Desert Storm Package Q - The Largest F-16 Strike Ever

as the persian gulf war was coming to a close the coalition forces against the iraqi government aimed for one last push under operation desert storm american forces sought to attack the iraqi military defending baghdad the country's last stronghold and most heavily guarded area operation codenamed package queue was the war's largest airstrike meant to destroy critical objectives before ground units could enter the city the objectives included the two other nuclear research center near baghdad defensive zones where surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft guns were stationed as well as barracks and other military depots us forces were confident in their superior numbers aircraft and overall technology still the iraqi enemy defending its homeland was a force to be reckoned package queue was launched on january 19th 1991 it had an unsatisfactory outcome as it was neither a failure nor a success although baghdad was heavily bombed with hundreds of civilian and military casualties the iraqi nuclear research facility was not destroyed military analysts and personnel attributed package queues merely average results to a series of communication problems sudden changes of strategy and an accumulation of minor mishaps this combination of factors proved that military superiority amounts to nothing when there is no coordination between the parties involved [Music] the gulf war on august 2nd 1990 the iraqi army invaded its neighbor kuwait the global community instantly condemned the unjustified occupation the united nations security council initiated economic sanctions against iraq four days later the invading iraqi forces cared very little about the global outrage and refused to withdraw from kuwait after the deadline imposed by the u.n a coalition force led by the u.s was assembled to attack the iraqi army according to the u.s department of defense the u.s did supplied iraq with military aid during its eight-year war with iran giving iraq the fourth largest army in the world at that time this posed a threat to saudi arabia another major exporter of oil if saudi arabia fell iraq would control one-fifth of the world's oil supply the iraqi leader also was reportedly violating the united nations resolutions so the u.s had unsupport in responding to iraq's invasion of kuwait the gulf war ensued the conflict would last from august 1990 to february 1991. it was divided into two fronts with code names operation desert shield and then operation desert storm while in its combat phase back in the u.s the conflict was also known as the video game war because of the amount of footage broadcasted by the media of u.s bomber cameras during operations operation desert storm would also become the most extensive air campaign and military coalition formed since the vietnam war based on data gathered by the u.s department of defense the u.s led coalition forces quote flew more than 18 000 air deployment missions more than 116 000 combat air sorties and dropped 88 500 tons of bombs package q strike in january 1991 operation desert shield evolved into operation desert storm the us had successfully assembled a fighting force of 700 000 men in saudi arabia with the help of 39 allied nations desert storm's objective was to strike baghdad the heart of iraq where president saddam hussein coordinated the army and the government unrelenting aerial attacks would weaken the iraqi army and test its air defenses before soldiers moved forward on the ground to invade the city baghdad was heavily defended the city was protected by a ring of hundreds of surface-to-air missiles anti-aircraft guns and heavy artillery to repel ground troops its defenses range from state-of-the-art technology to world war ii era armament the iraqi army also had several air bases near the capital from which they could rapidly launch their own aircraft the iraqi air force had soviet mikoyan mig-29 twin engine combat jets at its disposal this fighter aircraft first introduced in the early 80s during the last years of the cold war was a worthy opponent to the american f-15 and f-16 fighters that the u.s air force used at the time in total saddam hussein's iraqi air force had 55 aircraft which included 10 mig-29s 25 mig-23s and 20 mig-25s they were well prepared when it came to fighting the americans although underpowered in many ways the iraqis still posed a significant threat on the other hand coalition forces numbered 78 aircraft of which 56 were general dynamic f-16s 14 f-15cs six f-4s and two ef-111s which would be vital for jamming enemy radars the central coalition strike force was composed of the f-16 388th technical fighter wing located at amenhot in the united arab emirates and the 401st tactical fighter wing and doa qatar other aircraft would have to fly from the tohono air base in spain and locations as far as the us it was the largest assembly of f-16s in history american pilots were confident that u.s equipment and tactics would take down iraq's defensive commanding control system if that was not enough all of nato was behind them ready to overwhelm the enemy with more lethal force package q