This is the U.S. military in 1991, so powerful that countries around the world can't reach it. Crossing the ocean directly wiped out the regional powers, allowing the whole world to see what is called information warfare, and the Iraqi army was completely annihilated with a loss of less than 300 people.
In 1991, it was definitely the highlight of the US military, when the United States launched an unprecedented war targeting Iraq in the Middle East. This war allowed the whole world to witness the military strength and technological superiority of the United States, and also plunged Iraq into deep disaster and despair.
Iraq was once a wealthy country with abundant oil resources and a strong army. Under Saddam's leadership, Iraq tried to unify the Arab world, and then went to war with Iran and then Kuwait. But these wars have also drained Iraq's financial and material resources, plunging it into an economic crisis. To get out of this predicament, Saddam decided to annex Kuwait and seize its oil and wealth. Under the guise of threatening world peace and stability with Saddam's ambitions, this move has aroused strong opposition from the United States and other Western countries, but in fact it is afraid that Iraq will unify the Middle East and threaten the US oil system.
The United States took the lead in forming a multinational coalition of 35 countries and presented a plan for military action against Iraq to the UN Security Council. The United States claims that their purpose is to liberate Kuwait, protect human rights, and uphold international law.
But in fact, they also have their own selfish interests, they want to control the oil in the Middle East, weaken Saddam's power, and demonstrate their military hegemony. The United States gave Saddam Hussein an ultimatum to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991, or face an attack by coalition forces. Saddam Hussein rejected the U.S. demand and insisted on keeping Kuwait.
At that time, Iraq's military strength was definitely the top existence in the Middle East, and Iraq was mountainous, and from a military point of view, it was absolutely easy to defend and difficult to attack. A number of advantageous factors gave Salam the confidence to frame him. Unexpectedly, the new type of warfare is definitely a dimensionality reduction blow for Iraq.
Saddam's confidence was based on misjudgment of the United States and overconfidence in himself. He did not realize that the United States was ready for a completely new war, a war with information technology at its core.
The United States has used its advanced satellites, radars, electronic warfare, and precision guidance** to conduct all-round reconnaissance, jamming, strikes, and destruction of Iraq.
The U.S. strategy is to first paralyze Iraq's command, communications, air defense, and infrastructure with air strikes, and then, supplemented by ground forces, break through Iraq's defensive lines, advance to Baghdad, and force Saddam to surrender.
In the early hours of January 17, 1991, the United States launched an air raid codenamed Desert Storm, carrying out a large-scale bombing campaign against Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, and other important targets.
The United States used high technology such as fighter planes, cruise missiles, and laser-guided bombs, and basically paralyzed all of Iraq's airing systems after a bombing. Fighter planes and anti-aircraft missiles were blind and unable to play their role at all because they had lost the assistance of radar, and in the first phase of the war, Iraq lost almost all its right to make accusations and could only let US planes and missiles wreak havoc in the air. The U.S. airstrikes lasted 38 days and destroyed most of Iraq's military and industrial facilities, causing massive damage to Iraq's military and property.
After the end of the air strikes, the United States began a ground offensive operation, codenamed Desert Sabre, which carried out a total annihilation of Iraq's army. The U.S. ground forces consist of 500,000 men and are equipped with 2,300 tanks, 1,600 armored vehicles, 1,500 aircraft, and six aircraft carrier battle groups. U.S. ground forces were divided into two directions, one from Saudi Arabia and advancing north along the coastline of the Persian Gulf to liberate Kuwait;
The other, starting from the west of Saudi Arabia, went west to bypass the main Iraqi defenses, cut off Iraq's retreat from the rear, and encircled Baghdad.
The US ground forces took advantage of their superior mobility and firepower to quickly break through Iraq's positions and divide, encircle, and annihilate Iraq's troops. It took U.S. ground forces only four days to complete the complete clearance of Iraq, much faster than the German blitzkrieg of Poland during World War II.
Under the powerful offensive of the United States, the army and ** in Iraq completely collapsed. The soldiers lost the will to fight, Saddam's proud Republican Guard lost control, and his orders were simply not carried out.
This is the US military in 1991, and they used an information war to tell the world that a new era of war has come, and that science and technology and electronic warfare are the mainstream of future warfare.
After the war, China also reflected on the direction of military construction and development, quickened the pace of military reform and modernization, and started technological research and development in the fields of aerospace, missiles, and information, so that it would no longer be controlled by others in future wars and that its country and people would no longer suffer from war.