How to forge victory. Operation Desert Storm
- from the report of the commander of the Air Force of multinational forces in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant General Chuck
At that time, the "captains of heaven" failed to break through the dense anti-aircraft fire and hit the designated targets. The strategically important object was destroyed the next night with the help of F-117A airplanes and laser-guided GBU-27 guided bombs.
F-16 as a tactical bomber. A formation of 75 aircraft, more than half of which are support and cover vehicles. And as a result of the efforts made, it was not enough - the Americans needed a repeated night raid with the use of stealth.
Acquaintance with such facts can cause confusion. This contradicts the Pentagon’s claims of a victorious “blitzkrieg” and the widespread conviction that the war with Iraq was an ordinary war with the “Papuans”.
Training - the key to success
The relatively low losses (the Yankees and their allies lost for various reasons 75 aircraft) and the absolute technical superiority of the winners over the vanquished did not make the war an "easy walk". The victory over Iraq cost huge costs for the countries of the anti-Iraq coalition. First of all, for the United States Air Force - the main actor in the Desert Storm 43-day air offensive operation.
2600 combat aircraft and support aircraft. 116 thousands of sorties in the conflict zone. Dozens of air bases in the Middle East, including civilian airports in the region from the United Arab Emirates to Egypt, were all made up of aircraft moving from all parts of the Earth.
55 thousands of people of the flight and technical staff of the US Air Force were deployed to the region. In the shortest possible time in the middle of the desert, 5000 pre-fabricated residential buildings with a total area of 30 thousand square meters appeared. meters 16 airmobile hospitals with 750 capacity and 1250 beds were deployed. Stowed over 160 thousand square meters. meters of concrete pavement - on the eve of a major war, the Yankees strenuously engaged in developing the infrastructure of airfields in the Middle East, expanding their area under the base of a huge number of arriving aircraft.
In Saudi Arabia, the first X-NUMX F-20F aircraft from the 111 and 492-th squadrons of the 493-13 tactical air wing appeared on August 48. The fighter-bombers made a non-stop flight with several refueling in the air on the route Leykinhirt Air Base - Taif Air Base. The aircraft flew with combat load - each carried four 25-pound GBU-2000 adjustable bombs and two SE "Sidewinder", underwing containers for shooting IR traps and dipole reflectors, in the back of the fuselage were attached containers AN / ALQ-15 with EW equipment . Twenty more F-131Fs flew to Saudi Arabia on September 111. The flight was carried out with suspended adjustable bombs and sidewind missiles. EF-2F EW aircraft were also based at the typhoid airfield.
- Chronicle of the "teachings" of the US Air Force for 1990 year.
Arriving at the place did not sit idly by. The flight crew immediately began testing the equipment in desert conditions. Intelligence monitored the state of the enemy aviation and air defense, highlighting the possible options for making "corridors" in the Iraqi air defense system.
In the afternoon countless planes circled over the dunes. And when the sun was hiding beyond the horizon, the desert again shook from the roar of aircraft engines - from the Saudi air base to them. King Khalid rose black silhouettes "stealth". The F-117A pilots drove their cars to the very border with Iraq, and, satisfied with the result, returned to dawn at dawn. The Iraqi air defense did not react at all to the presence of “invisibles” - in contrast to conventional aircraft, whose appearance immediately raised the alarm (change in radar operating modes, the connection of additional stations).
The Desert Storm air offensive began on the night of January 17 on 1991. In the first week, the density of the Coalition's air strikes exceeded 1000 sorties per day - every few hours deadly “waves” of bombers rushed over Iraq, accompanied by fighters and support aircraft. After the scouts flew in and evaluated the results of the bombing. "Difficult targets" were knocked out with the help of "stealth" and the Tomahawk SLCM.
43 of the day of the triumph of "aerocracy" of the United States and NATO countries. Iraq lost a significant part of its armed forces and was forced to leave Kuwait.
According to official statistics, own losses from enemy fire amounted to 37 aircraft and 5 "turntables", of which only one F / A-18C fighter was shot down in air combat. Real losses were probably higher. After the war, there was an increase in the number of decommissioned aircraft of the US Air Force - a direct consequence of combat and non-combat damage, development of a resource, and so on. The unpleasant consequences of participating in hostilities.
The US Air Force was able to deploy an air force against Iraq:
120 fighter-interceptor F-15 "Eagle".
The main task of the "Orlov" was to achieve air superiority. In general, they coped with this task - the Iraqi military aviation practically did not show activity throughout the war. In total, during the war with Iraq, F-15C fighters made 5685 combat missions.
X-NUMX fighter-bomber F-244 Fighting Felken.
Winged "workers of war", 13 087 sorties in the conflict zone.
