SAMs | ||||
SA-8 Gecko | Soviet Union | 30-40 [28] to 170-190 [32] | Strategic targets [33] Republican Guard [34] Armored Divisions [34] | 20+ batteries [28] |
Roland | France | 50-60 [28] to 90-100 [32] | Airfields [33] | |
I-HAWK | United States | 3 (captured from Kuwait) [32] | ||
SA-9 Gaskin | Soviet Union | 400 [28] | Regular Army [35] | |
SA-13 Gopher | Soviet Union | 192 [28] | Republican Guard [35] | |
SA-7 Grail | Soviet Union | 6,500 [28] | MANPADS | |
SA-14 Gremlin | Soviet Union | 288 [28] to "thousands" [32] | MANPADS | |
Type | Calibre | Origin | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Self-Propelled | ||||
ZSU-57-2 | 57mm | Soviet Union | ||
M53/59 Praga | 30mm | Czechoslovakia | ||
ZSU-23-4 | 23mm | Soviet Union | ||
Towed | ||||
KS-30 | 130mm | Soviet Union | ||
KS-19 | 100mm | Soviet Union | ||
KS-12/12a/18 | 85mm | Soviet Union | ||
AZP S-60 | 57mm | Soviet Union | ||
Type 59 | 57mm | China | ||
Bofors L-70 | 40mm | Sweden | ||
M1939 | 37mm | Soviet Union | ||
Type 55 | 37mm | China | ||
Oerlikon GDF | 35mm | Switzerland | ||
ZU-23-2 | 23mm | Soviet Union | ||
Zastava M55 | 20mm | Yugoslavia | ||
ZPU-4/ZPU-2 | 14.5mm | Soviet Union/Bulgaria | ||
Type 56 | 14.5mm | China | ||
MR-4 | 14.5mm | Romania | ||
Though impressive on paper, the Iraqi Air Force's primary role was to act as a regional deterrent, with a secondary role of supporting the Iraqi Army, rather than attempt to gain air superiority in any conflict. Basic training was rigid, inflexible, and left pilots with extremely poor situational awareness. Additional training was provided by the Soviet Union, with Mirage pilots attending courses in France. Soviet trainers generally passed everyone but assessed less than half of the IQAF students would have been accepted into Soviet fighter units. French training (which the Iraqis considered decidedly superior to Soviet) resulted in an 80% failure rate; nevertheless those who failed were qualified to fly upon return to Iraq. [37] In all, a third of Iraqi pilots were deemed to meet the standards of Western pilots, and almost all of them lacked aggressiveness and were overly dependent on ground control to direct them to targets. In addition, the air force suffered from spare parts shortages and maintenance shortfalls, and a majority of their equipment like the MiG-21 were outdated and of dubious combat value. Only 170 aircraft like the MiG-29 and Mirage F1 were considered comparable to Coalition aircraft, with the MiG-29 being downgraded export models. [29]
Likewise, Kari itself had a number of deficiencies of which Coalition air forces would take advantage. The system was primarily oriented towards defending against much smaller attacks from Iraq's most likely enemies—Iran, Syria and Israel—and focused on point defense rather than area defense. This meant there were significant gaps in its coverage, particularly on the orientation from Saudi Arabia straight to Baghdad, and attacking aircraft would be able to approach their target from multiple directions. Like its aircraft, much of Iraq's ground air defenses were also outdated: SA-2 and SA-3 systems were nearing the end of their operational lifespan and their countermeasures were well-known at this point, while its other SAM systems were not much younger. Furthermore, the IADS was centralized to a fault. Although each IOC was datalinked to their respective SOC and in turn back to the ADOC, the defense sectors couldn't share information between each other. If a SOC was knocked out of action the attached air defense weapons lost all ability to coordinate their response; its respective SAM batteries would be forced to rely on their own radar systems while most AAA lacked any radar guidance. [29]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2009) |
A day after the deadline set in United Nations Security Council Resolution 678, the coalition launched a massive air campaign, which began the general offensive codenamed Operation Desert Storm with more than 1,000 sorties launching per day. It began on 17 January 1991, at 2:38 AM, Baghdad time, when Task Force Normandy (eight US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters led by four US Air Force MH-53 Pave Low helicopters) destroyed Iraqi radar sites near the Iraqi–Saudi Arabian border which could have warned Iraq of an upcoming attack. [38]
At 2:43 A.M. two USAF EF-111 Ravens with terrain following radar led 22 USAF F-15E Strike Eagles against assaults on airfields in Western Iraq. Minutes later, one of the EF-111 crews—Captain James Denton and Captain Brent Brandon—were unofficially credited with the destruction of an Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 when their low altitude maneuvering led the F1 to crash into the ground.
