The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 737 Powerful Anti-aircraft Firepower (asking for monthly tickets at the end of the month)
Baghdad's air defense force is definitely the most powerful in the whole of Iraq.

The anti-aircraft firepower was firing artillery shells, anti-aircraft machine gun bullets and anti-aircraft missiles intensively into the air.

In the past, these anti-aircraft firepower caused the Persians a lot of trouble. Later, the Persians regarded Baghdad as an air restricted area and never launched an air strike on Baghdad again. Saddam and others could sleep well in Baghdad.

But tonight, Baghdad's air defenses were put to the test.

These anti-aircraft firepower were acquired by Saddam at a great cost.

Saddam spent a lot of effort to build the entire air defense network.

The air defense firepower was very powerful and intercepted many missiles and aircraft.

But there is still no way to intercept all missiles and aircraft.

An F117 fighter jet was seen attacking the target "Iraqi Defense Building".

The Iraqi Defense Building has a telephone network hub connected to the entire Iraq and is the most important command center of the Iraqi army.

Once the command system is destroyed, the entire Iraqi army's command system will be paralyzed.

Without the command system, orders from the Iraqi top brass will not be passed down to all Iraqi troops in a timely manner.

Similarly, all situations encountered by the army cannot be reported to superiors in the first place.

When the distance was almost right, the pilot of the F117 fighter jet pressed the bomb release button, and two 907kg laser-guided bombs flew out and headed towards the defense building.

The cockpit instruments kept sounding alarms, the pilot pulled the joystick, and the plane quickly ascended.

Baghdad’s air defense firepower is too fierce. Up to now, half of the F117 fighters have been shot down, and now this F117 fighter has been locked.

"boom!"

An anti-aircraft missile slammed into the fighter plane with great speed, and the entire fighter plane instantly turned into a ball of sparks.

"Boom~Boom~~"

But soon, two machine-guided bombs exploded.

The flames produced by the violent explosion illuminated a large area around it.

The light even illuminated Baghdad for a moment.

“Boom~~Boom~~Boom~~”

Explosions continued to sound in Baghdad.

The violent explosions caused Baghdad to continue burning.

"Wooo~~" The shrill sound of the air defense alarm resounded throughout Baghdad.

Fire trucks and others are putting out fires everywhere.

Tonight is a sleepless night for Baghdad, and also a great tragedy.

"Boom! Boom! Boom~~~"

The rapid and dull anti-aircraft machine guns continued to fire into the dark sky, and the sound of shells leaving the guns resounded throughout the night sky of Baghdad.

"Da da da~~~"

The sound of anti-aircraft machine guns was also continuous, and the bullets fired by the anti-aircraft machine guns left a trail of bullet marks in the night sky.

When anti-aircraft fire from all over was opened, Baghdad was instantly illuminated by various anti-aircraft fire from the ground.

The system with the highest hit rate is the Aegis air defense missile system, followed by the SAM missile system, and then the Type 80 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun.

The same strategic bombing also took place in Kuwait.

This night was destined to be a sleepless night.

Kuwait doesn't have such powerful anti-aircraft firepower, but then again, there are no civilians in Kuwait right now.

Rashid had already deployed his troops.

During the night, anti-aircraft fire continued to pour down, intercepting missiles and aircraft.

There were also Iraqi planes, under the control of pilots, engaging in air battles with coalition aircraft in the air.

There was fighting all over Iraq, all over Kuwait.

The battle took place not between ground troops but in the air, a tactic never before seen.

In the past, air strikes were carried out in coordination with ground forces, and there had never been a separate air strike tactic.

This is also a tactic that emerged with the development of missiles.

Either defend against missiles and aircraft, or be bombed.

Abnormally cruel.

The coalition forces did not know how many missiles were launched or how many planes were launched.

I don’t know how many war correspondents spread this cruel side of the time to all parts of the world, allowing everyone to feel the brutality of war.

Air Force Command.

When only three F117 fighters returned, the Air Force Commander felt like he was struck by lightning after receiving the news.

lost heavily!

The stealth attack aircraft, which was the trump card and the most relied upon to shoot down the eyes and ears of the Iraqi army and was highly expected, suffered heavy losses while performing its mission early this morning.

Out of 46 F117 fighter jets, only 3 returned.

How is this played?
"Who can tell me what exactly happened?" The Air Force Commander felt like he was going crazy.

The loss of 43 F117 fighter jets meant that the loss of these fighter jets alone exceeded $40 billion in one night.

Are the Iraqis’ air defense capabilities so strong?

To be honest, the Air Force Commander had previously believed that even the Soviet Union’s air defense firepower would be unable to do anything to the F117 fighter.

Even if the F117 fighter jets went to Moscow, there would not be such a big loss.

And now, just the air strike on Baghdad has caused such great losses.

"Let the intelligence department find out what's going on!" the Air Force Commander roared.

Such a huge loss made even he feel the pain.

美国总共也就只有59架F117战斗机，为了打赢海湾战争，专门调集了46架F117战斗机来到中东，可是现在竟然就损失了43架F117战斗机。

If the matter is not investigated thoroughly, he might be fired or even sent back to the United States to be tried in a military court.

At the same time, Schwarzkopf, the commander-in-chief, also received the news.

In his heart, Schwarzkopf cursed CIA Director William Webster. These were things that the CIA should have made clear before the war.

Well, it turned out that Iraq's air defenses were much more powerful than the intelligence had shown.

This is the CIA's failure.

However, despite this, Schwarzkopf had no intention of changing the battle plan.

If these important targets are not destroyed and Iraq is not deprived of its support capabilities and a large amount of combat power through air strikes, then the ground forces participating in the war will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

After all, Iraq has a strong army with thousands of tanks and armored vehicles. It is the third most powerful military country in the world. Moreover, Iraq's army has experienced the baptism of the Iran-Iraq War and its combat effectiveness is still very strong.

If they don't fight this way and attack directly with ground troops, then the 1.5 body bags and 1.8 beds prepared by the US military may not be enough.

The bottom line given to him by his superiors was that at most 1.5 American soldiers would be killed in combat and no more than 2.5 would be injured.

If he exceeds this bottom line, he will definitely suffer after the war.

This is why the operational plan initially called for strategic bombing, rather than air strikes in coordination with ground forces to launch an offensive.

The purpose is to minimize the casualties of American troops.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Schwarzkopf would not easily change the "Desert Storm" combat plan.

Last night's loss was indeed huge, but not enough to change Schwarzkopf's mind.

As long as the follow-up goes smoothly, Schwarzkopf can accept these losses.

And ultimately, this is the fault of the intelligence department. If we are to hold someone accountable, it shouldn't be just them, the intelligence department should also be held accountable.

(End of this chapter)