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BULLSEYE
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A look back at Desert Storm, 25 years later
By Senior Airman Hailey Haux
Secretary of the Air Force Public Affair was the first on the list, along with
WASHINGTON — Twent y-f ive
years ago, the Air Force participated
in Operation Desert Storm, the larg-
est air campaign since the conflict in
Southeast Asia. The campaign’s pur-
pose 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.
Several months later on Jan. 16,
1991, following Congressional concur-
rence 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
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Feature 7January 22, 2016
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further aggressiveness by the Iraqi Airmen being rapidly deployed in “Over time I have come to under-
military and of course the Air Force support of Desert Storm, there were stand the enabling capabilities that
approximately 69,406 sorties flown by came to us from space, came to us out
the Navy and the aircraft carriers, 30 different types of aircraft. of stealth (and) that came to us out of
to deploy in the region,” said retired new weapons and ammunitions that
Lt. Gen. Bruce A. “Orville” Wright, a “I remember thinking, ‘Saddam allowed us to do things in ways that
Desert Shield/Storm veteran. “It was Hussein has no idea what’s coming,’ we hadn’t done them before,” John-
a rapid deployment of forces from the and after the first 60 minutes of the son said. “Our ability to dynamically
continental United States (and some war, he will be largely disconnected command and control across an entire
forces from Europe) to put enough from his tactical forces and he was. theater there were things that, looking
airpower in place so the Iraqi military They tried to reconnect, but in many back now in hindsight, fundamentally
would be discouraged, if not deterred. ways we began the decapitation of the began the transformation of airpower.
leadership within the first 15 minutes There are so many things that we take
“We took out their eyes and ears, of the war,” said Maj. Gen. Paul T. for granted today … that saw their
their control capability,” he contin- Johnson, an operational capability re- beginnings in Desert Storm.”
ued. “The entire ground operations quirements director and Desert Shield
lasted about 100 hours and that’s a veteran. “I really hope we can remem- As with any mission, operation or
credit to the joint coalition airpower ber how we came together as a joint task, there are lessons learned. Desert
that was employed against the Iraqi and a coalition team, nations from all Storm taught the Air Force that being
military. We were all excited, that’s over the world, all of the services sup- on the cutting edge of revolutionary
what we trained for our whole career. porting each other, generating effects technology is critical to success.
To take 24 F-16s and a squadron of for one another to achieve an effect in
very capable highly-trained pilots an incredibly short period of time.” “That was the first time the invest-
and maintenance professionals … ments, that had been made in some
and defeat what was then the largest Desert Storm marked the first con- cases a decade or two decades earlier,
ground force.” flict in history to make comprehensive came together on the battlefield and
use of stealth and space systems sup- for the first time the world saw what
The air campaign marked the ini- port capabilities against a modern, the United States Air Force could do,”
tial phase of the war and for the Air integrated air defense, allowing the said Air Force Secretary Deborah
Force, air superiority was the goal. Air Force to succeed in their endeavor
With more than 68,800 total force of air superiority. _See DESERT STORM, on page 11
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