At 3:00 AM, ten USAF F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft, under the protection of a three-ship formation of EF-111s, bombed Baghdad, the capital. The striking force came under fire from 3,000 anti-aircraft guns on the ground. Within hours of the start of the coalition air campaign, a P-3 Orion called Outlaw Hunter developed by the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, which was testing a highly specialised over-the-horizon radar, detected a large number of Iraqi patrol boats and naval vessels attempting to make a run from Basra and Umm Qasr to Iranian waters. Outlaw Hunter vectored in strike elements, which attacked the Iraqi naval flotilla near Bubiyan Island, destroying eleven vessels and damaging scores more.
Concurrently, U.S. Navy BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles struck targets in Baghdad, and other coalition aircraft struck targets throughout Iraq. Government buildings, TV stations, airfields, presidential palaces, military installations, communication lines, supply bases, oil refineries, a Baghdad airport, electric powerplants and factories making Iraqi military equipment were all destroyed by massive aerial and missile attacks from coalition forces.
Five hours after the first attacks, Iraq's state radio broadcast a voice identified as Saddam Hussein declaring that "The great duel, the mother of all battles has begun. The dawn of victory nears as this great showdown begins."
The Gulf War is sometimes called the "computer war", due to the advanced computer-guided weapons and munitions used in the air campaign, which included precision-guided munitions and cruise missiles, even though these were very much in the minority when compared with "dumb bombs" used. Cluster munitions and BLU-82 "Daisy Cutters" were also used.
Iraq responded by launching eight Iraqi modified Scud missiles into Israel the next day. These missile attacks on Israel were to continue throughout the six weeks of the war.
On the first night of the war, two F/A-18s from the carrier USS Saratoga were flying outside of Baghdad when two Iraqi MiG-25s engaged them. In the beyond-visual-range (BVR) kill, an Iraqi MiG-25 piloted by Zuhair Dawood fired an R-40RD missile, shooting down an American F/A-18C Hornet and killing its pilot, Lieutenant Commander Scott Speicher.
In an effort to demonstrate their own air offensive capability, on 24 January the Iraqis attempted to mount a strike against the major Saudi oil refinery, Ras Tanura. Two Mirage F1 fighters laden with incendiary bombs and two MiG-23s (acting as fighter cover) took off from bases in Iraq. They were spotted by US AWACs, and two Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s were sent to intercept. When the Saudis appeared the Iraqi MiGs turned tail, but the Mirages pressed on. Captain Iyad Al-Shamrani, one of the Saudi pilots, maneuvered his jet behind the Mirages and shot down both aircraft. A few days later the Iraqis made their last true air offensive of the war, unsuccessfully attempting to shoot down F-15s patrolling the Iranian border. After this episode, the Iraqis made no more air efforts of their own, sending most of their jets to Iran in hopes that they might someday get their air force back.[ citation needed ]
The first priority for Coalition forces was the destruction of Iraqi command and control bunkers, Scud missile launch pads and storage areas, telecommunications and radio facilities, and airfields. [39] The attack began with a wave of deep-penetrating aircraft – F-111s, F-15Es, Tornado GR1s, F-16s, A-6s, A-7Es, and F-117s, complemented by F-15C, F-14s and Air Defense Tornados. [40] EA-6Bs, EF-111 radar jammers, and F-117A stealth planes were heavily used in this phase to elude Iraq's extensive SAM systems and anti-aircraft weapons. The sorties were launched mostly from Saudi Arabia and the six Coalition aircraft carrier battle groups (CVBG) in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. During the initial 24 hours 2,775 sorties were flown, including seven B-52s which flew a 35-hour nonstop 14,000-mile round-trip from Barksdale Air Force Base and launched 35 AGM-86 CALCM cruise missiles against eight Iraqi targets. [41]
The carrier battle groups operating in the Persian Gulf included those of USS Midway, USS Theodore Roosevelt, while those of USS Ranger, USS America, USS John F. Kennedy, and USS Saratoga operated from the Red Sea (USS America later transitioned to the Persian Gulf midway through the air war).
