[0:01]The Operations Room
[0:09]7 B-52s take off from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. In 35 hours time, when they return, a war will have started, and they will have set a new record for the longest bombing raid in history. A year prior in 1990, high levels of oil production in the state of Kuwait and other Arab nations are depressing global oil prices. Because of its economic dependency on oil revenue, neighboring Iraq is struggling to pay $14 billion debts on loans used to finance its war with Iran in the 1980s. It has come to the point where Iraq is now even struggling to pay for basic government spending. Dating from the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Iraq has maintained sovereign claims over Kuwait. An accusation that Kuwait is slant drilling Iraqi oil fields gives Iraqi president Saddam Hussein an excuse to invade and annex the small nation on the 2nd of August 1990. Following international condemnation and sanctions, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and US President George H.W. Bush begin to deploy forces to Saudi Arabia, urging other countries to do the same. A UN Resolution passes, giving Iraq a deadline of the 15th of January 1991 to completely withdraw from Kuwait. The buildup of coalition forces in Saudi Arabia is called Operation Desert Shield. Over a period of six months, 35 nations send a total of approximately 1 million military personnel to Saudi Arabia, the largest military alliance since World War II. 2,230 coalition aircraft are sent to bases in Saudi Arabia, and six carrier battle groups are deployed in the region. The coalition war plan is first to wage an air war to achieve dominance of the skies above Iraq and to strike targets to degrade the Iraqi military for when the ground invasion is launched some weeks later. The first day of the air assault will be the most risky. Iraq has a very dangerous arsenal of air defense systems. 154 Sam sites with 16,000 missiles defend Iraq, alongside a further 972 anti-aircraft artillery guns, 2,404 fixed AA guns, and 6,100 mobile AA guns. Baghdad is likely the most heavily defended city in the world. 478 early warning radars watch the skies for coalition aircraft, with command and control centers ready to scramble the Iraqi Air Force's 550 combat aircraft to respond. The priority for Day 1 of the air campaign will be to degrade the enemy's air defense systems. The deadline passes, and a day later the great air assault on Iraq is put into motion. H-Hour, the start of the air war, is scheduled for 2:38 a.m. on the 17th of January. 2 hours before H-Hour, the B-52s are nearing the end of their long journey from Louisiana, and an enormous armada of aircraft is taking off all over Saudi Arabia and from carriers in the Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf. Two flights of helicopters, each with a single Pave Low Special Operations helicopter and four Apache attack helicopters cross the border at low level. Their call sign is Task Force Normandy. Their job is to sneak up on and shoot up two key enemy radar positions. This will cut a vital gap in the radar coverage through which the coalition strike aircraft can stream into Iraq to hit their targets. E-2 and E-3 airborne warning and control aircraft, referred to as AWACS, are orbiting near the border, directing operations and keeping an eye on Iraqi airspace. Air-to-air refueling tankers are now refueling the aircraft of the enormous first striking force over Saudi Arabia. For the last few months, large formations of coalition aircraft have massed every night near the border so as not to cause a specific alarm in the enemy command structure when the air war does start. What Iraqi radars can't see tonight is the further formations of aircraft massing further away from the border at low level. F-117 stealth aircraft have also crossed the border unescorted and head for Baghdad. It's unclear whether their stealth technology will be potent enough to cloak them from the massive fire control radars around the heavily defended city. They are to hit key communications infrastructure in the city, hindering central military commanders' ability to coordinate their air defense sites around the country. One of the main targets is the international communication center in Central Baghdad, through which 50% of all military comms traffic is routed. These vital strikes are needed to protect the main assault aircraft when they attack in the coming hours. In the end, the stealth bombers circle Baghdad undetected, waiting for H-Hour. A few minutes before H-Hour, the US Air Force fires the first shots of the war, launching 35 AGM-86 cruise missiles from the Barksdale B-52s at communications sites and power plants. Simultaneously, coalition naval battle groups begin launching Tomahawk cruise missiles at mainly communications targets in Baghdad. Two of the ships