Operation Southern Watch

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Operation Southern Watch
Part of the
F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from the Texas Air National Guard and New Jersey Air National Guard prepare to depart Prince Sultan Air Base on a patrol as part of Operation Southern Watch in 2000.
Date27 August 1992 – 19 March 2003
Location
Southern Iraq
, below the 32nd and 33rd parallels.
Result Inconclusive
Ended with Invasion of Iraq
Belligerents
 United States
 United Kingdom
 France (until 1998)[1]
 Saudi Arabia		 Iraq
Commanders and leaders
United States George H. W. Bush
United States Bill Clinton
United States George W. Bush		 Iraq Saddam Hussein
Strength
5,000[2] Various Iraqi air defense forces
Casualties and losses
19 American airmen killed and 372 Coalition personnel injured in the
RQ-1 Predator shot down[3]
 1
MiG-23 Flogger shot down
10–15 air defense systems destroyed
175+ civilians killed and 500 others wounded[4]

Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003.

Persian Gulf War until the 2003 invasion of Iraq
.

Summary

Operation Southern Watch began on 27 August 1992 with the stated purpose of ensuring Iraqi compliance with

Iraqi no-fly zones or Operation Southern Watch.[6]

Following the end of the

Shi'ite Muslims in Southern Iraq during the remainder of 1991 and into 1992. The U.S. and UK deemed that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was choosing not to comply with the resolution. Military forces from Saudi Arabia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France participated in Operation Southern Watch. The commander of JTF-SWA, an aeronautically rated United States Air Force (USAF) Major General, assisted by an aeronautically designated United States Navy (USN) Rear Admiral, reported directly to the Commander, United States Central Command (USCENTCOM).[6]

Military engagements in Southern Watch occurred with regularity, with Coalition aircraft routinely being shot at by Iraqi air defense forces utilizing surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), although such incidents were usually only reported in the Western press occasionally. An intensification was noted prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, though it was said at the time to just be in response to increasing activity by Iraqi air-defense forces. It is now known that this increased activity occurred during an operation known as Operation Southern Focus.

Military operations

Immediate postwar

At first, Iraqi forces did not attack Coalition aircraft. However, after the

AEW&C aircraft reported an unusual amount of Iraqi Air Force
activity.

On 27 December 1992, a lone Iraqi

MiG-23 Flogger with an AMRAAM missile for the second USAF aerial victory.[8]

On 7 January 1993, Iraq agreed to American, British, and French demands to withdraw their surface-to-air missiles from below the 32nd parallel. However, they did not remove all of them, and

Al-Amarah. Around half the Iraqi sites south of the 32nd parallel were hit.[9] On 29 June, a USAF F-4G Phantom II destroyed an Iraqi radar which had illuminated it, and a month later, two U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowlers fired AGM-88 HARM missiles at more Iraqi radars.[10]

Operations "Vigilant Warrior" and "Desert Strike"

The first nine months of 1994 were quiet, and the USAF began to withdraw forces from the region. In October, Saddam deployed two divisions of

Iraqi Republican Guard troops to the Kuwaiti border after demanding that UN sanctions were to be lifted, precipitating Operation Vigilant Warrior, the rushing of American troops to the Persian Gulf
region. Saddam later withdrew the Iraqi Republican Guard out of the Kuwaiti border due to massive American military buildup. This served to increase Coalition resolve to enforce the no-fly zones.

On 25 June 1996, terrorists bombed the U.S. base at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia which housed personnel at King Abdulaziz Air Base supporting Operation Southern Watch. The attack killed 2 USAF officers, 17 USAF enlisted airmen, and injured an additional 372 people. This event led to a re-alignment of American forces in Saudi Arabia from Khobar Towers to Prince Sultan Air Base and Eskan Village, with both installations located away from population centers.[11]

In August 1996, Iraqi forces invaded the

Operation Desert Strike against targets in southern Iraq. As a result, the no-fly zone was extended north to the 33rd parallel. This marked renewed conflict with Iraqi air defenses and several more radars were destroyed by F-16 fighters.[12]

Operation "Desert Fox"

Main article:
Operation Desert Fox
F-14B Tomcat of VF-102 (foreground) and an EA-6B Prowler of VAQ-137
– over Iraq during January 1998

On 15 December 1998, France suspended participation in the no-fly zones, arguing that they had been maintained for too long and were ineffective. On 16 December, U.S. President

Operation Desert Fox, a four-day air campaign against targets all over Iraq, citing Iraq's failure to comply with UNSC Resolutions. This resulted in an increased level of combat in the no-fly zones which lasted until 2003.[13]

Last years

On 30 December 1998, Iraqi

SA-6
missile sites fired 6 to 8 surface-to-air missiles at American military aircraft. USAF F-16s responded by bombing the sites.