Wild Weasels were very effective; unlike the North Vietnamese, Iraqi SAM operators did not turn radar off until just before launch. [42] Antiaircraft defenses, including shoulder-launched ground-to-air missiles, were surprisingly ineffective against coalition aircraft and the coalition suffered only 75 aircraft losses in over 100,000 sorties, though only 42 of these were the result of Iraqi action. The other 33 were lost to accidents. [43] In particular, RAF and US Navy aircraft which flew at low altitudes to avoid radar were particularly vulnerable, though this changed when the aircrews were ordered to fly above the AAA. [44]
The next coalition targets were command and communication facilities. Saddam Hussein had closely micromanaged the Iraqi forces in the Iran–Iraq War, and initiative at lower levels was discouraged. Coalition planners hoped that Iraqi resistance would quickly collapse if deprived of command and control.
The first week of the air war saw a few Iraqi sorties, but these did little damage, and 36 Iraqi fighter aircraft were shot down by Coalition planes. Soon after, the Iraqi Air Force began fleeing to Iran, with 115 to 140 aircraft flown there. [45] This mass exodus of Iraqi aircraft took coalition forces by surprise as the Coalition had been expecting them to flee to Jordan, a nation friendly to Iraq, rather than Iran, a long-time enemy. As the purpose of the war was to destroy Iraq militarily, the coalition had placed aircraft over western Iraq to try to stop any retreat into Jordan. This meant they were unable to react before most of the Iraqi aircraft had made it safely to Iranian airbases. The coalition eventually established a virtual "wall" of F-15 Eagles, F-14 Tomcats, and F-16 Fighting Falcons on the Iraq–Iran border (called MIGCAP), thereby stopping the exodus of fleeing Iraqi fighters. In response, the Iraqi Air Force launched Operation Samurra in an attempt to break the blockade imposed on them. The resulting air battle would be the last offensive action of the war for the Iraqi Air Force. [46]
It was unclear if there had been a formal agreement between Iraq and Iran, with some suggesting that the deal had been hastily drawn up, and initially only permitted sanctuary for Iraqi civilian and transport aircraft. Iran did not allow the Iraqi aircrews to be released until years later. [46] Iran held on to the Iraqi aircraft for over 20 years, whose value was collectively estimated at $2.5 billion, as partial payment of the $900 billion in reparations but eventually returned 88 of them in 2014. [47] However, many Iraqi planes remained in Iran, and several were destroyed by coalition forces. [48]
The third and largest phase of the air campaign ostensibly targeted military targets throughout Iraq and Kuwait: Scud missile launchers, weapons research facilities, and naval forces. About one-third of the Coalition airpower was devoted to attacking Scuds, some of which were on trucks and therefore difficult to locate. Some U.S. and British special forces teams had been covertly inserted into western Iraq to aid in the search and destruction of Scuds. However, the lack of adequate terrain for concealment hindered their operations, and some of them were killed or captured such as occurred with the widely publicised Bravo Two Zero patrol of the SAS.[ citation needed ]
Coalition bombing raids destroyed Iraqi civilian infrastructure. 11 of Iraq's 20 major power stations and 119 substations were totally destroyed, while a further six major power stations were damaged. [49] [50] At the end of the war, electricity production was at four percent of its pre-war levels. Nearly all Iraqi dams, most major pumping stations, and many sewage treatment plants, whether via deliberate bombing or lack of electricity, were rendered non-functional. Telecommunications equipment, port facilities, oil refineries and distribution, railroads and bridges were also destroyed as a result of Coalition bombing efforts. [51]
Iraqi targets were located by aerial photography and GPS coordinates. According to the non-fiction book, Armored Cav by Tom Clancy, in August 1990, a USAF senior officer arrived at Baghdad International Airport carrying a briefcase with a GPS receiver inside. After being taken to the U.S. embassy he took a single GPS reading in the courtyard of the complex. Upon return to the U.S. the coordinates were used as the basis for designating targets in Baghdad. [52]
Coalition forces bombed highways across the region, thereby damaging road infrastructure and killing or injuring numerous civilians, many of whom were foreign nationals evacuating Iraq and Kuwait. [51]
The U.S. government claimed Iraqi officials fabricated numerous attacks on Iraqi holy sites in order to rally the Muslim world to support Iraq during the conflict, pointing to Iraq's claim that Coalition forces had attacked the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. At the end of the war, the estimated number of Iraqi civilians killed was 2,278 killed and 5,965 wounded. [53]
