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

GROUND-BASED AIR DEFENSE SINCE 1990
Iraqi air defenses were certainly impressive in numbers and
did include some very modern elements. The Iraqi air force was
perhaps the sixth largest air force in the world, consisting of
about 915 aircraft. These included almost 180 high-quality fighters
(Mirages, MiG-25s, MiG-29s, and Su-24s) and more than
300 moderate-quality aircraft (MiG-23s, Su-7s, Su-25s, Tu-16s,
and Tu-22s), with the remainder a mixed bag of older Soviet
equipment, including MiG-17s and MiG-21s. Iraqi aircraft lacked
air-to-air refueling capabilities; so, their aircraft had limited
range compared with coalition aircraft. The difference between
the Iraqi airmen and their coalition foes in terms of training and
experience was even greater than the equipment gap. 3
The Iraqi ground-based air defenses were imposing. This
arsenal consisted of hundreds of surface-to-air missiles and
thousands of antiaircraft guns and included a whole range of
Soviet weapons (130–80 SA–2s, 100–125 SA–3s, 100–125 SA–6s,
20–35 SA–8s, 30–45 SA–9s, 3 SA–13s, and SA–14 launchers)
as well as 55 to 65 French Crotale-Roland units. While most
of the SAMs were older Russian systems (SA-2s and SA-3s),
others were more modern and lethal. 4 In addition, the Iraqis
had 20 to 25 American-built Improved Hawk launchers captured
from the Kuwaitis that were of some, but not a serious,
concern to the coalition. 5
The Iraqi flak assets were both large and impressive. Their
self-propelled inventory consisted of 167 ZSU-23/4, 425 30 mm,
and 60 57 mm guns. The number of towed guns was a staggering
3,185 14.5 mm, 450 20–23 mm, 2,075 35–40 mm, and 363
100 mm and larger. 6 Iraqi defenses were particularly numerous
around the capital and major city of Baghdad. The most detailed
(unclassified) source states that there were 58 SAM launchers
with 552 missiles and almost 1,300 guns defending the city.
While other sources give other numbers, in any case, there was
a lot of firepower. Baghdad was protected by more SAMs and
guns than any eastern European city during the height of the
Cold War, with seven times the number of SAMs as there were
around Hanoi at the peak of the Vietnam War. Gen Charles A.
“Chuck” Horner, the air commander in the Gulf War, later told
a Senate committee that Iraqi defenses were twice as thick as
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