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Twenty-five years ago, the Air Force participated in Operation
Desert Storm, the largest air campaign since the conflict in
Southeast Asia. The campaign's purpose was to drive the Iraqi
military out of Kuwait, release the country from Saddam Hussein's
invasion and reestablish its sovereignty.
On the morning of
Aug. 2, 1990, Iraq invaded nearby Kuwait. In less than four hours,
Iraqi forces occupied the capital, Kuwait City, and Hussein soon
annexed the country as the 19th province of Iraq. The U.S.
government initiated Operation Desert Shield in response.
U.S. Air Force F-16A Fighting Falcon, F-15C Eagle and F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft fly over burning oil field sites in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. (U.S. Air Force archive photo) |
Several months later on Jan. 16, 1991, following
Congressional concurrence with United Nations efforts to
enforce a resolution that demanded Iraq's withdrawal from
Kuwait, Desert Storm was launched.
“The real mission,
the immediacy of that mission ... was to deploy as many forces
as possible to deter further aggressiveness by the Iraqi
military and of course the Air Force was the first on the
list, along with the Navy and the aircraft carriers, to
deploy in the region,” said retired Lt. Gen. Bruce A.
“Orville” Wright, a Desert Shield/Storm veteran. “It was a
rapid deployment of forces from the continental United
States (and some forces from Europe) to put enough airpower
in place so the Iraqi military would be discouraged, if not
deterred.
“We took out their eyes and ears, their
control capability,” he continued. “The entire ground
operations lasted about 100 hours and that's a credit to the
joint coalition airpower that was employed against the Iraqi
military. We were all excited, that's what we trained for
our whole career. To take 24 F-16s and a squadron of very
capable highly-trained pilots and maintenance professionals
... and defeat what was then the largest ground force.”
The air campaign marked the initial phase of the war and
for the Air Force, air superiority was the goal. With more
than 68,800 total force Airmen being rapidly deployed in
support of Desert Storm, there were approximately 69,406
sorties flown by 30 different types of aircraft.
“I
remember thinking, ‘Saddam Hussein has no idea what's
coming,' and after the first 60 minutes of the war, he will
be largely disconnected from his tactical forces and he was.
They tried to reconnect, but in many ways we began the
decapitation of the leadership within the first 15 minutes
of the war,” said Maj. Gen. Paul T. Johnson, an operational
capability requirements director and Desert Shield veteran.
“I really hope we can remember how we came together as a
joint and a coalition team, nations from all over the world,
all of the services supporting each other, generating
effects for one another to achieve an effect in an
incredibly short period of time.”
Desert Storm marked
the first conflict in history to make comprehensive use of
stealth and space systems support capabilities against a
modern, integrated air defense, allowing the Air Force to
succeed in their endeavor of air superiority.
“Over
time I have come to understand the enabling capabilities
that came to us from space, came to us out of stealth (and)
that came to us out of new weapons and ammunitions that
allowed us to do things in ways that we hadn't done them
before,” Johnson said. “Our ability to dynamically command
and control across an entire theater there were things that,
looking back now in hindsight, fundamentally began the
transformation of airpower. There are so many things that we
take for granted today ... that saw their beginnings in Desert
Storm.”
As with any mission, operation or task, there
are lessons learned. Desert Storm taught the Air Force that
being on the cutting edge of revolutionary technology is
critical to success.
“That was the first time the
investments, that had been made in some cases a decade or
two decades earlier, came together on the battlefield and
for the first time the world saw what the United States Air
Force could do,” said Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James.
“Looking back and learning from Desert Storm, it is more
important than ever before that we continue to modernize our
force, gaining the advantage to defeat any adversary we may
face in the future.”
On Feb. 28, 1991, following six
weeks of air attacks and 100 hours of a ground campaign,
President George H.W. Bush declared a cessation of
operations and announced that Kuwait had been liberated.
“The memories and lessons learned from Desert Storm
continue to define today who we are,” Wright said. “We have
the ability to defend the nation that's founded on, not just
the history of Desert Storm but the history of airpower from
World War I to World War II to Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm
and today. We have been in this fight now for 25 years and
those Airmen who are out there today are critical. They are
critically important to the safety of our fellow citizens
and critically important to the future of the United States
of America.”
By U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Hailey Haux
Air Force News Service
Copyright 2016
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