called for an all-in air strike using all the coalition's forces aside from wearing down enemy defenses the main target was the tuata nuclear research center in baghdad outskirts other objectives that would strike a blow to the iraqi regime were added hours before the operation formally began these include the republican guard headquarters in the iraqi air force headquarters package q launched on january 19th aircraft departed for more than four locations the plan was to gather in saudi arabia before the attack where tankers would be standing by to refuel the operational and logistical challenges of the operation quickly soured due to bad weather the tankers approached the zone too fast and had to lower their speeds which affected the f-16 fighters riding along with them to make matters worse other expected aircraft did not show up because their commanders received the orders too late the night before some pilots were also surprised that their orders had changed in the matter of hours including the sudden addition of targets post analysis of the air force's performance by the gulf war air power survey stated that quote such an approach would maximize the exposure of the f-16 train to enemy air defenses however it was too late to change the order in which the mission subsets would attack targets u.s pilots still believed they could pull it off but by the time they reached the secondary objectives after hitting nuclear reactors in the research facility the city's inner defenses were ready to take them down mr jeffrey s tice one of the f-16 pilots that were tasked with bombing the objectives later said in an interview with reporter peter grier quote we felt pretty confident it wouldn't be as difficult as it seemed on paper despite the added difficulties the coalition aircraft carried on with their mission as they approached baghdad enemy resistance increased with surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery gunfire targeting them once they reached the city's airspace as this happened communication problems arose among the attacking forces after mission groups hit the nuclear research facility and an oil refinery major jeffrey teich and his unit made their way to the heart of the city it was then that his unit came under fire by surface-to-air missiles in mere seconds a dozen unguided missiles were launched at them all the rockets failed except one as major tai saw the last surface-to-air missile getting closer to his f-16 he made a barrel roll to avoid it he remembered being told that he would remain relatively safe if his f-16 was 33 feet away when the proximity fuse exploded its warhead but it was not his lucky day in an interview with air force mag he said quote i had a 32-foot day the missile hit the f-16 and mr tice momentarily lost the control systems when the backup system's turned on major tights took the aircraft as far as he could before it stopped responding he was 150 miles north of the iraqi border when he decided to let go and ejected 14 000 feet when the major landed a group of bedouin riders captured him although he was given a good meal and treated with respect he was turned over to iraqi authorities the next day major teice did not know it but he was one of only two pilots taken down during the entire operation the other one was captain harry mike roberts who was also handed over to the iraqi intelligence both men were imprisoned and mistreated for almost two months it was not until march 6 when they were flown out of baghdad by the international red cross tice and robert's f-16s were the only casualties of package queue less than satisfactory package queue was neither a victory nor a failure this was mainly due to the operational and logistical challenges of coordinating aircraft that took off from multiple bases in different locations bad weather and coordination problems between combat groups also played a factor which only got worse when the coalition command suddenly added more objectives the u.s continued to bomb iraq and eventually established total air domination over the iraqi skies by the end of the war nevertheless no more large-scale attacks were attempted to raid the city the gulf war air power survey concluded by saying quote the raid illustrates how a number of small incidents or frictions none of which by themselves are necessarily serious can contribute to a less than satisfactory outcome in this case the loss of two f-16s [Music] package queue became a military lesson on why coordination between units and their commands can be more important than numbers and sheer firepower [Music] you

Channel: Dark Docs

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Keywords: desert storm, iraq war, gulf war, history, history channel, aviation, jets, fighter jets, f16, f-16, documentary, documentary channel, air force, usa, america, american, package q, short documentary, darkdocs, dark docs, operation desert storm, iraq, aircraft, us air force, usaf, history documentary, military history visualized, military, history shows, us military, edutainment, enlisted, docu

Id: AmVMNMPwfUM

Length: 9min 30sec (570 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 18 2021