Before the attack, with intelligence sourced from the DIA and JCS and collaborative help from the operational planning group, allied mission planners spent an unprecedented effort modeling Iraqi command, control, and communications infrastructure which included mapping the adversary’s IAD network and “containing performance parameters, kill probabilities and electromagnetic characteristics of the systems used” (Kopp, 1993). The revolutionary use of American Magnum spy satellites and airborne assets to track Iraqi military action, collect Iraqi electromagnetic emissions, and discern signals of interest from radars and radio frequency activity from noise was critical in the success of Desert Storm (Bird, 2004; Withington, 2022). This information allowed allied forces to establish an Electronic Order of Battle, an identification of the adversary’s strength, command structure, personnel disposition, units, and equipment (Coda, 2023a). Planners discovered a fatal weakness in Hussein's command structure: the hierarchical nature of the Iraqi military limits tactical and operational action if leadership is unable to actively communicate with their subordinates. Furthermore, during Electronic Surveillance, these planners discovered two critical Iraqi strengths/threats to American air superiority: Iraqis’ highly sophisticated Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) and deployed Ground-Based Air Defenses (GBAD) protecting the Iraqi Army and Republican Guard units (Withington, 2022). These systems combined command and control systems that used radar and

other utilities to detect, target, track, and attack offensive air capabilities.

Long term Electronic Intelligence collection allowed for U.S. aligned forces to determine where Iraqi IAD and GBAD systems were located and identify gaps or weakly defended zones in Iraqi’s air defense coverage (Coda, 2023c). Repeat ELINT collection allowed for analysts to intercept Iraqi signals and determine patterns of electromagnetic activity, developing information on Iraqi SA-2 batteries, when Iraqi forces switched off radars, and geographical or temporal gaps in radar coverage that could be exploited. The US Navy’s Operational Intelligence Centre’s Strike Projection Evaluation and Anti-Air Research team (SPEAR) used this information to further build an evolving and comprehensive order-of-battle of the Iraqi IADS/GBAD, identify and locate key nodes in the Iraqi IADS that would significantly degrade Iraqi air defenses, and draft simulation programs that modeled the Iraqi defenses (Withington, 2022). To deny these capabilities, U.S. forces planned to attack two electronic elements of IADS and GBAD, radar and radio communications; without these elements, Iraqi forces lacked situational awareness and thus command and control structures would become degraded or paralyzed (Withington, 2022).

Electronic warfare was crucial to the meaningful degradation of air defenses within a brief time. (Withington, 2022) When the conflict began, Iraqi defenses faced continuous electronic attacks by EF-111As and EA-6Bs, which jammed early warning and GBAD surveillance radars (Withington, 2022). U.S. Air Force EF-111A and USN/USMC EA-6B crews unleashed a massive amount of “noise and deception jamming signal… supported by the EC-130s' jamming of all known communications frequencies… [that] hid multiple waves of inbound strike aircraft and cruise missiles, while paralyzing much of Iraq's communications network” (Kopp, 1993).

Once the adversary’s network was paralyzed by the jamming, individual air and ground defenses would be forced to turn on their radars to target the invading aircraft and therefore expose themselves (Kopp, 1993). To detect and attack hidden surface-to-air missile sites (the IADs and GBADs mentioned earlier), the F-4 Phantom II (Wild Weasel) purposely entered Iraqi

airspace to be targeted by their radar tracking systems and counter-trace radar to its source and destroy surface-to-air missile batteries. The U.S. Air Force utilized airborne, kinetic attacks on radars with anti-radiation missiles to destroy key nodes and targets and remove radar systems, to expand gaps that the Wild Weasels exploited to enter the area and diminish Hussein’s command and control. Iraqi SAM missile sites would be primarily attacked by AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles (HARM) that used a specialized targeting system that follows radar signals. This attack rapidly whittled down Iraqi SAM sites and early warning radar, destroying them, or forcing them to be voluntarily shut off to avoid an attack (Team Mighty, 2022). The joint fire attacks served a dual purpose: to keep allied aircrafts safe against counter threats and to

destroy Iraq’s air defenses (Coda, 2023c).