5-52 Air Defense Case Study

Lieutenant General (LtGen) Richard F. Natonski, United States Marine Corps, commanded the 1st Marine Division (1 MAR DIV), to include a Brigade and specialized units from the US Army and Iraqi Forces in support of Operation Phantom Fury to gain command and control of Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004. He described the situation to subordinate units and directed them continuously on the ground while simultaneously assessing the mission accomplished. An excellent execution of mission command and the operations process resulted in the restoration of local government in Fallujah.

Air support had planned to bombard enemy positions for 55 minutes; however, miscommunication between Texas 14 and higher led to a short bombardment and a total of six bombs being dropped. TF HAMMER was unsuccessful in entering the valley due to a heavy amount of small arms fire and mortar attacks. The lack of air support triggered by bad communication frustrated Afghan and Special Forces alike and led to Afghan trucks being hit heavily by pre-registered mortar fire on known choke points by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. Unity of command is crucial in conducting a successful military operation: communication flows smoothly through a unified command, but unfortunately for a non-unified command, the reverse effect holds true.

Air Defense had a prominent involvement in The Persian Gulf War. The Patriot missile system demonstrated its effectiveness in combat in 1990 and United States (U.S.) forces as well as Iraqi forces utilized the Homing All the Way Killer (HAWK) missile system. Air Defense’s considerable involvement in the Persian Gulf War accredited to the developments and capabilities of the Patriot missile system along with the HAWK missile system’s Iraqi dilemma.

Throughout the history of Air Defense Artillery (ADA), innovative steps were made for the technological advance in weaponry to defend our skies and ground forces. The diverse history and continuous research and development of air defense systems played a vital role in the safety of ground troops and foreign civilians during the Persian Gulf crisis. Though not always in the forefront of battle, ADA had its own vital roles that it played from the time of its birth, and it was no different during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield when necessity helped to bring about the evolution of the PAC-II Patriot missile.

AirLand Battle (1982-1993) Field Manual 100-5 printed in 1986 conserved and reinforced AirLand Battle’s vital ideas which is the significance of the operational level of warfare. The focus was on the seizing and retaining the initiative, and its insistence on the requirement for multi-service cooperation. Operation Desert Storm delivered the opportunity to test Army doctrine and force structure against a threat they were optimized to meet.

In the early morning hours of January 18, 1991, the first PATRIOT missile engaged an Iraqi ballistic missile, changing the future of United States Air Defense Artillery. Throughout the initial days of Desert Storm, United States PATRIOT batteries defended the countries of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Israel from a barrage of Iraqi ballistic missile. This began and solidified United States alliances with Middle Eastern countries that remain to this day. Looking at the era surrounding Desert Storm, one can see the accelerated development of PATRIOT and US Air Defense through failures, successes, and lessons learned.

After yesterday’s excitement in Engineering everyone was hoping for a smooth weapons test. Everyone was their station, Lt. Colonel House and Major Tso, as well as Major Wakowski were on the bridge. The PJ’s had finished prepping the drones earlier in the morning and loaded them into the catapult in the landing bay. Major Wakowski was running his last diagnostic’s on the weapons and tracking system to ensure everything was in working order, Elle had already reported that she was able to repair the tampered software in the weapons tracking array. Everything was good to go.

Iraq began the crisis with one of the world's larger armies, equipped with great numbers of tanks, armored personnel carriers and artillery, some of which were state-of-the-art models. It had a sizable air force with many top-line fighters and fighter-bombers (F-1s, MiG-29s and Su-24s) and a modern air defense command and control (C2) system. During the last six months of the Iran-Iraq war, the Iraqi army had demonstrated a capability to conduct multi-axis, multi-corps, combined-arms operations deep into hostile territory. The staff could conduct long-range planning; coordination of air and artillery preparations; timing of movements and operations; coordination of complicated logistics requirements; and movement of supplies, equipment, and troops to the right place at the designated time. They had developed excellent operational security and deception. Iraqi ground forces had more than 5,000 main battle tanks, 5,000 armored infantry vehicles, and 3,000 artillery pieces

