！ Please don't subscribe! The automatic subscription will not be consumed again after modification! Rise! Dot! Middle! Wen! Net genuine serialization!

Anti-theft at 2 p.m. and modification at 8 a.m. The pen %fun %pavilion www.biquge.info display the word anti-theft! Unofficial chapters! Please refresh the catalog.

………………………………………………………………

The Iraq War broke out at 10:34 a.m. (Beijing time) on March 20, 2003. This is a new style of modern warfare in the 21st century. At 9 a.m. (Beijing time) on 2 May, US President George W. Bush officially announced the end of the Iraq War aboard the USS Lincoln. The entire war lasted a total of 44 days. In fact, after the US military captured Tikrit, the hometown of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, on April 14, the US military's large-scale military operation basically ended. This war is the second war that the United States has waged against Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. In this war, in addition to the information conditions, air power played a leading role, and air strikes became the main shock force of the war. Through the smoke of gunpowder on the battlefield, people can see several characteristics of the combat use of air power by the US-British coalition forces.

More than 1,100 warplanes took part in the battle and dropped more than 27,000 bombs

By 20 March 2003, the US military had assembled about 54,000 air forces and about 1,145 aircraft of various types, including 756 combat planes such as fighters, bombers, attack planes, and special operations planes, more than 140 combat support planes such as early warning, reconnaissance, command, and electronic warfare, and 169 logistical support planes such as refueling and transportation. In addition, the British Air Force has deployed about 8,000 troops and about 100 aircraft of various types in the area around Iraq. The Air Force Command of the Central Headquarters of the US Army is stationed at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and its commander is Air Force Lieutenant General Morris, which is responsible for the unified command of the combat operations of all US and British air forces in the theater. U.S. and British air forces are stationed at 18 bases in 12 countries.

The US Navy has deployed five aircraft carrier battle groups, "Lincoln," "Constellation," "Kitty Hawk," "Roosevelt," and "Truman," with a total of 380 aircraft of various types. The US Marine Corps deployed a total of 98 aircraft of various types in the theater. As of 14 April, the US-British coalition had dispatched 41,780 sorties to carry out large-scale air strikes on thousands of Iraqi targets, with an average of 1,600 sorties per day and a maximum of 2,000 sorties. The US-British coalition dropped 27,250 bombs of various types on the battlefield in Iraq, including 18,275 precision-guided bombs and more than 750 cruise missiles. When the US and British air forces carried out air strikes against Iraq, they dropped cluster bombs, electromagnetic pulse bombs, high-power airburst bombs, and used depleted uranium bombs, mainly hitting the Iraqi leaders' residences, command organs, air defense systems, command, control, and communications systems, Republican Guard camps, and Iraqi defensive positions in some strategic points.

From "decapitation" to ground support operations

During the 44-day Iraq War, the air power of the US-British coalition carried out four major combat operations.

"Decapitation" combat operations. The US-British coalition was unconventional and avoided the large-scale bombing that seized air supremacy in the early days of the war. In the first round of air strikes, which began at 10:34 a.m. on 20 March, only 45 cruise missiles were launched, two F-117 stealth fighters were dispatched, and four precision-guided munitions were dropped. Although this move did not achieve the operational goal, it is likely that the US military's tactics of targeting the opponent's supreme leader and command organ at the beginning of the war will continue to be applied in future wars.

"Shock and awe" combat operations. On 22 March, the US and British air forces suddenly began to carry out heavy air strikes on Iraq. The U.S. Department of Defense said the "decisive air strike" had begun, and named the air strike "Operation Shock and Deterrence." The main area of the bombardment was Baghdad. During the "shock and deterrence operation," the US military dispatched heavy bombers and fighters of various types from more than 30 bases and five aircraft carriers to carry out "saturation bombing" on Saddam's official residence, command center, major government departments, and other targets. Within 24 hours, the US military flew 2,000 sorties and launched more than 500 Tomahawk cruise missiles. The purpose of the "deterrence operation" is to attempt to "inflict the deterrent effect of immediately losing the ability to resist" the whole of Iraq through a sudden large-scale bombing after the "decapitation operation" has failed, and to break the will of the Iraqi military and people to resist, so as to achieve the goal of achieving a quick victory in the early stage of the war.

