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

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GROUND-BASED AIR DEFENSE SINCE 1990<br />

Figure 93. BQM-74 drone. The <strong>Air</strong>men used the BQM-74 drone <strong>to</strong> deceive<br />

enemy radars as well as force them <strong>to</strong> reveal their positions <strong>to</strong> more<br />

active defensive measures. (Reprinted from http://www.multipull.com/<br />

twascasefile/bqm74e.gif.)<br />

worked well, with the EA-6B and EF-111 receiving praise as<br />

“highly effective.” 22<br />

The coalition also employed 60 F-4G Wild Weasels whose<br />

airframes and basic mission had first seen action in the Vietnam<br />

War. They carried electronic equipment that enabled them<br />

<strong>to</strong> detect, identify, and locate radar signals and then attack the<br />

radars with homing air-<strong>to</strong>-ground missiles. According <strong>to</strong> the <strong>Air</strong><br />

Force’s Gulf War <strong>Air</strong> Power Survey, the F-4G was the weapon<br />

<strong>of</strong> choice for combating the Iraqi radars. One reason was that<br />

it was the only US <strong>Air</strong> Force aircraft that could program the<br />

HARM (high-speed antiradiation missile) in flight as <strong>to</strong> what<br />

targets not <strong>to</strong> hit, making them “smart weapons.” The Weasels<br />

flew both au<strong>to</strong>nomous and support missions, in all 2,700 sorties<br />

during the war with one combat loss. 23<br />

225

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