These first attacks allowed F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F/A-18 Hornet combat aircraft to gain air superiority over Iraq and then continue to drop television-guided and laser-guided bombs.Īrmed with a GAU-8 rotary cannon and infrared-imaging or optically guided Maverick missiles, USAF A-10 Thunderbolts bombed and destroyed Iraqi armored forces, supporting the advance of U.S. Navy warships situated in the Persian Gulf, by F-117A Nighthawk stealth bombers with an armament of laser-guided smart bombs, and by F-4G Wild Weasel aircraft as well as F/A-18 Hornet aircraft armed with HARM anti-radar missiles. The initial strikes were carried out by Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from U.S.

The air campaign had largely finished by 23 February 1991 when the coalition invasion of Kuwait took place. The British air commanders were Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Wilson (to 17 November 1990) and Air Vice-Marshal Bill Wratten (from 17 November).

Central Command while general Norman Schwarzkopf was still in the United States. The air campaign was commanded by United States Air Force (USAF) lieutenant general Chuck Horner, who briefly served as Commander-in-Chief-Forward of U.S. Spearheaded by the United States, the Coalition of the Gulf War flew over 100,000 sorties, dropping 88,500 tons of bombs, widely destroying military and civilian infrastructure. The air campaign of the Gulf War, also known as the 1991 bombing of Iraq, was an extensive aerial bombing campaign from 17 January 1991 to 23 February 1991 in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

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