Chapter 10
Paveway laser-guided bombs. For the first time in war,
news coverage, despite their representing only a fraction of
precision-guided munitions (PGMs), both bombs and
the Coalition fire-power. In all, the Coalition lost 75 aircraft;
missiles, played a decisive role, and critically weakened the
of the 158 RAF aircraft deployed on over 6,000 sorties,
world’s fourth-largest army.
six Tornados were lost, with five aircrew killed and seven
After the intensive air campaign, which suppressed
captured, a remarkable exchange rate compared with earlier
enemy air defences, neutralized any threat from the Iraqi
wars and an illustration of the effectiveness of modern
air force and paralyzed their ground communications,
technologies. Later repatriated by the Red Cross, Flight
the Coalition launched their land assault on 24 February
Lieutenants John Peters and John Nichol of XV Squadron
1991. RAF Chinooks and Pumas flew 900 sorties mainly
were memorably shown on Iraqi television, bloodied and
in support of the 1st (UK) Armoured Division. Iraqi ground
beaten after their aircraft had been downed by a shoulder-
forces had been so degraded from the air, they were soon
launched SA-14.
in headlong retreat. The relentless air campaign continued
After DESERT STORM had ceased, Coalition forces
to hammer their withdrawal up the Basra Road, resulting
continued to enforce a no-fly zone over Iraq, until 2003,
in scenes similar to the wrecked German forces trying
and their operations included a British air initiative run
to escape the Normandy pocket back in 1944. The land
out of Turkey to protect Kurdish civilians fleeing their
campaign ceased at 0500 hours on 28 February, after only
homes in northern Iraq in the aftermath of the 1991 war
100 hours of combat and without the Coalition following
and the delivery of humanitarian aid. Throughout this
the retreating Iraqis back across the border; at the time,
period, RAF Jaguars and Tornados participated in daily
there was a reluctance to take the campaign beyond the
patrols in the airspace over Iraq and conducted regular
Kuwaiti borders.
bombing campaigns targeting Iraqi anti-aircraft defences.
The Gulf War had largely been decided in the air, even
In December 1998, frustrations over Iraqi non-compliance
though it was sea-launched missiles that dominated the
with UN Security Council resolutions and their hindrance
The intensive air campaign suppressed enemy air defences and neutralized any threat from the Iraqi air force
160
Below: Jaguar and Tornado fighterbombers are liveried in sand-coloured camouflage to provide extra concealment for their desert operations during Operation GRANBY in 1991. Opposite top: Two Nimrod R.1 electronic intelligence aircraft of 51 Squadron based at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, 17 July 1995. Opposite bottom: Men of the RAF Regiment man a Rapier air-defence battery in Bahrain during Operation GRANBY, the British contribution to the first Gulf War in 1991.