The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 731: Desert Storm Operation Plan

"Has the battle plan been finalized now?" Li Fuguo looked at Prince Sultan.

Li Fuguo knew that the two sides had argued fiercely about the "Desert Storm" combat plan and had not reached a consensus until now.

The Americans have a big appetite and seem to be ready to swallow up Iraq's 54 troops in Kuwait in one gulp.

Prince Sultan nodded and said, "Yes, the 'Desert Storm' operation plan has been finalized. Our Arab coalition forces will launch an attack from the south and attack northward along the coast. The United States and its allies will launch an attack from the west and northwest, with the northwest cutting off the Iraqi army's connection with Kuwait and Iraq and encircling the 54 Iraqi troops in Kuwait."

Following Prince Sultan's introduction, Li Fuguo had already understood the actual content of the "Desert Storm" combat plan.

Li Fuguo secretly marveled at the wealth of the coalition forces.

It would take seven days to launch a large-scale air strike on Iraq using missiles and aircraft, thus destroying Iraq's radar positions, air defense positions, communication stations and other important military targets. Iraq's tanks and armored vehicles would also be destroyed by fighter jets and helicopters launching missiles and rockets.

Americans are still cruel enough.

According to Li Fuguo's understanding, the United States is very active and has paid a considerable price to win over Iraq's neighboring countries.

In order to win Egypt's support, the then US Secretary of Defense Richard Bruce Cheney personally flew to Cairo and expressed his willingness to cancel Egypt's $70 billion military debt to the United States.

In order to win Turkey's support, the United States tried to persuade Turkey to cut off Iraq's oil pipeline passing through its territory, but this also caused economic losses to Turkey. Bush Sr. personally called Turkish President Özal and agreed to forgive part of Turkey's foreign debt and promised to give it corresponding economic compensation.

The United States had already drawn up the combat plan for this time, and for this purpose it had mobilized a large number of expensive, high-tech weapons and ammunition in the Gulf region.

The military expenditure here is quite staggering.

The US military spent $300 billion just during the mobilization of troops. Although the mobilization of troops by other US allies did not cost that much, it was still a lot.

Now, the US military is planning to create new tactics, focusing on air strikes, with ground forces serving as the role of clearing the battlefield.

This style of play is really too tyrannical.

Let's look at Iraq. It is currently adopting a defensive-oriented combat plan, preparing to inflict heavy casualties on its allies by setting up solid defensive positions.

From the "Desert Storm" operation plan, Li Fuguo can see that this plan has learned lessons from the Vietnam War. The US military is prepared to invest decisive force all at once, rather than gradually increasing troops in a war of attrition like in the Vietnam War. Once the war breaks out, the Allies will launch large-scale offensives simultaneously, rather than piecemeal attacks.

According to the plan, the entire campaign is expected to take 32 days and be divided into four phases.

The first phase is strategic bombing, with 6 days as the benchmark, D+0 to D+6, which means at least 6 days of bombing and a maximum of 12 days. The strategic bombing targets include leadership organs, key production institutions, infrastructure and field troops, 12 categories and more than 300 targets.

The second stage is to seize air superiority in the Kuwait theater, which takes 1 to 6 days.

The third stage is battlefield preparation, which will take 10 to 15 days for the Republican Guard and 14 to 20 days for the Kuwaiti Iraqi Army. It will eventually end when the ground offensive is launched as ordered by the superiors, provided that the overall combat effectiveness of the Kuwaiti Iraqi Army is reduced by 50%.

The fourth phase, which is the ground offensive operation, is expected to take 17 to 32 days.

Meanwhile, the Saudi Royal Palace.

King Fahd is meeting with Egyptian President Mubarak.

"Mubarak, I hope you can convince Saddam to agree to withdraw his troops. If we continue, the multinational forces will launch an attack on Iraq, invade Iraqi soil and overthrow his regime." King Fahd said earnestly, "The Arab world should unite as one, not shed blood!"

King Fahd saw clearly the American calculations. The reason why the Americans encouraged Saddam to attack Kuwait this time was not for a rare opportunity to enter and control the Middle East.

Saddam, that bastard, actually gave this opportunity to the Americans.

Otherwise, according to previous trends, it will probably take back all the American military bases in the Middle East within a few years and they will no longer have any troops stationed in the Middle East.

"If Saddam was willing to withdraw his troops, he would have done so long ago. Now he has made it clear that he wants to go to war with the US-led coalition. He is not willing to return Kuwaiti territory at all," Mubarak said with a wry smile.

Although Egypt and Iraq are relatively far apart, the relationship between Mubarak and Saddam is still very friendly.

The relationship between Egypt and Iraq is also very friendly.

This time when Egypt sent troops, it did not make a fuss about the Suez Canal, which made it easier for Europe and the United States to mobilize troops and transport supplies. This was not because of how good the relationship between Egypt and Europe and the United States was, but because the United States gave too much.

In addition to the $70 billion in foreign debt forgiven by the United States, plus other benefits, it is conservatively estimated that the United States and its allies have spent tens of billions of dollars on Egypt.

Not to mention, the troops sent by Egypt joined the Arab coalition, and major oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait paid to arm these troops, and those weapons and equipment all belonged to Egypt.

It can be said that Egypt won this time.

"Mubarak, we are all Arab brother countries and should make every effort to avoid war. You are Saddam's good friend and brother. You are the most suitable one!" King Fahd said in a deep voice.

King Fahd really does not want the scale of the war to expand. The multinational forces stationed in Saudi Arabia are also going to launch attacks on Kuwait and Iraq from Saudi Arabia. Once the war breaks out, no matter what the outcome, Saudi Arabia will definitely face retaliation from Iraq.

Besides, King Fahd does not want the US ambitions to succeed.

Mubarak frowned.

As the leader of a major country in the Arab world, he naturally understood King Fahd's concerns. He also did not want the Arab world to fight too fiercely. No matter how serious the internal conflicts were, the use of war would ultimately harm the interests of the Arab world.

Iraq represents the most powerful military force in the Arab world, which is a deterrent to Israel and European and American countries.

Once Iraq's powerful military force is severely damaged, it is the power of the Arab world that will be lost.

Without the deterrent of Iraq, Israel might become restless again.

In the fifth Middle East war, Iraq put in a lot of effort, both financially and physically, and even mobilized a large army to intimidate the other side.

Mubarak is also well aware that the current situation is ultimately due to the United States' efforts to expand its interests in the Middle East.

Now that the Americans are here, it’s not easy to get them to leave.

Now unless Iraq withdraws its troops, the United States will allow the war to break out anyway.

The reason why they did not act immediately was, on the one hand, that the weapons, equipment and supplies had not yet been fully in place, and on the other hand, it was the final withdrawal date stipulated in Resolution 678.

This time the United States is on the moral high ground. If it takes action before the final withdrawal deadline, it would violate Resolution 678 and greatly undermine its legitimacy.

(End of this chapter)