X-NUMX Fighter-bomber F-82 "Anteater" (modifications 111E and 111F)
Tactical strike vehicles with a "semi-strategic" flight range. Perfect onboard aiming and navigation complex. Combat load 14 tons. "Anteaters" had the best combat performance among all the airplanes of the anti-Iraqi coalition aircrafts (correlation of successful 3: 1 sorties). In total, 2881 was flown over enemy territory. According to statistics, F-111F dropped 80% of laser-guided bombs.
132 anti-attack attack aircraft A-10 "Thunderbolt"
Awkward, but very tenacious "field workers" performed 8566 combat sorties in the conflict zone. Thunderbolts are considered to be the leaders in the number of AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground type air defense missiles (90% of all missiles of this type).
42 tactical low-profile strike aircraft F-117A "Nighthok"
“Night hawks” performed a 1271 combat sortie in the conflict zone, dropping tons of guided ammunition to 2000 Iraqis. The first-generation stealth was one of the "trump cards" of the US Air Force, with their 40% priority objectives destroyed: nuclear reactors in Al-Tuva, 112-meter radio tower in Baghdad, an interceptor and tactical missile control center, air defense systems in Central Iraq ( which allowed later to conduct carpet bombing using B-52).
In general, the F-117A proved to be the most awkward, expensive and useless aircraft - a vivid example of the "budget cut" and the usual American stupidity. At least, this is what F-117A looks like in the eyes of most “experts”.
X-NUMX fighter-bomber F-48E "Strike Eagle"
Operation Desert Storm became a baptism for Strike Needles. The newest aircraft, equipped with the LANTIRN sighting and navigation system for supersonic breaks at low altitude in the dark, were regularly used to search for and destroy enemy mobile rocket launchers, first and foremost the Scud missile system. The results of the combat use of F-15E do not look very convincing - the Iraqi "Scuds" continued to fall on the heads of American soldiers and urban areas of Tel Aviv until the very end of the war.
X-NUMX strategic bombers B-66G “Stratofortress”
Carpet bombing is a costly, but sometimes very effective way of waging war. Instead of ballistics, statistics work. The accuracy of the bombing on a specific object does not matter - the whole area of the intended target location is covered with bombs. The method is good against clusters of enemy troops in the absence of long-range air defense systems from the enemy. An additional bonus is that such a bombardment has a strongly demoralizing effect on the army of the enemy. 38% of US bombs (relative to their total mass) were dropped in this way.
1620 sorties. One bomber was shot down. The other was heavily damaged by an AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile - the missile was launched from one of the F-4Gs flying behind and accidentally attacked the radar of the Stratofortress defense aft installation.
61 "radar hunter" F-4G "Wild caress"
Modification of the old "Phantom", designed to solve the problems of a breakthrough and suppression of the enemy air defense system. “Wild caresses” were used to accompany strike groups, and also flew in “free hunting” mode - 2683 combat sorties over Iraqi territory.
18 EF-111 "Raven" electronic suppression aircraft
“Insurance policy” for formations of strike aircraft. The Raven’s equipment made it possible to detect radio emission sources in a timely manner, “deceive” the homing heads of anti-aircraft missiles and air-to-air missiles, jam radio communications and “hammer” enemy radar stations. The Ravens carried out 1105 sorties.
Do not forget that in the composition of the air force there were many specialized machines, without which it is difficult to imagine any modern air operation:
- E-3 “Sentry” (AWACS) long-range radar detection and control aircraft;
- RF-4C photo prospectors;
- high-altitude reconnaissance U-2;
- electronic reconnaissance aircraft of the RC-135 family;
- EW EC-130 aircraft;
- C-130 “Hercules” transport aircraft of the theater of operations, AC-130 ganships and special operations forces MC-130 aircraft;
And, of course, AIR PRINCIPLES. Without the participation of tankers, Operation Desert Storm could not take place. Most of the sorties were carried out with a pair of refueling stations, one on each side. No wonder that the Americans had to redeploy 256 Stratotankers and 46 Extenders to the Middle East to ensure the work of a huge group!
According to dry statistics, the US Air Force aircraft dropped 90% of all guided bombs, fired 55% anti-radar missiles and 96% air-to-surface missiles. You can talk straight - the US Air Force won the war. The participation of all other allies and pilots of the US Navy can be neglected.
Marine Corps Aviation
One of the curious features of the US military is the existence of the Marine Corps - a large, well-trained expeditionary army with its own armored forces and aircraft. KMP Aviation is a simplified version of the Air Force, whose aircraft are based on the same airfields, shoulder to shoulder with the "ordinary" F-15 and F-16. The main differences of the aviation aviation are uniforms and aircraft - the "marines" fly in lighter vehicles, unified with the deck aircraft of the naval forces.
To support Operation Desert Storm, the ILC command allocated the following forces:
F-111 can carry all these bombs at once.
