HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

Schwarzkopf that he and AFSOCCENT were
100 percent certain of the success of this mission.
The Apache and Pave Low crews quickly
worked out interoperability issues, and they conducted
a full dress rehearsal in late December
with the crews duplicating the formations,
routes, bearings, times, and attack tactics. At
1500 on 16 January 1991, SOCCENT informed
the Apache/Pave Low task force that the mission
was a “go” for that night. H-hour for the start of
the Air War was 0300 on 17 January with the
opening helicopter strike beginning at 0238
hours. The task force consisted of White and
Red teams, with two Pave Lows and four
Apaches assigned to each one.
At 0058 on 17 January, the White Team lifted
off from Al Jouf and headed toward the border,
followed 15 minutes later by the Red Team.
Flying less than 100 feet off the desert at 100
knots, the two teams avoided detection and safely
reached the initial point, seven and a half
miles from the targets, where the Pave Lows
dropped chemical lights and returned to the rendezvous
point north of the border. The Apache
pilots updated their navigational and targeting
systems, flew toward their targets, and within
seconds of the appointed time, opened fire on the
radar sites. All aircraft returned safely. Colonel
Johnson then notified General Schwarzkopf of
the mission’s success. At the same time, combat
control teams installed radar beacons along the
Saudi-Kuwaiti-Iraqi borders to direct allied
attack aircraft to the gaps in the early warning
radar system. SOF had played a crucial role on
the opening night of the Air War.
AFSOCCENT conducted two other DA missions.
The BLU-82 “Daisy Cutters” were 15,000
pound bombs capable of destroying everything in
a three mile radius on the flat desert terrain.
Because of the anti-aircraft threat, AFSOC-
CENT planners determined that the bomb
should be dropped from 16,000 to 21,000 feet.
Accordingly, MC-130E Combat Talons flew five
missions and dropped a total of 11 BLU-82s on
minefields and Iraqi military positions. These
huge bombs cleared wide routes through minefields,
and their enormous blast either killed the
enemy or acted as a potent PSYOP weapon.
AC-130s flew fire missions in support of
ground forces, to attack the SCUD missile sites,
and to engage Iraqi troops. Although these aircraft
belonged to AFSOCCENT, they were under
the OPCON of CENTCOM’s air component,
CENTAF. This arrangement resulted in the AC-
130s being used for inappropriate missions in
medium threat areas. After an AC-130H was
engaged by SAMs while on a SCUD hunting
mission, the AFSOCCENT commander was
given mission oversight responsibility to ensure
these SOF assets were used correctly.
Enormous BLU-82 “Daisy Cutter” bombs had a lethal impact on the Iraqis.
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