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Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive! F-16 Pilot Recounts How He Maneuvered His Fighter Jet To Defeat Six Surface-To-Air Missiles

In the early stages of Operation Desert Storm, one US F-16 fighter pilot defied all odds by avoiding six successive surface-to-air missiles without the aid of flares or chaff. It was one of the most iconic moments of that entire war. 

US Military’s ‘Most Secretive Craft’ Has Been ‘Flying Non-Stop’ For Over Two Years & Has No Plans To Land

On January 16, 1991, then-President George HW Bush declared the start of Operation Desert Storm, a military operation to drive Iraqi occupiers from Kuwait, which Iraq had annexed months earlier.

Airpower was the primary force in formulating and executing a war for the first time in history. The United States and its allies identified Airpower as the most crucial element in completing the operation in a manageable time frame with minimum losses. 

It is undeniable that the massive US-led force outmatched the Iraqi military in every way, but Iraq did have significant and effective defenses. Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, was said to be one of the most fiercely guarded cities at the time.

Before the war started, coalition aircraft operated in massive formations close to the Iraqi border. It was done to ensure that massing aircraft formations wouldn’t give the Iraqi military any heads up when the campaign started.

The US-led forces against Iraq deployed around 2,430 aircraft during Desert Storm, including 1,300 aircraft sent by the United States. These aircraft included Navy and Marine Corps planes operating from aircraft carriers in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.




F-15E Eagle fighter
File Photo: F-15E Eagle fighter

On the other hand, Iraq fielded about 700 combat-ready fixed-wing aircraft. The American general Norman Schwarzkopf started the Gulf War in the air with five weeks of non-stop airstrikes and combat patrols supported by naval bombardments. 

These missions were designed to dismantle Iraq’s sizable array of air defense assets, cripple the Iraqi Navy’s capacity to move troops by sea, and clear the way for the ground forces and heavy armor that would soon arrive. 

The US and its allies conducted more than 116,000 combat air sorties and dropped 88,500 tons of bombs. The ground campaign was over 100 hours, owing to the airstrike’s overwhelming success. 

For the first time, stealth planes were used extensively in the war. The use of precision-guided weapons was also prevalent. Given that Iraq had more than 16,000 surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), the United States fleet of stealth F-117 Nighthawk aircraft was reserved only for specific missions. 

It was primarily the responsibility of American F-4s to locate and destroy SAM sites. The AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) which uses a specialized targeting system that follows radar signals, was one of the main tools used to destroy Iraqi SAM missile sites.

Largest Strike Of F-16s In Military History

The Iraqi capital was guarded by a Soviet-style air defense system integrating anti-aircraft artillery and optical and radar-guided surface-to-air missiles. Only the stealthy F-117 Nighthawk of the coalition conducted a strike in the early stages of the conflicts. 

That was intended to change with the launch of the Package Q strike. Initiated on the third day of the conflict, its primary targets were in and around Baghdad’s center.

The strike force’s main body would consist of a massive fleet of 72 F-16 Fighting Falcons, each carrying two 2,000-pound Mk 84 bombs.




F-16A Fighting Falcon, F-15C Eagle, and F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft fly over burning oil field sites in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. (US Air Force archive photo)

This strike force destroyed government buildings and the Tuwaitha nuclear reactor, located just south of the city.

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