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

GROUND-BASED AIR DEFENSE SINCE 1990
Coalition efforts against Iraqi ground defenses were effective.
The combination of destructive measures, the antiradiation
missiles along with attacks on the KARI system, and jamming
overwhelmed the Iraqi air defenders. Offensive air power was
effective because the defenses could not enact a serious cost
on the attackers. Both aggregate aircraft losses and rate of
losses were dramatically below those seen in previous wars
and those anticipated and, perhaps most remarkedly, at a lower
rate than Air Force training.
The coalition lost 38 aircraft along with another 48 due to
damage suffered in combat. The coalition attributed 71 percent
of these incidents to infrared SAMs and AAA, 16 percent to
radar-guided SAMs, and 13 percent to MiGs (one) and unknown
causes (fig. 94). On just over 4,800 combat sorties, the non-
American forces lost 11 aircraft: two to antiaircraft artillery,
Figure 94. Damaged A-10. Of the 38 coalition air forces lost in combat,
only one fell to enemy aircraft. AAA also damaged 24, IR SAMs 15,
and radar-guided SAMs four aircraft, including this A-10, one of 13
Warthogs damaged. (Reprinted from Defense Visual Information Center.)
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