Successful Military Operations: Operation Desert Storm

(INTRODUCTION) In August 1964, Vietnamese DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. President London B. Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Shortly after the incident, U.S. congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids (Reference http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history ). In Vietnam, the US enjoyed virtual air supremacy. Nevertheless, Air Defense Artillery (ADA) units were able to distinguish themselves and prove their versatility by providing fire support to ground forces. ADA earned more than 450 medals for valor, receiving more than 1000 Purple Hearts, and one Congressional Medal of Honor awarded to SGT Mitchell Stout (Reference http://www.usc.edu/dept-00/dept/armyrotc/branches/air_defense.html ). Despite there being no confirmed aerial engagements, Air Defense Artillery played a vital role in the Vietnam War, and were at times crucial to battle success, proving their versatility, adaptability, flexibility.

This led to the Army having free reign to conduct aviation missions as they saw fit. In 1962, the Army’s armored helicopters were on their way to Vietnam with the 68th Aviation Company in order to support ground units and other air assets.

The United States of America, one of the most powerful nations in the world at the time, was completely unprepared for the war that it had joined in Vietnam. The terrain was unlike any we had ever fought in. From mountains to jungles to rice paddies, it was wet, hot, cold, and completely unforgiving. To say that the political situation was tenuous would be a drastic understatement. Not only could officials not make up their minds, neither could the general populace. The media had an influence in this war that was heretofore unseen. All of these factors were a great obstacle in and of themselves and then we put into play the greatest obstacle of all: the enemy. This was an enemy like we had never seen. The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Vietcong (VC) were fast, agile, adaptable, and extremely unpredictable. The VC hid among the common populace and fought like demons. The NVA were well supplied, well organized, and did not restrict themselves the way many large armies do. This forced us to have to rapidly adapt and develop new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) in order to counter all of these obstacles. Due to these needs and the rapidly advancing technology and versatility of helicopters, the Air Cavalry was born. The Air Cav was composed of several types of airframes including transport aircraft, attack aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft. The reconnaissance aircraft were also known as Aeroscouts and were known for their boldness, audacity,

The great differences between Korean, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf lie in how the military objectives and operations used to achieve them evolved over the course of the conflict. In the Korean War Truman was initially determined to ensure that operations would go only so far as to achieve the most justifiable goal

The U.S military troops had a very hard time trying to find their enemy. One of the worst

The U.S. air force also played a role in the offensive. The 94th aero squadron was being lead by the flying ace and race car driver, Eddie Rickenbacker. Eddie was rewarded for shooting down multiple Fokker airplanes and reconnaissance

“Early on the morning of January 17, 1991, a massive U.S.-led air offensive hit Iraq’s air defenses, moving swiftly on to its communications networks, weapons plants, oil refineries and more. The coalition effort, known as Operation Desert Storm, benefited from the latest military technology, including Stealth bombers, Cruise missiles, so-called “Smart” bombs with laser-guidance systems and infrared night-bombing equipment” (“Persian Gulf War - Facts & Summary”). The goal here was to win the war in the air in order to reduce combat on the ground as much as possible. “By mid-February, the coalition forces had shifted the focus of their air attacks toward Iraqi ground forces in Kuwait and southern Iraq. A massive allied ground offensive, Operation Desert Sabre, was launched on February 24, with troops heading from northeastern Saudi Arabia into Kuwait and southern Iraq. Over the next four days, coalition forces encircled and defeated the Iraqis and liberated Kuwait” (“Persian Gulf War - Facts & Summary”). Bush declared a ceasefire on February 28, ending the Persian Gulf War. According to the peace terms, Iraq would recognize Kuwait’s sovereignty and get rid of all of it’s weapons of mass

Operation Desert Storm began January 17th, 1991, with the same mission to go in and set Kuwait free, for their royal family was working as custodians of Islam’s holist shrines, Makkah and Medina. The first weapon that was launch in Operation Desert Storm the TLAM that came from the Red Sea headed towards Baghdad. However it was not the first to hit anything, the Hellfire missile was the first to make an impact causing a gap in the Iraqi’s surveillance radar and the boarders of Saudi Arabia. It also had many more successful hits. Operation Desert Storm lasted forty-three days before the United States.

Airplanes resulted in many unnecessary deaths, because of dogfights and being shot down from land. Majority of airmen died due to this and not being equipped with parachutes. Early war planes were used to locate artillery and troops, or as supply lines. The Germans were first to arm their planes with machine guns able to fire forward without damaging the propellers, followed by the Allies. War planes greatly effected battle, adding another dimension to an already deadly encounter resulting in a great number of

January 12, 1991 - U.S. Congress passes a resolution authorizing the use of force to liberate Kuwait. Operation Desert Storm begins four days later with air strikes against Iraq. Iraq retaliates by launching eight Scud missiles into Israel.

During the Second World War, the Eighth Air Force obtained a reputation as a great warfighting organization (Eighth Air Force History 1). The U.S. Army Air Force was

The aircraft assigned to execute these phases were the F-105 Thunderchief and the F-4 Phantom. These two aircraft were the staples in Operation ROLLING THUNDER; however they were only flown with moderate effectiveness. The F-105 known as a “Thud” was created for high speed interdiction missions carrying nukes into Russia during the Cold War. In Vietnam they were assigned a different interdiction mission carrying conventional “dumb bombs” which forced the aircrews to fly slower at decreased altitudes and this greatly increased their vulnerability. On the other hand the F-4 was a strong, versatile platform which allowed it to better accomplish interdiction missions and it was extremely lethal during interception missions against MiGs. The first phase consisted largely of attacks focused on targeting North Vietnam’s logistical systems; however it experienced limited success with a large amount of F-105s falling prey to SAM sites. These logistical systems were the main sources behind many of the weapons and supplies that insurgent forces were receiving. These missions were centered on strategic persuasion and interdiction. The first phase placed a heavy emphasis on these types of missions, but they would also continue throughout the rest of the air campaign. The second phase consisted primarily of targeting supply lines and factories in North Vietnam. These included

This whole operation was unknown territory. Our Army was encountering a situation we had not seen outside of training in quite a while. Supplies required was an estimated guess, but the biggest problem was most likely logistics. The location was Iraq, a harsh desert, hard on our equipment. The wear and tear was greater than expected requiring more parts than were locally available. We had the need without the way.

The Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm, the Persian Gulf War, The First Gulf War or The Kuwait War. Was a war that started 2 August 1990 when Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The war lasted to 28. February 1991, when President Bush declared a ceasefire. The war ended unofficially the 26th, when the Iraqi troops started to withdraw from Kuwait, after finishing their mission. The Coalition air forces continued to follow and bomb the Iraqi troops, even after the retreat started. They kept killing Iraqi troops, and a Highway 8 became known as the “Highway of Death”.

As a young United States Air Force fought the Vietnam War as an independent military branch, strategic airlift became increasingly important. The USAF and other military branches relied on fixed-wing cargo planes for transportation of troops and supplies. Still perfecting airlift, the Vietnam War put their strategies and skills to the test. The well-known airlift operation to evacuate Vietnamese orphans, Operation Babylift, was an example of this. The lesser known operation, Operation Frequent Wind, however, influenced the future of airlift and airpower even more than Operation Babylift. As over 70 helicopters flew to Saigon, Vietnam to evacuate both Americans and Vietnamese, the helicopter’s role in airlift would be challenged and expanded (Washington). Operation Frequent Wind was a very influential event in air mobility history because it advanced both air mobility doctrine and strategy.