Decisive Force: Strategic Bombing in the Gulf War - Desert Storm, Post-Vietnam Technology and Doctrine Changes, F-117A Stealth Fighter, E-3 AWACS, General Horner, Scud Missiles, Baghdad Attacks

Nonfiction, History, Middle East, Persian Gulf War, Military, Aviation
Cover of the book Decisive Force: Strategic Bombing in the Gulf War - Desert Storm, Post-Vietnam Technology and Doctrine Changes, F-117A Stealth Fighter, E-3 AWACS, General Horner, Scud Missiles, Baghdad Attacks by Progressive Management, Progressive Management
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Progressive Management ISBN: 9781311351036
Publisher: Progressive Management Publication: June 30, 2015
Imprint: Smashwords Edition Language: English
Author: Progressive Management
ISBN: 9781311351036
Publisher: Progressive Management
Publication: June 30, 2015
Imprint: Smashwords Edition
Language: English

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this unique USAF publication outlines the role of strategic bombing in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) demonstrated that a new era in strategic bombing had begun. Air power could now destroy key portions of a country's military and economic infrastructure without resort to nuclear weapons and heavy bombers and with low losses to both the attacker and enemy civilians. This achievement rested on technology, which both increased bombing accuracy and decreased the effectiveness of enemy defenses, and the reexamination and reapplication of traditional strategic bombing theory by USAF planning officers. Alone of the world's air forces the USAF possessed a 2,000-pound bomb designed to penetrate many feet of hardened concrete and steel. Its use destroyed the most heavily protected and important Iraqi targets. American anti-radar missiles intimidated Iraqi radar operators, leaving middle and upper altitudes free for Coalition air operations. American stealth technology, in the form of the F-117A fighter gave the attacker virtual invulnerability while leaving the enemy defenseless. Behind this new technology lay the USAF planning officers, who laid out their offensive in a logical manner designed to minimize both friendly and enemy casualties while excising Iraq's military potential. The offensive, of course, did not achieve one hundred percent perfection, but it carried out its goals in a manner sure to make any future aggressor state hesitate to call such destruction down upon itself.

From January 17 to February 28, 1991, aircraft of the United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy (USN), and United States Marine Corps (USMC), under the control of the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) as well as contingents of the air forces of eleven other western European and Arab countries, all under the aegis of the United Nations (U.N.), systematically attacked and destroyed targets inside Iraq and Iraqi armed forces occupying Kuwait. The air attack was the international community's response to Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, a small oil-rich Kingdom at the western end of the Persian Gulf, on August 2, 1990, and its obdurate refusal to abandon its conquest. The air war against Iraq consisted of two separate campaigns distinguished by different sets of targets. In the campaign in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (KTO)/ Coalition air forces had three objectives; suppression of Iraqi air defenses in the KTO; preparation of the battlefield for a planned Coalition ground attack (by striking Iraqi ground forces and interdicting Iraqi supply lines), and support of Coalition ground force operations with tactical airlift and aerial firepower.

The second air campaign, the strategic bombardment of Iraq, struck at twelve sets of strategic targets. It sought to disrupt Iraq's air defense system, destroy its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons' research, production, and storage; demolish its offensive strategic weapon systems (short-range ballistic missiles [Scuds] and bombers); cripple its oil production and electrical industries; impair its war industry; and nullify its communications system. In addition, USAF planners hoped to "incapacitate" Saddam Hussein's regime. This objective had the readily apparent, but unstated, goal of creating a set of conditions within Iraq conducive to the overthrow of its political leadership. This work focuses on the use of strategic air power—on Coalition air operations devoted to the strategic bombardment of Iraq. It does not address directly the large-scale and deadly tactical air operations in the KTO, which consumed seventy-five percent of the total Coalition air effort.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction, this unique USAF publication outlines the role of strategic bombing in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The U.S. Air Force (USAF) demonstrated that a new era in strategic bombing had begun. Air power could now destroy key portions of a country's military and economic infrastructure without resort to nuclear weapons and heavy bombers and with low losses to both the attacker and enemy civilians. This achievement rested on technology, which both increased bombing accuracy and decreased the effectiveness of enemy defenses, and the reexamination and reapplication of traditional strategic bombing theory by USAF planning officers. Alone of the world's air forces the USAF possessed a 2,000-pound bomb designed to penetrate many feet of hardened concrete and steel. Its use destroyed the most heavily protected and important Iraqi targets. American anti-radar missiles intimidated Iraqi radar operators, leaving middle and upper altitudes free for Coalition air operations. American stealth technology, in the form of the F-117A fighter gave the attacker virtual invulnerability while leaving the enemy defenseless. Behind this new technology lay the USAF planning officers, who laid out their offensive in a logical manner designed to minimize both friendly and enemy casualties while excising Iraq's military potential. The offensive, of course, did not achieve one hundred percent perfection, but it carried out its goals in a manner sure to make any future aggressor state hesitate to call such destruction down upon itself.

