Most Successful War of the 20th Century: What the US Did Right in Desert Storm
USAF aircraft of the 4th Fighter Wing (F-16, F-15C and F-15E) fly over Kuwaiti oil fires, set by the retreating Iraqi army during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. (U.S. Air Force)
18 Jan 2021
In the late summer of 1990, the forces of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein were poised on the Saudi border, having just overrun Kuwait. U.S. troops scrambled to get ashore and fall in on their gear, overcoming chaos at the Saudi ports.
Five months later, on Jan. 17, 1991, U.S.-led coalition bombings of Hussein s Iraq began, and Operation Desert Shield a six-month buildup of troops and defensive mission became the kinetic Operation Desert Storm. It was the start of what has been described by the Government Accountability Office as perhaps the most successful war of the 20th Century.
December 9, 2020 The military wants to begin taking a more holistic view of electronic warfare capabilities rather than specific platforms to outmaneuver adversaries. (Staff Sgt. Evelyn Chavez/U.S. Air Force) WASHINGTON Simple shifts in how the Pentagon approaches its electromagnetic spectrum tools could offer the U.S. superiority needed to best adversaries that have figured out over the last decade how achieve their own advantages, leaders have said. This notion for how to achieve an affordable competitive advantage with non-kinetic capabilities looks beyond platforms, such as planes or ships, and rather at the pieces and specific capabilities within those platforms, Col. William Young, the incoming commander of the Air Force’s forthcoming 350th Spectrum Warfare Wing, said during a virtual event Dec. 9 hosted by the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.