HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

SCUD hunting patrol in western Iraq.
on 18 January when seven SCUDs
hit Israeli cities. If continued
attacks brought Israel into the
war, then the Coalition aligned
against Saddam might crumble.
General Schwarzkopf’s insistence
that the SCUD was not a significant
military weapon did little to
placate the Israelis or ease the
pressure on the Bush
Administration. By the end of the
first week of the war, over 30
SCUDs had been launched at targets
in Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The air campaign was not working
fast enough to eradicate the mobile
SCUD launchers.
By the end of January, the diplomatic pressure
on the Bush Administration was such that
General Powell ordered General Schwarzkopf to
use Special Operations Forces to hunt SCUDs
and stop them from being fired at Israel. A
JSOTF, made up of special operations air and
ground units, arrived in Saudi Arabia by 1
February. Operating from a base at Ar Ar in
western Saudi Arabia, the JSOTF had a daunting
mission: stop the SCUD attacks on Israel.
Reconnaissance and surveillance teams would
have to go hundreds of miles inside western Iraq
to destroy the SCUD infrastructure.
The first JSOTF cross-border mission, consisting
of 16 SOF personnel and two vehicles,
occurred on 7 February. It set the pattern for
subsequent cross-border operations. Armed
Blackhawks, called defensive armed penetrators,
accompanied the insertions. Once on the
ground, the teams hid during the day and conducted
reconnaissance at night. These SOF
operations proved to be so successful— especially
the Blackhawk attacks on SCUDs and SCUDrelated
targets—that on 14 February, General
Schwarzkopf approved augmenting the JSOTF
with a reinforced Ranger company and more
160th SOAR (A) helicopters.
By the time the ground war started, the
JSOTF was conducting a wide range of operations.
As many as four SOF teams at a time
were inside Iraq, conducting operations against
the SCUD complexes. These teams called in F-
15E, F-16, and A-10 sorties to strike the targets
they found. On 26 February, SOF attacked a
radio relay site: first, AH-6 attack helicopters
peppered the radio relay compound with minigun
and rocket fire; Rangers then secured the
compound and set charges to destroy the 100-
meter tall tower. The Blackhawks also conducted
“Thunder Runs,” DA missions on SCUDs,
their lines of communication, and other C2 facilities.
The JSOTF also used “Gator”
minefields to limit SCUD mobile
launcher movement. Because of
JSOTF operations, the number of
SCUD launches fell dramatically,
and their accuracy was greatly
impaired.
MH-60 zeroes in on Scud launcher.
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PSYOP and CA Missions
Psychological Operations and
Civil Affairs (CA) units contributed
significantly to the success of the
Gulf War. The PSYOP campaign