launching Tomahawks, the USS Missouri and Wisconsin, are battleships that first saw service in World War II, and will serve their country once more. The Tomahawks will navigate to their targets using an onboard system that identifies and follows known landmarks and terrain contours on the route to the target. Because much of the direct route to Baghdad from the Persian Gulf is flat desert, the cruise missiles must follow a longer easterly route over more hilly trackable terrain near the Iranian border. The missiles fly at subsonic speed, so while these are the first shots to be fired, the US Army would have the honor of the first shots to explode. The two groups of Apaches arrive near two radar sites 30 seconds early, and come to hover in lines of four abreast. As they wait for precisely 2:38 a.m., they watch the compound through their infrared cameras. At first, it appears that the Iraqis are oblivious to their presence, but with 10 seconds to go, the compound's lights go out, and figures are observed running around outside. At 2:38 a.m., H-Hour, Desert Storm begins. The Apaches unleash a furious rain of destruction on the radar installations. Hellfire missiles are first aimed at power generators. Further Hellfires and 70mm rockets are fired on radar dishes, command vehicles, and communications antennas as the attack helicopters move in closer. They expend everything they have on the site. Such is the importance to knock out the radar, the Apache crews then move in closer still and engage whatever is left standing with 30mm cannon. An enormous explosion ends the attack when an ammunition dump is hit by cannon fire. During the four minutes of destruction, 27 Hellfires, 100 rockets, and 4,000 cannon rounds have been unleashed on the sites. The crews report in: total destruction of the two sites for no loss. They turn back to the border. The first aircraft of the first strike wave screams overhead, the air war is underway. Three EF-111 radar jamming aircraft rush towards Baghdad to provide jamming support for the F-117s, in case they are detected. With coalition aircraft streaming into Iraq, it's crucial that the stealth bombers knock out comms infrastructure. To maintain stealth, the F-117s are unable to use their radios to report on progress. Commanders at the coalition tactical air control center, the TACC, won't know if the crucial task has been successfully completed until the aircraft are near the Saudi border on their return journey. The strike aircraft will be deep inside Iraq by then. But this is the first major war to take place during the new age of communications and international live television. Believing the imminent start of the new conflict after the UN deadline passing, live news channels have sent reporters into Baghdad. At the TACC, they spot that a reporter is live on CNN reporting hearing aircraft over the city. The news streams almost definitely route through the International Communication Center, a primary target for the F-117s. CNN is put up on the large screens in the TACC. At 0300, the precise moment the first bomb should be falling on target, CNN lose the live feed from their reporter on the ground. A cheer erupts at the TACC. The first F-117 strikes stir the hornet's nest, and 2,000 anti-aircraft guns in Baghdad open fire into the night sky. Stealth can protect the aircraft from radar guided missiles, but blindly fired anti-aircraft fire in such volume will be equally deadly if a lucky direct hit is scored. They drop 17 Paveway guided bombs on 13 targets: radio towers, command bunkers, and a palace just outside the city, incorrectly believed to have been housing Saddam Hussein himself. Shortly after, the first of 116 navy-launched Tomahawks begin to fall on Baghdad, hitting party headquarters, a Scud ballistic missile factory, another presidential palace, and other targets of importance. A British journalist watches from his Baghdad hotel window as a Tomahawk screams past him at eye level down the street and hits the Ministry of Defense building at the end of it. Some Tomahawks carry special warheads which contain long strips of carbon filament. These missiles fly over power transformers and switching stations and release these strips into them, causing the electrical components to spark, short out and burst into flames. Five electrical facilities are hit. The B-52 launched cruise missiles fall on further communications sites and power generation facilities, including the Al Musayyib Thermal Power Plant. After a grueling flight across the Atlantic and Mediterranean to get here, the B-52s will now fly back to Louisiana without landing. The 14,000-mile mission takes 35 hours, requiring 57 tanker sorties, a demonstration of American global reach. With Iraqi command and control seriously degraded, the 668 strong first wave of strike aircraft with fighter escort begin hitting military targets across Iraq, SAM sites, Scud missile sites, command and control bunkers, and airfields. RAF Tornado and US Navy F-14 interceptor aircraft patrol the Iraqi border and orbit Iraqi Air Force bases waiting for the enemy fighters to come out to fight. One formation, a strike package of F-15E Strike Eagles escorted by F-15C fighters and an EF-111 radar jamming aircraft hits Scud missile launch sites in the Western desert, attempting to prevent Scud launches against nearby Israel. With the alarm now raised, the Iraqi Air Force is in the air defending their nation, setting up combat air patrols near key installations. With the strikes against the launchers underway, an F-15 detects a single Iraqi Mirage fighter nearby and destroys it with a Sparrow missile. Another Mirage moves in close behind the low-flying EF-111 and fires a missile. The 111 makes a violent turn and evades. At this point, an F-15 above spots the hostile aircraft and dives in to engage. Spotting the attacking Eagle, the Mirage itself makes a violent maneuver to evade the American fighter, but in doing so crashes into the ground. The unarmed EF-111 pilot is credited with a maneuvering kill. Another F-15C Eagle has just crossed the border into Iraq, and the pilot detects a distant unidentified contact on his radar. Rules of engagement require the pilot to ask one of the E-3 command and control aircraft for permission to fire. The contact begins to maneuver aggressively, and the E-3 grants permission to fire. The long-range Sparrow missile flies into the distance, and the pilot sees the fireball as it detonates. The enemy aircraft down is a modern and dangerous MiG-29 Fulcrum, piloted by a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war with three kills on his record. A flight of F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft are some of the many aircraft on their way to Baghdad to attack SAM and radar sites. Because of the volume of coalition assets in the area, the escorting F-15s are constantly investigating potentially hostile contacts that turn out to be friendly. After a few false alarms, Captain Steve Tate finally finds an enemy Mirage. He engages with a Sparrow missile, and the fireball confirms the kill. Multiple flights of aircraft are inbound to Baghdad to attack SAM and radar sites. Given the heavy air defenses around the city, this could be a treacherous task. The US Navy aircraft make their first major play of the night. A-6 Intruders to the west launch decoy glider drones towards the city, intended to trick the defending SAM sites into switching on their radars. It works, and many surface-to-air missiles are launched against them. The Iraqis believe they've scored multiple kills. What they don't see are the US Navy F/A-18 Hornets, armed with high-speed anti-radar missiles, HARMs, coming in behind. The HARMs lock onto the radar signals coming from the SAM sites on the ground as they engage the drones. A further 37 BQM-74 jet-powered drones approach from the south and orbit the city. Some are shot down by MiGs, but the rest are tracked and engaged by the SAM sites on the ground. The F-4s and F/A-18s move in and launch 75 HARMs, destroying approximately 35 installations. The idea of offering bait drone aircraft to the air defenses for the Wild Weasels to engage is that of Brigadier General Larry "Poo Bear" Henry. The engagement during Desert Storm becomes known as Poo Bear's Party. Another flight of four F/A-18s are approaching the large airbase H3 in Western Iraq with an E-2 Hawkeye carrier launched early warning aircraft above. A pair of MiG-29s move to engage the Hornets, but F-15s dive in and easily add two more kills to their impressive and growing tally. With 30 miles to go, the E-2 calls out two elderly MiG-21s aggressively attacking head on. The Hornets are impressive multi-role aircraft. Lieutenant Commander Fox switches from ground attack to air-to-air mode with the flick of a switch. He locks on to one MiG while his wingman locks on to the other. Fox fires a Sidewinder missile, and his wingman fires a Sparrow. Both hit. Both pilots calmly switch their aircraft back to ground attack mode and almost without breaking step complete their bombing raid on the airfield. A powerful demonstration of the efficiency of multi-role aircraft in modern warfare. Further B-52s and F-111s drop conventional bombs on the elite Iraqi army corps, the Republican Guard, to soften them up and as a show of the military power that they're up against. It's claimed that fear of the B-52's conventional bombing capability caused mass Iraqi surrenders later on in the war. A B-52 is hit by a US missile in a friendly fire incident and crashes on the way home. The air assault is going nearly perfectly at this point, but the TACC planners know that statistically their luck must change. And it does. A squadron of F/A-18s from the USS Saratoga, known as the Sunliners, are on their way to take part in Poo Bear's Party when the leader detects a MiG-25 interceptor in front of them. He requests permission from the AWACS to engage, but the AWACS radar can't find the bandit, and so permission is denied. There are hundreds of coalition aircraft in the air, so rules of engagement are tight to reduce friendly fire. The MiG slips away, but later shoots down another Hornet in the squadron, killing Lieutenant Commander Michael Speicher. Dawn breaks in the desert, and further waves move in. The British Tornadoes have perhaps the most dangerous job of the first 24 hours. 12 aircraft scream over the desert at just 200 feet towards Talil Air Base. The RAF's two-seater Tornado GR1 is a specialist in runway busting. In the first day of a hypothetical hot war with the Soviet Union, Tornadoes would maraud over the border into Eastern Europe to neutralize enemy airfields. Today they carry their specialist weapon, the JP233, a system that drops a combination of 30 runway cratering bomblets on the runway and 215 anti-personnel mines to hinder the repair process after. Anti-aircraft fire is much heavier than expected as they line up on the two parallel runways at 180 feet. Pushing through the barrage, each aircraft releases its two JP233 dispensers. The runways are shredded, and the anti-personnel mines are scattered across both runways and across the airfield, waiting to punish any repair workers who attempt to make the runways operational again. All aircraft make it out, but the crew report that the flak was heavier than forecast, and that they were in fact very lucky to make it back undamaged. A short time later, in the southeast of Iraq, another wing of four Tornadoes approach Ar Rumaylah Airbase at low level, each this time with eight conventional 1,000-lb bombs. Just before the target, the aircraft will pull up into a climb and release their bombs, thereby throwing the bombs in an arc at the target. The downward momentum when they hit allows the bombs to penetrate into the ground before exploding, maximizing damage. Because the bombs are released at range, a target computer calculates the precise release moments during the climb. Flight Lieutenants John Peters, the pilot, and John Nichol, the navigator, begin their attack run. Voracious flak opens up on them, and their aircraft is physically buffeted by the nearby explosions. They begin their climb. There's a problem: they have some kind of fault in their targeting computer, and it's not releasing their bombs. They continue to climb as they try to quickly rectify the problem. They're now almost twice the height they should be, and very vulnerable. Peters aborts and rolls the aircraft nearly upside down to bank and dive away, descending and accelerating. They make for safety, but just after they level out, they're hit by a shoulder-launched SAM. Both men eject, but are captured by the Iraqis, suffering severe maltreatment. The air strikes continue without rest throughout the day, against military and communications installations across the country. By day, A-10 Warthogs hit radar sites along the Iraqi border, similar to those that the Apaches had hit during the night. U-2 spy planes overfly Iraq to search for mobile Scud launchers. Special Operations helicopters loiter near Baghdad to pick up downed aircrew. Further coalition aircraft join the strikes from bases in Turkey. 12 French Jaguars attack the Scud missile facility at the Ahmed Al Jaber Airbase in Kuwait, and four take heavy damage from flak. The coalition takes some further losses throughout the day, mostly from anti-aircraft fire on low-level missions. In the evening, four elderly A-6 Intruders are the latest to approach Airbase H3 with laser-guided bombs. They split into two pairs and attack from different directions at low level. One aircraft is hit by a SAM. The crew eject and are later captured. Another aircraft is hit, but makes it to Saudi Arabia. Over the first 24 hours of the air war, 2,775 sorties are conducted against strategic Iraqi targets. The Iraqi Air Force flies just 120 sorties, losing eight aircraft. Some of the Iraqi jets flee to their recent enemy Iran. 19 coalition aircraft are lost or damaged in Day 1. Saddam Hussein declares that the mother of all battles has begun. The air assault continues for five weeks, pounding the Iraqi military at a rate of 2,500 bombing sorties per day. Largely, the Iraqi Air Force, the fourth largest Air Force in the world, doesn't come out in full force to fight. And therefore the dangerous low-level attacks on airfields are reduced in favor of hitting mobile Scud launchers. 39 coalition aircraft are lost in combat during the air campaign, with another 36 lost in accidents. Gradually, attacks are shifted towards degrading the Iraqi military itself. The ground invasion of Iraq to liberate Kuwait will begin on the 24th of February.
