Unthinkable Military Classified Files

Today it is safe to say that all the wars of the future, sadly it may sound, will be high-tech wars, which was proved by the first and second US campaigns in the Persian Gulf.

The operation in the Persian Gulf in 1991, called the "Desert Storm", which was conducted by the USA against Iraq, was the first ordinary war after the end of the Cold War, which can be safely attributed to the battles of new technologies. If during the Second World War, before the start of the offensive of land forces, aviation and artillery preparations were carried out for several tens of minutes, after which the forces quickly went on the offensive, then, according to the experience of the Persian Gulf war, the ground forces went on the offensive only after an air campaign, that is, 40 days after the outbreak of war, when air supremacy was won and the military power of Iraq was significantly weakened ...

Security Council resolution No. 660 provided for the inability to resolve the Iraq-Kuwait conflict by peaceful, political means using military force. At the same time, an economic blockade of Iraq was carried out, excluding humanitarian assistance to its population.

There was no certainty that Saddam Hussein would fulfill the conditions of resolution No. 660 — and they were practically impracticable — that is why from August 1990 to the first half of January 1991 multinational forces (MNF) began to be created, and they were carefully and coordinatedly trained under the UN flag .

MNF included associations, formations, parts of 30 states, including the armed forces of the USA, Great Britain, France, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Nigeria, Senegal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Kuwait, Czechoslovakia. They were based on the ground forces, the US air force and naval forces.

The basis of the MNS aviation group was modern strike tactical aircraft of the United States, equipped with high-precision weapons. The aviation group also included: carrier-based aviation, marine infantry; 20 strategic B-52 bombers; tactical wing of F-117A "invisible" aircraft, developed using the Stealth technology; units and parts of control aircraft (AWACS E-3A), electronic warfare, reconnaissance, refueling; US Air Force Command Post.

MNS aviation was subordinate to the commander of the 9th Air Force of the US Air Force. The overall aviation management of the MNF was centralized. All air units and units of the MNF were used according to the plans of the American command, regardless of their nationality.

Also in the Gulf region a powerful grouping of multinational naval forces was created in the preparatory period of the operation. It included about 160 warships, of which about 110 were from the US Navy. Among them: multipurpose aircraft carriers - 6, battleships - 2, landing helicopter carriers - 5, atomic multipurpose submarines - 8. Fifteen surface ships and three submarines had more than 300 launchers for the use of high-precision cruise missiles "Tomahok" - a new means of armed combat . The multinational naval forces included about 700 combat aircraft, of which more than 450 carrier-based aircraft on six multi-purpose aircraft carriers; about 230 aircraft of the marine corps. This amounted to more than 30 percent of all coalition aviation forces.

The operation "Desert Storm" was carried out for 43 days - from January 17 to February 28, 1991. Moreover, the ground forces of the Ministry of Taxes and Defense began large-scale offensive operations only 100 hours before the ceasefire in the Persian Gulf. Prior to this, there were fights of local importance, first on retention, and subsequently on the seizure of parts of the Ministry of Taxes by the settlement of Ras Khawji, located in the border zone between Saudi Arabia and Iraq. This was one of the characteristic features of the war of new technologies.