Desert Storm - The Air War, Day 1 - Animated

17th January 1991 - Operation Desert Storm begins. The largest military alliance in 50 years moves to liberate Kuwait, beginning with a massive "Shock and Awe" air assault on Iraq on Day 1. 2775 sorties are conducted against strategic Iraqi targets in the first 24 hours of the Air War.

Special thanks to my Patreons: Alex Pickworth, imfromthe808, John Smaha, omega21, Casual Observer, Damien Dec, Escipio Sumski, Henry W, John Hesketh, Orde, Riley Matthews, Robby Gottesman, Ryan Sandercock, The Man They Call Asher, Zac W, Dave, Chris Roybal, Kelson Ball

[TheOperationsRoom]

This was a VERY big effort. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed producing this for you. It would be awesome if you'd all Like and leave a comment, it would really help get this video out there!

[mpkp]

see this is the reason that regular TV is losing customers. This is purely amazing content

[bplup]

Imagine sipping your coffee, setting it down, grabbing your binoculars and looking out the window to see four apaches just hovering in the distance pointed at you.

[Slenderman]

An absolute masterpiece of a military operation. Gaining air superiority not in days but in hours is seriously impressive. Fantastic video

[nicksiegfried]

The whole fact that they were watching the news in the war room so they could tell when the F-117s hit their targets is insane to me

[RadioactiveSherbet]

Sending B52s from the continental US is like the ultimate flex.

[aquatone]

The logistics and timing of all of this are incredibly impressive.

[MasterClassComments]

I had absolutely NO idea the air-side of desert storm was this immense. And each little aircraft in the video respresented the ACTUAL amount of aircraft flying, right?? Good god man.

[smileyface]

Desert Storm wasn’t a military operation, it was art. it was an absolute masterpiece of strategy, logistics and coordination.

[cameroncall]

General: "Was the strike successful?"
Aide: *turns on CNN*
CNN: *live feed gets cut*
General: "Splendid."

[humanoidalistic]

I don't think any documentary series has offered a better perspective on the true scale of modern war. Can't wait for further episodes.

[jseemanmusic]

It is immediately apparent that this is an exceptionally good presentation: 1) a calm, precise voice replaces the common and unnecessary over-dramatizations; 2) new battle information is presented so watchers of this kind of content are learning new things; 3) an excellent combination of technical details and historic events is presented; 4) somebody put a WHOLE LOT of work into an excellent dynamic graphic of the air sorties. Even all of the aircraft icons are accurate. One-word response: MORE

[rickybojangles]

Desert storm is a perfect example of 2 things, 1, technological superiority. 2, intense planning. These 2 factors allowed what was basically a complete clusterfuck to absolutely decimate Iraq in a matter of hours and days. Immensely impressive warfare.

[oiytdwugho]

"arrive 30 seconds early"

this whole video made me realize just how precise the timing is, jeeez

[paultrigger]

This war was so fast that many forget how immense it was.

[dangilliland]

As a vet who spent 7 months floating in the Persian gulf and red sea, I can tell you that we trained, trained and trained some more. Every day was crazy with man overboard drills and general quarters, as well as doing your job 16 to 20 hours a day. We trained with all countries and everyone on sea or shore worked long and hard. Thanks to everyone who helped make it a total success

[dennissvitak]

I was an aviation meteorologist, assigned to Lt. General Hoerner's battle staff. My team and I provided operational weather support for strike missions. Modern sensors need much more than simple cloud base/visibility forecasts. We had to get involved, directly, with the flight planners to determine what weapon systems were best suited for each mission. I had a computer program, an Mark IV Tactical Decision Aid (TDA), which incorporated target area data. SOME of this data was latitude, longitude, elevation, type of target, bridge, tank, building etc., sun angle, moon angle, percent illumination, and target area background...32 different types, dirt, sand, trees, etc. After the target characteristics were uploaded, THEN I applied the weather. Temp, dewpoint, winds, pressure, precipitation, visibility, clouds, all kinds of stuff. The third piece of the puzzle was one of the 25 different sensor types coalition forces had. Some were better than others. The end result was two numbers, TAL, and TLR. TAL is "Target acquisition range", which was just that. When can the sensor detect the target. TLR was "Target lock-on range." So...a massive bridge over water, during the day, with no clouds, can be detected and locked onto 20 miles away. You can use a standoff weapon. A tank, in camo, at night, with the engines off, in trees, can't be locked onto until you are VERY close. Different targets needed different approaches. Desert Storm was the FIRST war where the weather guy became part of the decision making process. I loved my job..and was pretty good at it.

[drksideofthewal]

I think Russia’s logistics foulup in Ukraine underscores how impressive this operation was, from a strategic standpoint.

[adoringanemone]

My dad served on USS Constellation during this conflict, he saw A-6s and F-14s take off the flight deck and fly off to strike targets, and it changed his views of war once he saw them come back on deck without their bombs and missiles.

[spacemanjoe]

“I’m Saddam Hussein, and this is jackass.”