On 5 January 1999, four Iraqi MiG-25s crossed into the southern no-fly zone, sparking aerial combat with two USAF F-15 Eagles and two USN

F-14 Tomcats. The American fighters fired a total of six missiles at the Iraqi aircraft, but the Iraqi aircraft were able to evade all of the missiles and escape back to the north.[13]

On 22 May 2000, it was reported that since execution of Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, there had been 470 separate incidents of AAA or surface-to-air missile fire at Coalition aircraft, while at the same time, Iraqi aircraft had violated the southern no-fly zone 150 times.[14] Over the same time period, American aircraft had attacked Iraqi targets on 73 occasions.[4]

On 16 February 2001, American and British aircraft launched attacks against six targets in southern Iraq, including command centers, radars and communications centers. Only about 40% of the targets were hit. This operation sparked scathing editorials in the foreign press, which reflected growing world skepticism about American-British policy towards Iraq.[15] Incidents of Coalition planes coming under fire, followed by retaliatory air strikes began to happen on a weekly basis.

In late 2001, a Sudanese man with links to

Saudi Police found the empty launcher in the desert in May 2002, and a suspect was arrested in Sudan a month later. He led police to a cache in the desert where a second missile was buried.[16]

In June 2002, American and British forces stepped up attacks on Iraqi air defense targets all over southern Iraq. It was later revealed that this was part of a pre-planned operation called Southern Focus which had the goal of degrading the Iraqi air-defense system in preparation for the planned invasion of Iraq.

From August 1992 to early 2001, Coalition pilots had flown 153,000 sorties over southern Iraq.[4]

From 1992 to 2003, various Coalition naval assets also supported

maritime interdiction operations in the Persian Gulf under the banners of Operation Southern Watch and Operation Northern Watch
.

Basing and withdrawal

Main article: United States withdrawal from Saudi Arabia

Until late February 2003, all

French Air Force aircraft rotationally based in Saudi Arabia had been "defensive" assets to defend Saudi Arabia. They carried no "offensive" air-to-ground ordnance, only air-to-air missiles, 20 mm cannon rounds, and AGM-88 HARM
missiles (only by USAF F-16CJs and USN/USMC EA-6Bs) as defense against Iraqi surface-to-air missiles.

As a result, strike aircraft with offensive ordnance were limited to USAF

EA-6B aircraft aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and USMC AV-8B aircraft aboard U.S. amphibious assault ships
operating in the Persian Gulf.

In addition to USN

UAE, while RAF VC10 K3 refuelers were based at the U.S. Navy's Aviation Support Unit (ASU) at Bahrain International Airport
in Bahrain to support these strike aircraft.

On 27 February 2003, it was announced that the U.S. would be allowed to launch warplanes with offensive ordnance from its bases inside Saudi Arabia to support the Iraq War – and would in turn begin a phased withdrawal from the country.[17]

On 29 April 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that he would be withdrawing U.S. troops from Saudi Arabia, stating that the Iraq War no longer required the support installations within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz had earlier said that the continuing U.S. presence in the kingdom was also putting American lives in danger.

All non-Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft and units at Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) relocated to other bases in the region, mainly Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE. This included the Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC), which had relocated to PSAB from Eskan Village in September 2001, and which now resides at Al Udeid AB.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Boring, War Is (15 August 2016). "Warning – MiG-25!". Archived from the original on 23 October 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  2. ^ "Air Force Historical Support Division > Home" (PDF).
  3. ISBN 1-59114-444-2
  4. ^ a b c John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  5. ^ "A BRIEF LOOK AT JOINT TASK FORCE-SOUTHWEST ASIA". www.airforcehistoryindex.org. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Air Force Historical Support Division > Home".
  7. ^ "f16viper.org". f16viper.org. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  8. ^ "F-16 Aircraft Database: F-16 Airframe Details for 86-0262." F-16.net. Retrieved: 16 May 2008.
  9. ^ John Pike. "Air Strike 13 January 1993 – Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  10. ^ John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  11. ^ John Pike. "Operation Desert Focus". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  12. ^ John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  13. ^ a b John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  14. ^ John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  15. ^ John Pike. "Operation Southern Watch". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  16. ^ "TRACES OF TERROR: THE DRAGNET; Sudanese Says He Fired Missile at U.S. Warplane". The New York Times. 14 June 2002. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  17. ^ Telegraph.co.uk[dead link]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Operation Southern Watch.

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