Archie to SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-Based Air ...

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OPERATIONS BETWEEN VIETNAM AND THE PERSIAN GULF Figure 69. SA-9. The Soviet SA-9 mounts eight SA-7 missiles on a mobile platform. (Reprinted from USAF.) American Air Strikes in the Middle East, 1983–1986 American strikes in the Middle East a little more than a year later were much less successful. The United States intervened in Lebanon in 1983, and that December the US Navy responded to Syrian firing on American reconnaissance aircraft with an air strike consisting of 12 A-7Es and 16 A-6Es. The naval aviators used tactics proven in Vietnam: they penetrated at 20,000 feet, then descended to 3,000 feet for their attacks. To counter Syrian heat-seeking missiles, they dropped numerous decoy 157
OPERATIONS BETWEEN VIETNAM AND THE PERSIAN GULF flares—but to little effect. The American flyers encountered intense defenses, more than expected, and Soviet SA-7 and SA-9 missiles modified to counter the decoy flares. The Syrians launched 40–50 SAMs, which downed one A-7 and one A-6 and damaged another A-7. While the Navy blamed the losses on changes in Soviet missile sensors, the Israelis criticized American planning, tactics, and experience. Later Syrian fire against US aircraft was met by ship bombardment. 24 This less-than-satisfactory experience jarred the Americans and probably influenced the next US air operation, the April 1986 raid on Libya. One factor driving American planning was to avoid the SA-7s, which meant operating at night. There were, of course, other reasons for night operations, such as achieving maximum surprise, avoiding a major engagement with Libyan air defenses, avoiding casualties to both Soviet advisers and Libyan civilians, and revealing as little American ECM as possible. However, night operations also meant that only two American aircraft could be effectively used: the Air Force’s FB- 111 and the Navy’s A-6. While the A-6s were aboard carriers cruising in the Mediterranean, the FB-111 bombers were stationed in Britain, a round-trip of 5,600 miles (a 14-hour flight). The FB-111s would require numerous aerial refueling because of the distance and air space overflight restrictions. 25 US Airmen launched a large strike force of 32 bombers (18 FB-111s and 14 A-6s) supported by almost 70 aircraft. The mammoth supporting force was required because Libyan air defenses were both large and sophisticated for a third world country. Besides MiGs, the defenses consisted of 100 batteries of SA-2s, SA-3s, and SA-6s (about 30 to 60 batteries were operational), as well as SA-5, SA-8, SA-9, and French Crotale missiles, and perhaps 450 AAA guns. 26 American aircraft successfully penetrated Libyan defenses, suppressing and evading fire from Libyan SAMs and AAA and encountering no aerial opposition. Airmen used low-level and high-speed tactics—the FB-111s at 400 feet and 500 knots, the A-6s as low as 200 feet and 450 knots—to deliver both laserguided and iron bombs. One FB-111 went down, the cause was not publicly known. Although the Libyans received 30 to 45 minutes’ notice from Maltese air controllers that unidentified 158
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Report Documentation Page Form Appr
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Air University Library Cataloging D
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Contents Chapter Page DISCLAIMER .
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CONTENTS Chapter Page 7 BALLISTIC M
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CONTENTS Figure Page 30 George Pred
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CONTENTS Figure Page 70 Blowpipe .
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Foreword Dr. Kenneth Werrell’s hi
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About the Author Dr. Kenneth P. Wer
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PREFACE excluded from the original
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PREFACE always been a factor in air
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Artillery Institute
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ANTIAIRCRAFT DEFENSE THROUGH WORLD
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Figure 7. British 40 mm light antia
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES American air
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES company deliv
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES (discussed la
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES flak rockets
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES 1953, the rat
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES to 1,285 in J
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Figure 40. Ar
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES cember 1958,
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Figure 42. Nike Hercules. The Nike
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Airmen test-f
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Bomarc failed
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Despite knowl
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Figure 47. Ha
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Army decided
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES The third fam
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES with both les
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES that fired ov
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FROM GUNS TO MISSILES Figure 53. Br
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Page 134 and 135: Chapter 3 Airmen versus Guerrillas:
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Page 202 and 203: Chapter 5 Ballistic Missile Defense
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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE psycholog
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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE 6. Army O
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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE April 196
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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE 54. Reiss
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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE 74. GWAPS
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Chapter 6 Ground-Based Air Defense
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GROUND-BASED AIR DEFENSE SINCE 1990
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Chapter 7 Ballistic Missile Defense
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BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE IN THE 19
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Figure 96. Arrow launch.The Arrow i
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Chapter 8 Summary, Trends, and Conc
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SUMMARY, TRENDS, AND CONCLUSIONS ev
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SUMMARY, TRENDS, AND CONCLUSIONS te
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SUMMARY, TRENDS, AND CONCLUSIONS EC
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Index A-1, 128, 227-28, 232 A-4, 12
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INDEX Convair, 98 Crotale, 158 D-da
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INDEX Gulf of Tonkin incident, 115
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INDEX Remagen, 24, 57, 270 RF-4C, 1
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INDEX SAM, 34, 74, 81-82, 84, 87, 9
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Archie to SAM A Short Operational H
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