Coalition Aircraft vs Iraqi SAMs

<p><b>A detailed study of how Operation <i>Desert Storm</i> saw Coalition forces respond to Iraq’s surface-to-air missile defences with ground-breaking combat aircraft technology.</b><br><br>Developed in the wake of the USA’s ill-prepared entry into the Vietnam War, aircraft carrying electronic counter-measures equipment and anti-radar missiles were crucial to the success of Operation <i>Desert Storm </i>during the First Gulf War. Iraq’s air defence systems were elaborate and costly, but also well understood by Coalition planners, and its surface-to-air missile batteries struggled in the face of radar jamming, pyrotechnic deflection of infrared guidance and extraordinarily effective destruction of enemy air defences weapons like the AGM-88 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile. <br><br>Written by aviation expert Peter E Davies, this fascinating study uses newly commissioned artwork to enhance its retelling of how aircraft and weapons, as well as crew training and command-and-control structures, proved decisive in the outcome of <i>Desert Storm </i>in 1991. Archive photos capture examples of the principal weapons involved, while first-hand accounts from Coalition aircrew and planners convey the realities of a conflict in which cutting-edge technology played an inestimable role.</p>