The Persian Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm The Technological Aspects

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The Persian Gulf WarOperation Desert StormThe
Technological Aspects

• By Jonathan Kurniawan
• and Justin Leong

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Coalition Forces

• The United Arab Emirates
• The United Kingdom
• The United States of America

• Morocco
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Niger
• Norway
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Poland
• Portugal
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• South Korea
• Spain
• Syria
• Turkey

• Afghanistan
• Argentina
• Australia
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Belgium
• Canada
• Czechoslovakia
• Denmark
• Egypt
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Honduras
• Italy
• Kuwait

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Iraqi Forces

• Jordan
• Yemen
• Palestine Liberation Organization
• The Iraqis never really had military support.
  Only moral and economical support was given to
  Iraq to fight the war.

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Overview of the WarThe Invasion of Kuwait

• After the Iran Iraq War, Iraqs economy was low.
• Seeing that the oil rich fields would help their
  economy, and claiming that Kuwait was a part of
  Iraqi history, Saddam Hussein decides to invade
  Kuwait.
• August 2, 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait by surprise.

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Overview of the WarThe Response

• August 7, 1990 Operation Desert Shield initiated
  to protect Saudi Arabia from possible Iraq
  invasion
• November 7, 1990 The United Nations allow the
  use of military force against Iraq if Iraq does
  not withdraw its forces from Kuwait.
• January 16, 1991 Operation Desert Storm begins.
  A coalition of 36 different countries, including
  the U.S. prepares to liberate Kuwait. Along with
  the liberation, the bombing of Baghdad begins.
  The Air campaign starts
• January 17, 1991 Iraq fires SCUD missiles at
  Iran hoping to bring them into the conflict. Iran
  luckily does not respond.
• January 25, 1991 Iraq opens oil wells, polluting
  the Persian Gulf, and set fire to the oil fields.
• February 23, 1991 The land war begins.
• February 27, 1991 Iraq is defeated.

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Overview of the WarThe Aftermath

• Though the coalition was successful at liberating
  Kuwait, there were many consequences
• Kuwait suffered greatly from the war
  Economically.
• Like every war, there were casualties and many
  injuries.
• Many people suffered from what was called Gulf
  War Syndrome, which was a collective group of
  medical ailments that affected many veterans of
  Operation Desert Storm
• The oil fires that were ignited by the Iraqis
  greatly polluted the environment.
• The oil that was dumped into the Persian Gulf
  greatly polluted the water.

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Ground TechnologyCoalition Forces
Troops
Vehicles

• The Coalition Troops employed were highly
  trained, yet they did not have too much field
  experience. Much of their victory was due to
  their more advanced technology than the Iraqis.

• Coalition vehicles were highly advanced than the
  old soviet-era vehicles used by the Iraqis. A
  large factor that destroyed coalition vehicles
  was friendly fire. Most coalition vehicles were
  lost to friendly fire.

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Ground TechnologyIraqi Forces
Troops
Vehicles
The Iraqi conscripts were men drafted in my the
government. Some were trained, and from those
few, many of them have experienced battle much
more than the coalition forces. They had the
advantage by fighting on their homeland and
having more battle experience. Yet their main
disadvantage was their lack of advanced
technology.
The Iraqi vehicles were not very advanced. They
were old soviet-era tanks that were sold to them
many years ago. Most of their vehicles consisted
of transformed civilian vehicles that have
machine and old age machinery. These vehicles
hardly stood a chance against the more modern
coalition vehicles.
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Air TechnologyCoalition Forces

• The coalition forces had a great advantage over
  the Iraqis with more modern and advanced
  aircraft. The coalition and achieved and
  maintained air superiority throughout the war.
  Coalition bombers ran around the clock air
  strikes on targets in the battlefield. Anti-air
  was a very little problem since coalition
  aircrafts were able to jam signals and destroy
  the anti-air pieces before being shot upon. Some
  also say that computer based anti-air units were
  destroyed by computer viruses sent by the US. Air
  support assisted the ground forces. Carrier-based
  aircrafts also took part and were an advantage to
  the coalition effort. Aircraft carriers located
  in the Persian Gulf launched several planes to
  destroy artillery pieces, bunkers, and support
  the ground troops during fighting.
• One famous attack carried out by the coalition
  forces was the Road of Death. When the war was
  near an end, the Iraqis looted Kuwait and fled
  back to Iraq. Several U.S. planes dropped strings
  of bomb upon the fleeing Iraqis in punishment for
  looting Kuwait. Because of the large amounts of
  damage and the deaths of the Iraqis, this area
  was nick named The Road of Death.

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Air TechnologyIraqi Forces

• Not much is known about the role Iraqi aircraft
  played in the 1991 conflict, but the Iraqi planes
  were definitely not a threat to the coalition
  force. The Iraqis possessed a wide variety of
  antique and modern aircrafts. Only about half of
  their aircrafts were able to take off into the
  air. Even so, most were shot down soon by
  coalition anti-aircraft fire. For the few planes
  that were able to take off survive or pass the
  anti-air fire, they had no chance against the
  coalitions advanced aircrafts. Iraqs planes were
  easily shot down by the coalitions more advanced
  war planes.

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Naval TechnologyCoalition Force

• During the beginnings of the air campaign, and
  the ground war, ships were used to assist in the
  attacks. Even before the war started, freight
  ships were used to transport vehicles, aircrafts,
  and troops to the Middle East. In the air
  campaign, aircraft carriers housed, repaired, and
  launched aircrafts to fight against the Iraqis.
  During the ground attack, the old WWII
  battleship, the USS Missouri, sieged the coasts
  where Iraqi installations were located. Beach
  head landings were conducted to trick Iraq forces
  into a WWII D-Day invasion. Iraq concentrated its
  forces along the coasts of the Persian Gulf.

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Naval TechnologyIraqi Forces

• Nothing is known about the Iraqi navy. Most
  likely they did not possess one. If they did, it
  was not employed. The Iraqis didnt expect a
  naval attack and had to react by concentrating
  ground forces along the coastlines, only to be
  sieged by the gigantic cannons of the USS
  Missouri.

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Bibliography

• June A. English, Thomas D. Jones. Scholastic
  Encyclopedia of the United States at War.
  Scholastic Inc., 1998
• Encarta Online - http//encarta.msn.com/
• Army Technology - http//www.army-technology.com/
• Naval Technology - http//www.naval-technology.com
  /
• Military Analysis Network - http//fas.org/man/