First Strike 1991

 Iraqi Radar Picture before the Strike

  Note: All the maps are interactive with several links!

(DoD Interim/Final Report to Congress, USAF Chief of Staff brief 15 March 1991)

Iraqi radar picture before the strike. Iraq had an airborne early warning aircraft 'Adnan' but that was not operational so the Iraqis relied on ground based radar systems. Iraqi 'Tall King' early warning radars couldn't track low flying targets close to the border. To bridge the gaps in the radar picture high frequency mobile radars were used. The air picture was relayed via sector operations centers to Baghdad. The Coalition kept continuous F-15 Eagle combat air patrols (CAP), E-3 Sentry (AWACS) and E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft and KC-135 Stratotanker/KC-10A Extender tankers close to the Iraqi border for months so they were used in seeing this picture. But on the night of 16 January 1991 something else was taking place outside the Iraqi radar coverage..

(DoD Interim Report to Congress, Air Force Magazine March 1992)

160 tankers were taking off from the air bases in different Gulf States. After that the strikers and support aircraft took off. Note the special north - south tanker track for the F-117A Nighthawk aircraft coming from Khamis Mushayat base in southern Saudi Arabia.

  Attacking Radar sites with Helicopters

(Air Force Magazine Oct 1991, Defence Helicopter Spring 1992, DoD Interim Report to Congress, JDW March 2 1991)

Strike Force 'Normandy' led by Col Dick Cody had flown via King Khalid to the remote Al Jouf base in northwestern Saudi Arabia. There the 'White' and 'Red' teams took off in the evening of 17 January and headed north to hit the two mobile radar sites close to the southern border. Each hitting team consisted of two GPS-equipped Special Forces MH-53J Pave Low helicopters and four AH-64 Apache strikers. The H-hour for the first night was 03.00 hrs local. In preparation for the main strike the Apaches destroyed the radar sites and opened the way for the main strike force to enter Iraqi air space and hit the 'Tall King' long range radars. The helicopters were selected for the strike because they could fly lower than aircraft and thus maintain the element of surprise till the last minute. After this mission there were only a few occasions where the helicopters were used against air defense targets.

  First Minutes of the strike, H-hour 03.00

(DoD Final Report to Congress)

Unarmed EF-111A Raven electronic warfare aircraft were the first ones in the Iraqi airspace almost 30 minutes prior to the main force. EF-111As jammed the air defence radars. Other EW aircraft that were used supporting the strike were EA-6B Prowler and EC-130 'Compass Call'. EC-130 aircraft were used to jam the Iraqi fighter control frequencies.

Nine minutes prior to H-hour at 02.51 hrs local a F-117A Nighthawk destroyed an air defense command center close to the town of Nukhayb in southern Iraq with the first bomb in the war. All weather capable F-117A, F-15E and F-111 aircraft attacked first air defense command centers in order to neutralize the Iraqi air defence capability.

At H-hour 03.00 local the F-117As that had passed the air defense network and attacked control centers on their way hit communications centers, national command centers, Security Police Headquarters and Intelligence Headquarters in Baghdad. AH-64 Apache Helicopters and F-117A Stealth fighters had opened the Iraqi radar network for the main force which attacked via four air corridors. As a result the

(DoD Interim Report to Congress, USAF Chief of Staff brief 15 March 1991)

B-52 Stratofortress bombers had taken off from Barksdale AFB and had flown all the way to the Persian Gulf to launch 35 AGM-86B/C Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCM) against eight key targets which were electrical power stations, electricity grid and military communications centers. 31 of the missiles hit their targets.

A few minutes after H-hour (03.00) Tomahawk cruise missiles (TLAM) hit military headquarters, communications links and electricity grid in the Baghdad area. As a result Iraqi air defence network lost electric power.

(DoD Interim Report to Congress, USAF Chief of Staff brief 15 March 1991, Air Force Magazine March 1992)

The main strike force is entering Iraq via four corridors that AH-64 Helicopters and F-117A Stealth fighters had opened by hitting the radars.

After the first F-117A strike target drones appeared above Baghdad in groups of three and four. The drones were timed to meet the Tomahawk cruise missiles so that the Iraqis would think that they were under bomber attack. When the Iraqis turned their air defense radars on AGM-88 HARM missile armed F/A-18 Hornet, EA-6B and F-4G aircraft were waiting in the area. The aircraft destroyed the radars one by one with AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles.(Navy Fact File: Harm)

(DoD Interim Report to Congress, USAF Chief of Staff brief 15 March 1991)

Several strategic targets are hit deep inside Iraq within the first two hours of the air campaign. Notice the supporting F-15C CAPs, E-3 Sentry (AWACS), tankers, EC-130 'Compass Call' and the ABCCC (Airborne Command and Control Center). The EC-130 was jamming the Iraqi fighter controller frequencies.

(Air Force Magazine, March 1992)

First wave targets within Iraq 17 Jan 1991 02.39 - 05.25 local time. Also showing the B-52 Stratofortress AGM-86B/C ALCM launch areas south of Iraq.

Large amounts of Coalition attack and support aircraft arrived over their strategic targets simultaneously deep in Iraq and Kuwait. The focus of the attack was the integrated air defense system (fighter control) and the national command and control infrastructure including the communications and electrical grid that supports the military operations. Altogether 668 attack aircraft hit their targets in Iraq and Kuwait in the first wave.

(DoD Final Report to Congress)

Operations within Iraq during the first 2 hrs 46 min of the air campaign.

• CNN - Standoff with Iraq: Air War 1991