"Cut off the head of the snake" combat operation. The main purpose of this combat operation was to destroy Iraq's communications and command system through precision bombing and completely cut off Saddam's connection with the army. On March 28, U.S. Air Force B-2 stealth bombers dropped a 2.2-ton GBU-28 ground-penetrating bomb known as a "bunker smasher" on the Iraqi National Communications Center building. On 30 March, the Baghdad Post and Telecommunications Building and a communications centre were destroyed. Because the US military regarded the Ba'ath Party as an important channel for Saddam Hussein to exercise military command, US military planes bombed the headquarters of the Arab Baath Socialist Party on 30 March. In addition, as part of the "Cut Off the Smugglers" campaign, the United States targeted Iraqi television transmitters. On 26 March, the U.S. military fired an electromagnetic pulse bomb at Baghdad television, which cut off the television signal.

Support ground combat operations. The biggest difference between the Iraq War and the previous wars was that ground operations began on the second day of the war. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, the air forces of the United States and Britain regarded supporting ground operations as an important combat mission. It was under the cover and support of air power that the US ground forces were able to rapidly advance to Baghdad, and on 22 March, the third day after the start of the war, they advanced to the line of Najaf and Nasiriyah south of Baghdad. However, after that, the US military encountered the resistance of the Iraqi army and formed a confrontation situation with the Iraqi army in Karbala, Najaf, Nasiriyah, Kut, and other places. Under these circumstances, the US air forces quickly adjusted their strategy, and from 25 March, the focus of air strikes shifted to the Iraqi ground forces, especially the Iraqi Republican Guard, while providing close air support for the combat operations of the US and British ground forces. Beginning on 29 March, 80 percent of the bombing by US air power was directed at the positions of the three Republican Guard divisions around Baghdad, and 60 percent of the bombing was mainly used to hit the positions of the Republican Guard Medina Division in the southern suburbs of Baghdad. With the support of air power, the US ground forces took Baghdad International Airport and advanced to the square in the center of Baghdad.

The Iraqi Air Force is armed with more than 370 aircraft. The U.S. and British air forces were originally preparing to engage in an air battle with the Iraqi Air Force, and the British Royal Air Force was assigned to be responsible for operations against the Iraqi Air Force. However, since the start of the war, the Iraqi Air Force has always adopted a strategy of avoiding war, and all its combat planes have been hidden in the depths. The British Royal Air Force, which has been on standby, has also been involved in close air support operations for U.S.-British ground operations since March 31.

The air combat phase was shortened, and new tactics were widely used

Looking at the current Iraq war, it can be seen that the air power of the US-British coalition forces mainly showed the following characteristics in terms of combat use. Gain air supremacy in advance. In several high-tech local wars that have occurred in recent years, the US military and its allies have had an air campaign phase of seizing air supremacy in order to seize the initiative on the battlefield. At this stage, the main task is to strike at the enemy's radar, missile, antiaircraft artillery positions, and other air defense facilities to provide air security for future combat operations. In the first Gulf War in 1991, the phase of air supremacy by the US-led multinational forces lasted seven days. In the 1999 Kosovo War, it took three days for US-led NATO to seize air supremacy. In the 2001 war in Afghanistan, it took seven days for the U.S. military to seize air supremacy. However, in the current Iraq war, the US-British coalition did not have an independent stage of seizing air supremacy. This is mainly due to the fact that the US-British coalition forces had already grasped air supremacy in the Iraqi theater through preliminary combat operations in the "no-fly zone" long before the war. According to the US military, the US-British coalition forces had air supremacy over 95 percent of Iraq's territory before the war, and this laid the foundation for air raids and ground operations after the war. Multi-directional, multi-wave, high-precision continuous assault. During the Iraq War, the US-British coalition forces used almost all bombers and fighter planes to carry out high-intensity air assaults on important targets in Baghdad and Mosul and Kirkuk in a multi-directional and multi-wave series of assaults. The number of forward deployments, long-range raids, and precision strike capabilities of the three types of heavy bombers currently in service in the US Air Force, including the B-1, B-2, and B-52, have surpassed those of previous wars, and in particular, the B-2 stealth bombers have taken off from the mainland many times and flown more than 25,000 kilometers in one combat operation, providing air support for US ground operations. Although the average number of sorties made by US-British allied planes per day was less than that of the first Gulf War, the accuracy and power of strikes far exceeded those of previous wars. According to statistics, in the 1991 Gulf War, precision-guided bombs accounted for only 8% of all munitions dropped by the US military; In the 1999 Kosovo War, 35 percent of the U.S. military used precision-guided bombs; In the war in Afghanistan, it rose to 56%. But in this war, the proportion of precision-guided bombs exceeded 67%. The U.S. military claims that in the Iraq War, the U.S. military's air strike capability was six times higher than during the Gulf War. 6 cars on top of one plane! (To be continued.) )