Surveying Gulf War Airpower

Airpower dominated the Gulf War, but what did it accomplish? How successful were coalition air attacks against specific target sets--from Iraq's nuclear weapons facilities and mobile Scuds to its tanks in the Kuwait theater? The information gathered during the course of a survey commissioned by the Secretary of the Air Force confirms the dominant role of airpower while illustrating that the indirect rather than the direct effects of bombing were perhaps of more importance. Moreover, it is apparent from the results of this survey that inaccuracies are inherent in wartime assessments and that one must contend with incomplete knowledge of the target base and enemy countermeasures. Even in a conflict of short duration when many collection measures are employed, the problems of assessing (not measuring) operational and strategic effectiveness remain as difficult, controversial, and afflicted by subjectivity as they have in wars of the past. Published in Joint Force Quarterly (JFQ), p26-36, Autumn 1993.