Desert Storm - The Air War, Day 1 - Animated

[Music] seven 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 one 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 u. s president george h.

w bush begin to deploy forces to saudi arabia urging other countries to do the same a u. n resolution passes giving iraq a deadline of the 15th of january 1991 to completely withdraw from kuwait the build-up 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 2230 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 a guns and 6 100 mobile a 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 one 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 am on the 17th of january two 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 pavelow 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 e2 and e3 airborne warning and control aircraft referred to as aywax 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 amassing 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 commander's ability to coordinate their air defense sites around the country one of the main targets is the international communications center in central baghdad through which 50 percent of all military comms traffic is rooted 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 u. s air force fires the first shots of the war launching 35 agm-86 cruise missiles from the barksdale b-52s at communication 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 am they watch the compounds 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 am h hour desert storm begins the apaches unleash a furious reign of destruction on the radar installations hellfire missiles are first aimed at power generators further hellfires and 70 millimeter rockets are fired on radar dishes command vehicles and communications antennas as the attack helicopters moving closer they expend everything they have on the site such as the importance to knock out the radar the apache crews then move in closer still and engage whatever is left standing with 30 millimeter cannon an enormous explosion ends the attack when an ammunition stump 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 site 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 rushed 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 khan's 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 tac 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 tack they spot the reporter is live on cnn reporting hearing aircraft over the city the new streams almost definitely root through the international communications center a primary target for the f-117s cnn is put up on the large screens in the tack at 0-300 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 tank 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 dropped 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 launch 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 defence 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 launch cruise missiles fall on further communication sites and power generation facilities including the al-musayib thanal 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 commander 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 hit 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 e3 command and control aircraft for permission to fire the contact begins to maneuver aggressively and the e3 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 downed 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 f4g wild weasel aircraft are some of the many aircraft on their way to baghdad to attack radar sites and sam 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 salmon 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 a6 intruders to the west launched decoy glider drones towards the city intended to trick the defending sam sites into switching on their radars it works and many surface ware missiles are launched against them the iraqis believe they've scored multiple kills what they don't see are the u.

s navy fa-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 fa-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 pubar henry the engagement during desert storm becomes known as phubar's party another flight of four faa teams are approaching the large air base h3 in western iraq with an e2 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 e2 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 onto one mig while his wingman locks onto 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 u.