One of the most spellbinding military capabilities used 25 years ago during the Operation Desert Storm was stealth technology. Despite many billions of dollars invested, until that point it had never been proven in actual combat on a large scale. This would change in the opening moments of the conflict as F-117s raided Baghdad with dramatic results.
By January of 1991, the F-117 had come out of total secrecy, but it still was a shadowy weapon system. It had been operating under a veil of the top-secret classification out of Tonopah Test Range Airport through the 1980s, buts its actual effectiveness was still up for debate. The jet’s mission over Panama was less than successful, but that was nothing compared to going after strategic targets deep inside a super-missile engagement zone and anti-aircraft artillery trap over a huge metropolitan city that was literally waiting to be attacked.
On the first night of Desert Storm, the small force of “Black Jets” were given the job of sneaking through Iraq’s border radar defenses, and were to be over Baghdad right as the air war kicked off at 3 a.m. They would use their hardened 2,000lb GBU-27 laser guided bombs to hit telecommunications, power and command and control centers, along with other strategic targets.
In effect, they would cut out the Iraqi military’s eyes, striking at the heart of their ability to see what is going on around their country and their ability to react to it militarily.
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