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

BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE
casualties. During the war, the Iraqis launched about 91 Scuds:
three at Bahrain, 40 at Israel, and 48 at Saudi Arabia. 62 Despite
considerable coalition and Israeli concerns, the Iraqis did not
employ chemical warheads, and casualties were far lower than
estimated. The Israelis suffered only two direct deaths from the
Scuds and another 11 indirectly. In addition, probably 12 Saudis
were killed and 121 were wounded. 63
There were also American casualties. On 26 February, a Scud
hit a Dhahran warehouse being used as a billet by about 127
American troops, killing 28 and wounding 97 others (fig. 88).
This one Scud accounted for 21 percent of the US personnel
killed during the war and 40 percent of those wounded. 64 A
number of factors explain this incident. Apparently, one Patriot
battery was shut down for maintenance, and another had cumulative
computer timing problems. Another factor was just plain
bad luck. This Scud not only hit the warehouse, but unlike so
many other Iraqi missiles, this one remained intact, and the
Figure 88. Scud hit on barracks. The coalition suffered amazingly low
casualties in the first Gulf War. The worst single incident was a Scud
hit on an American barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 28
Americans and wounded another 97. (Reprinted from Defense Visual Information
Center.)
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