The field artillery found itself facing a unique challenger during the Vietnam War. It was one of the first conflicts were the artillery faced an insurgent force on terrain that greatly favored the enemy, and forced the drastic change in army doctrine to be successful against the enemy. These changes included battlefield placement, command of the units at the battery level, and the fire control center. (Ott, 1975)

The impact only caused relatively small amounts of injuries and deaths but Israel was inclined to retaliate. On 18 January 1991, the first interception of tactical ballistic missiles in combat occurred. Alpha Battery, 2-7 ADA successfully intercepted Iraqi Scuds. The interceptions strengthened the trust in the Patriot system. On 21 and 22 January, Patriot crews engaged more tactical ballistic missiles. As Patriot successfully engaged more tactical ballistic missiles, there were fewer Scud launches. Air Defense became a key component in collation planning. Air Defense units were attached to the majority of ground units on the front lines moving into Iraq. Patriot proved their mobility while attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry and the XVIII Airborne during the “Hail Mary” sweep into Iraq. Patriot moved and provided air defense during one of Desert Storm’s most intense

The first SHORAD Air Defense unit to deploy to this conflict was 5th Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery. 5/62 ADA was a Vulcan Stinger unit that originally deployed on 12 August 1990 to protect Patriot units due to their vulnerability from low flying, air breathing threats. 5/62 ADA was later split up and each battery given assignments to protect other types of units. Examples of these assignments are; Alpha Battery joined the 75th Field Artillery Brigade and Bravo Battery joined 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. (Henry)

In August 1990, the CPT Joe D'Antona, started the command of B / 2-7 ADA in Dhahran air base, marking the beginning to the participation of the ADA in Operation Desert Storm (USC Army ROTC, nd). During the Operation Desert Storm, various changes were made to the Patriot system, including the development and updating of the system, alignment and construction of five hundred new missiles. ADA, had an active participation in Desert Storm, defending the activities of the divisions and defense of critical assets in Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. The first, Army's Avenger Battery deployed during Desert Storm was 4-5 ADA / 1st Cavalry Division, being also one of the first units to lose a soldier under hostile

Today the Navy relies on Aircraft carriers which carry planes, Amphibious Assault ships which carry people and vehicles or helicopters, Cruisers with guided missiles, Destroyers which are used to escort other vessels, Frigates which is a single mission ship mostly protecting convoys, and submarines to carry out underwater operations and specific missions. Although the sixteen inch guns of the Iowa class ships were not greatly accurate by themselves with a range of 20 miles, they did provide troop support by being able to blast shells over the horizon. Even with a talented gunner the unguided shells from the main guns only had a thirty-two percent of accuracy at nine miles hitting a target the size of a battleship according to a Naval War College study conducted in World War II. In Operation Desert Storm improvements were made to the fire support systems by adding radar systems to assist with accuracy. The radar systems increased accuracy to hits within 150 yards at nineteen miles.(“Iowa-class Battleship”) Further improvements could include a more modern fire support system and shells that incorporate guidance systems. Not only would it help with accuracy, it could also improve the overall range of the

Prior to the VII Corps ground offensive, the 1st Calvary Division “conducted aggressive feints, demonstrations, and artillery raids in the direction of the Iraqi defense nearest the Wadi Al-Batin. ” In addition, simulated convoys, logistic sites, reconnaissance, command posts, and training operations all showed a buildup of corps forces and reinforced the deception that the main attack would be launched directly north into Western Kuwait.

I gave the grade of a mid-level passing grade to Congress because they have done so much to appeal to the majority of the population. Helping minority groups with education and developing a STEM education for women and making Diesel Emissions stricter impressed environmentalists and feminists. Issues are still present with Congress, and they are huge. The major and arguably the most overlooked issue in Congress is the Joint Strike Fighter Program. The Joint Strike Fighter Program, known as the F35 Lightning II as the project was awarded to Lockheed Martin as their X-35 beat Boeing’s X-32 fighter jet back in the early 2000s. Since then, the fighter jet has not seen widespread combat with the only reported combat the fighter jet has seen is being