On 13 February 1991, a United States Air Force (USAF) warplane fired two laser-guided missiles at an air raid shelter in the Al-A'amiriya neighborhood of Baghdad, killing at least 408 civilians sheltering there. U.S. officials subsequently claimed that the shelter also served as a communications center for the Iraqi military. BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen, who was one of the first television reporters on the scene, was given access to the shelter and claimed that he did not find any evidence of it being used by the Iraqi military. [54] His claims were later contradicted by Iraqi general Wafiq al-Samarrai, who claimed that the shelter was used by the Iraqi Intelligence Service, and that Saddam Hussein had personally made visits to it. [55] The day after the bombing of the shelter, a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jet fired two laser-guided missiles which were aimed at a bridge in Fallujah which was used as part of an Iraqi military supply line. The missiles malfunctioned and struck Fallujah's largest marketplace (which was situated in a residential area), killing between 50 and 150 non-combatants and wounding many more. After news of the mistake became public, an RAF spokesman, Group Captain David Henderson issued a statement noting that the missile had malfunctioned but admitted that the Royal Air Force had made an error. [56] [57]
An estimated 407 Iraqi aircraft were either destroyed or flown to Iran and permanently impounded there. [3] During Desert Storm, 36 aircraft were shot down in aerial combat. [58] Three helicopters and 2 fighters were shot down during the invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990. Kuwait claims to have shot down as many as 37 Iraqi aircraft. These claims have not been confirmed. [59] In addition, 68 fixed wing aircraft and 13 helicopters were destroyed while on the ground, and 137 aircraft were flown to Iran and never returned. [60]
The Coalition lost a total of 75 aircraft—52 fixed-wing aircraft and 23 helicopters–during Desert Storm, with 39 fixed-wing aircraft and 5 helicopters lost in combat. [60] One coalition fighter was lost in air-air combat, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 piloted by Scott Speicher. Other Iraqi air to air claims surfaced over the years, all were disputed. [61] [62] One B-52G was lost while returning to its operating base on Diego Garcia, when it suffered a catastrophic electrical failure and crashed into the Indian Ocean killing 3 of the 6 crew members on board. The rest of the Coalition losses came from anti-aircraft fire. The Americans lost 28 fixed-wing aircraft and 15 helicopters; the British lost 7 fixed-wing aircraft; the Saudi Arabians lost 2; the Italians lost 1; and the Kuwaitis lost 1. During the invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the Kuwaiti Air Force lost 12 fixed-wing aircraft, which were destroyed on the ground, and 8 helicopters, 6 of which were shot down and 2 of which were destroyed while on the ground. [59]
The Iraqi Republican Guard was a branch of the Iraqi military from 1969 to 2003, which existed primarily during the presidency of Saddam Hussein. It later became known as the Republican Guard Corps, and then the Republican Guard Forces Command (RGFC) with its expansion into two corps. The Republican Guard was disbanded in 2003 after the invasion of Iraq by a U.S.-led international coalition.
The Gulf War was an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States. The coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: Operation Desert Shield, which marked the military buildup from August 1990 to January 1991; and Operation Desert Storm, which began with the aerial bombing campaign against Iraq on 17 January 1991 and came to a close with the American-led liberation of Kuwait on 28 February 1991.
The 1998 bombing of Iraq was a major bombing campaign against Iraqi targets, from 16 to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1998 Bill Clinton announced that he had ordered strikes against Iraq. The strikes were launched due to Iraq's failure to comply with United Nations Security Council resolutions and its interference with United Nations inspectors that were searching for potential weapons of mass destruction. The inspectors had been sent to Iraq in 1997 and were repeatedly refused access to certain sites.
The Iraqi no-fly zones conflict was a low-level conflict in the two no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991. The United States stated that the NFZs were intended to protect the ethnic Kurdish minority in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. Iraqi aircraft were forbidden from flying inside the zones. The policy was enforced by the United States and the United Kingdom until 2003, when it was rendered obsolete by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. French aircraft patrols also participated until France withdrew in 1996.
Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. Forty-seven British personnel were killed during Op Granby and many more were injured during the hostilities there. The total cost of operations was £2.434 billion (1992), of which at least £2.049 billion was paid for by other nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. £200 million of equipment was lost or written off.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1987.
The McDonnell DouglasF-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without relying on escort or electronic-warfare aircraft. United States Air Force (USAF) F-15E Strike Eagles can be generally distinguished from other US Eagle variants by darker aircraft camouflage, conformal fuel tanks (CFTs) mounted along the engine intake ramps and a tandem-seat cockpit.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1991.
Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD, pronounced ), also known in the United States as "Wild Weasel" and (initially) "Iron Hand" operations, are military actions to suppress enemy surface-based air defenses, including not only surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) but also interrelated systems such as early-warning radar and command, control and communication (C3) functions, while also marking other targets to be destroyed by an air strike. Suppression can be accomplished both by physically destroying the systems or by disrupting and deceiving them through electronic warfare. In modern warfare, SEAD missions can constitute as much as 30% of all sorties launched in the first week of combat and continue at a reduced rate through the rest of a campaign. One quarter of American combat sorties in recent conflicts have been SEAD missions. Despite generally being associated with aircraft, SEAD missions may be performed using any means, including through actions by ground forces.
The Battle of Khafji was the first major ground engagement of the Gulf War. It took place in and around the Saudi Arabian city of Khafji, from 29 January to 1 February 1991.
Al Udeid Air Base is one of two military bases southwest of Doha, Qatar, also known as Abu Nakhlah Airport.
The Iraqi Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of Iraq. They consist of the Ground forces, the Army Aviation Command, the Iraqi Air Force, the Air Defence Command and the Iraqi Navy. Along with these primary service branches, there exists the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service and the Popular Mobilization Forces. The Prime Minister of Iraq acts as the commander-in-chief according to Article 78 of the constitution of Iraq. The president of Iraq according to Article 73 of the constitution is the ‘high command’ for ceremonial and honorary purposes, such as approving the appointment of the chief of the general staff. The armed forces are administered by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat has served with the United States Navy and the Imperial Iranian Air Force, then the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force after 1979. It operated aboard U.S. aircraft carriers from 1974 to 2006 and remains in service with Iran. In-depth knowledge of its service with Iran is relatively limited.
Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003.
The Package Q Airstrike was the largest airstrike of the Gulf War and the largest strike of F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft in military history. Many aircraft, including the F-117 Nighthawk, were used to attack targets in Baghdad, which was the most heavily defended area of Iraq. The same target was hit several times by F-117s, and the last package consisted of seventeen F-111F Aardvarks on the 19th day of the war.
H-3 Air Base is part of a cluster of former Iraqi Air Force bases in the Al-Anbar Governorate of Iraq. H3 is located in a remote stretch of Iraq's western desert, about 435 kilometers from Baghdad in western Iraq. It is close to the Syrian–Iraqi border, and near the highway that connects Jordan with Baghdad.
Operation Samurra was an operation by the Iraqi Air Force (IQAF) during the Gulf War to decisively engage McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle fighters from the United States Air Force (USAF) using Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 interceptors, and break the "wall" of F-15s that the Coalition had established along Iraq's border with Iran. It demonstrated the last true offensive operation of the IQAF before grounding their air assets in an attempt to preserve them for future use. Through careful planning and coordination, two MiG-25 jets successfully caught two USAF F-15 fighters, of the 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Al Kharj Air Base, off guard and engaged them in a dogfight. After several minutes of aerial maneuvering and several fired missiles, the Iraqi jets returned to Tammuz Air Base undamaged, and the F-15s returned to Saudi Arabia, albeit with one damaged.
The attack on Ras Tanura was an attempted aerial bombing of the Ras Tanura oil production facility in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Employing Dassault Mirage F1 fighters loaded with incendiary bombs, and two Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23s as fighter cover, Iraq intended to demonstrate to the coalition that it was capable of offensive air actions. Although the aircraft penetrated well into Saudi airspace due to skilled flying and luck, both bombers were shot down before they could reach their target by a McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle of the Royal Saudi Air Force after their fighter cover fled.
The timeline of the Gulf War details the dates of the major events of the 1990–1991 war. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990 and ended with the Liberation of Kuwait by Coalition forces. Iraq subsequently agreed to the United Nations' demands on 28 February 1991. The ground war officially concluded with the signing of the armistice on 11 April 1991. However, the official end to Operation Desert Storm did not occur until sometime between 1996 - 1998. Major events in the aftermath include anti-Saddam Hussein uprisings in Iraq, massacres against the Kurds by the regime, Iraq formally recognizing the sovereignty of Kuwait in 1994, and eventually ending its cooperation with the United Nations Special Commission in 1998.
During January 1993, numerous coalition airstrikes occurred against Iraq in response to actions by the latter predominantly due to the No-Fly Zone in Southern Iraq.
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