X-NUMX attack aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing AV-86B "Harrier II"
Exotic cars, which is the "calling card" of KMP aviation. Part of the aircraft operated from the board of the universal landing ships-helicopter carriers "Tarawa" and "Nassau". The rest flew from the shore. In total, they made 3359 combat missions.
In general, the role of the Harriers in Operation Desert Storm was symbolic. Aircraft hung over the front edge, rarely penetrating deep into enemy territory. Ordinary F-16 would have looked much more efficient, but the Yankees wanted to fly on VTOL.
84 multipurpose fighter / bomber F / A-18 "Hornet" (mod. A, C and D)
Famous car. Once the twin-engine "Hornet" competed with the single-engine F-16 in the tender for the creation of a "light fighter", as a result, both were adopted. F-16 went to serve in the Air Force. The twin-engine F / A-18, as more reliable, was chosen for service on aircraft carriers and in the KMP aviation.
In the hot winter of 1991, both cars met in the same line - just like his F-16 counterpart, the Hornet wore clusters of unguided bombs under its wing, carrying out the tasks of destroying ground targets. 4936 sorties. They did everything they could.
20 subsonic attack aircraft A-6E "Intruder"
The aircraft were based at the air base in Oman. "Intruder" KMP was made 795 combat missions.
Aircraft Electronic Warfare EA-6B "Prouler"
Functionally, they were analogous to the EF-111. From the point of view of construction, the “Prowler” is a four-seater modification of the A-6 marine attack aircraft. Machines of this type performed 504 combat sorties.
РџР ° Р »СѓР ± РЅР ° СЏ Р ° РІРёР ° С † РЁСЏ
The actions of naval aviation in Operation Desert Storm were reviewed in detail here: http://topwar.ru/40888-burya-v-pustyne-udar-palubnoy-aviacii.html#
I will confine myself to general remarks. On board six aircraft carriers based:
- F-99 Tomcat Interceptor 14 (4004 Combat Departures)
- 85 F / A-18 fighter-bombers (4449)
- 95 subsonic attack aircraft A-6 "Intruder" (4824)
- 24 subsonic attack aircraft A-7 "Corsair II" (737)
- n-th number of S-3B aircraft (1674 combat sorties. I wonder how many Iraqi submarines could be detected?)
Also, when analyzing “Storm in the Desert”, it is impossible to ignore helicopters of the Army and Marine Corps:
- 274 attack helicopter AN-64 "Apache"
- 50 attack helicopters AN-1W (upgraded "Cobras" Marine Corps)
Allies or "allies"?
In addition to the US Air Force, combat aircraft from nine countries took part in the operation. The contribution of the allies was small - 17 300 departures for all, including departures of tankers and scouts.
The king of Saudi Arabia was most worried - the war was fought at the very borders, the fate of his state depended directly on the outcome of the operation “Desert Storm”. The Saudis were able to put the grouping in the composition:
- n-th number of interceptors F-15C (approximately five dozen cars);
- 24 fighter-bomber "Tornado";
- 87 obsolete F-5 fighter.
In addition to the Saudis, the Anglo-Saxon brothers helped the Americans - the Royal British Air Force sent to the region:
- 39 fighter-bomber "Tornado";
- 12 Stormtroopers "Jaguar";
- 12 Stormtroopers "Bukanir";
- 3 aircraft electronic intelligence "Nimrod";
- some number of air tankers "Victor" K. 2.
The French sent a couple dozen fighters "Mirage" F.1 and attack aircraft "Jaguar"; Italy, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Bahrain were brought together on the little things, there were some scraps of the Air Force captured by Kuwait. A simple fact speaks about the combat qualities of the “allies”: during the sortie flight on the night of January 17, out of six Tornadoes, the Italian Air Force was able to refuel only one. But no one completed the combat mission - the only refueled bomber was shot down on the way to the target.
Small lyrical digression
Injirlik, Darkhan, Al-Dafra, King Khalid, Isa, Tabuk, King Faisal, Garcia, Moron, Mazirah and Hofuf (further not rhyme) Dyarbakir, Jordanian H-4, Cairo West, Typho, Prince Sultan, King Abdul Aziz, Riyadh ...
As the reader has already guessed, it was a list of the bases of the multinational forces in Operation Desert Storm. When the Americans lacked countless bases, aircraft were deployed without a word at international airports: Al Ain (UAE), King Fahd (Saudi Arabia), Muscat (Oman), at Sharjah International Airport and Cairo - wherever the place and necessary infrastructure.
A “modest” local war against a small Iraq required a gigantic overstrain of forces. Thousands of aircraft, dozens of air bases and 43 day of continuous bombing. Moreover, they could not completely bomb Iraq and destroy its army - otherwise, with whom did the Yankees fight in 2003?
Based on:
http://www.airwar.ru
http://vadimvswar.narod.ru
http://usmilitary.about.com
Gulf War Air Power Survey Summary Report, TAKEANY and EACohen, Washington, DC 1993.
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