From January 17 to February 28, 1991, aircraft of the United States Air Force (USAF), United States Navy (USN), and United States Marine Corps (USMC), under the control of the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) as well as contingents of the air forces of eleven other western European and Arab countries, all under the aegis of the United Nations (U.N.), systematically attacked and destroyed targets inside Iraq and Iraqi armed forces occupying Kuwait. The air attack was the international community's response to Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, a small oil-rich Kingdom at the western end of the Persian Gulf, on August 2, 1990, and its obdurate refusal to abandon its conquest. The air war against Iraq consisted of two separate campaigns distinguished by different sets of targets. In the campaign in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (KTO)/ Coalition air forces had three objectives; suppression of Iraqi air defenses in the KTO; preparation of the battlefield for a planned Coalition ground attack (by striking Iraqi ground forces and interdicting Iraqi supply lines), and support of Coalition ground force operations with tactical airlift and aerial firepower.

The second air campaign, the strategic bombardment of Iraq, struck at twelve sets of strategic targets. It sought to disrupt Iraq's air defense system, destroy its nuclear, biological and chemical weapons' research, production, and storage; demolish its offensive strategic weapon systems (short-range ballistic missiles [Scuds] and bombers); cripple its oil production and electrical industries; impair its war industry; and nullify its communications system. In addition, USAF planners hoped to "incapacitate" Saddam Hussein's regime. This objective had the readily apparent, but unstated, goal of creating a set of conditions within Iraq conducive to the overthrow of its political leadership. This work focuses on the use of strategic air power—on Coalition air operations devoted to the strategic bombardment of Iraq. It does not address directly the large-scale and deadly tactical air operations in the KTO, which consumed seventy-five percent of the total Coalition air effort.

More books from Progressive Management

Cover of the book U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers: Carrier Battle Groups, Airplanes, Flight Operations, History and Evolution from Escort Carriers to Nuclear-powered Supercarriers by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: Rail Transport in a Theater of Operations Field Manual - FM 55-20 (Value-Added Professional Format Series) by Progressive Management
Cover of the book U.S. Energy Sector Vulnerabilities to Climate Change and Extreme Weather: Increasing Temperatures, Storms, Flooding, and Sea Level Rise, Effects on Power Plants by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Documents: Air Force T-38 Flying Fundamentals - Start, Taxi, Takeoff, Traffic Pattern and Landings, Abnormal Flight Recoveries, Aerobatics, Instruments by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Manuals: Training the Force Field Manual - FM 25-100, FM 7-0 by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane - History of the Design, Development, Operations, and Lessons Learned by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century U.S. Military Documents: Air Force C-135 Stratolifter and KC-135 Stratotanker Aircraft - Operations Procedures, Aircrew Evaluation Criteria, Aircrew Training Flying Operations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Misuse of the Studies and Observation Group (SOG) as a National Asset in Vietnam - Management of the Unconventional War Effort in North Vietnam, Covert and Clandestine Operations by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century FEMA Study Course: Introduction to Individual Assistance (IS-403) - Presidential Declaration Process, CFR, Mass Care, SBA, IHP, DUA, Business Disaster Loans, Habitability Assistance by Progressive Management
Cover of the book United States Counterterrorism Strategy in the Trans-Sahara and the Rise of Salafi-Jihadism in the Sahel: Nigeria, Mali, and Mauritania, Boko Haram, Ansaru, AQIM, Ansar Al-Dine, Mujao, Al-Qaeda by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Complete Guide to the U.S. Army Signal Corps: Comprehensive Histories, Getting the Message Through from the Civil War to Today, World War II, Vietnam, Iraq, Advanced Training, Strategic Vision by Progressive Management
Cover of the book 21st Century Adult Cancer Sourcebook: Soft Tissue Sarcoma - Clinical Data for Patients, Families, and Physicians by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Religious Rhetoric in National Security Strategy Since 9/11: President George W. Bush, Obama, Good and Evil, Providence and Blessing, Muslim Communities, Social Justice and Equality, Comparisons by Progressive Management
Cover of the book The Declaration of War: One for the History Books? War Powers Resolution (WPR), Constitutional Provisions, War in Iraq, Modern Warfare and Conflicts, Commitment of U.S. Troops, War-Making Powers by Progressive Management
Cover of the book Vision to Victory: Space, Mahan, and Mitchell: The Role of the Visionary in Cross-Organizational Innovation, Space Militarization Analog to Mahanian Modern Navy and Mitchell's Independent Air Force by Progressive Management
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy