Description
Book SynopsisAn expertly written, illustrated new analysis of the Desert Storm air campaign fought against Saddam Hussein''s Iraq, which shattered the world's fourth-largest army and sixth-largest air force in just 39 days, and revolutionized the world''s ideas about modern air power.Operation
Desert Storm took just over six weeks to destroy Saddam Hussein's war machine: a 39-day air campaign followed by a four-day ground assault. It shattered what had been the world's fourth-largest army and sixth-largest air force, and overturned conventional military assumptions about the effectiveness and value of air power.In this book, Richard P. Hallion, one of the world's foremost experts on air warfare, explains why
Desert Storm was a revolutionary victory, a war won with no single climatic battle. Instead, victory came thanks largely to a rigorously planned air campaign. It began with an opening night that smashed Iraq's advanced air defense system, and allowed systemati
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY ATTACKER'S CAPABILITIES -The airpower of a global coalition -Ordnance -Training DEFENDER'S CAPABILITIES -Iraq's military machine -The invading armed forces -Saddam's air power -Organization -Air defenses CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES -Resolution and resolve THE CAMPAIGN -42 days to Kuwait City -Final countdown -Opening night: an assessment -Grappling in the Central Blue -Preventing resurgence: the shelter-busting campaign -Per Ardua: Tornado at war -The Iraqi SAM threat: suppressed but not eliminated -Targeting Iraq’s power infrastructure and forces -Weather -The battle against the Scuds -Clash of arms at al-Khafji: Saddam’s calculated lashing-out -Victory at sea: securing the northern Persian Gulf -Phase III: “preparing the battlefield” or “destroying the battlefield?” -The intelligence debate -The al-Firdos bunker bombing -Phase IV: to G-Day and afterwards -Endgame AFTERMATH AND ANALYSIS FURTHER READING INDEX
