Timeline
Timeline of events right before and during the air campaign.
Plans and Execution
The airmen in the 9th Air Force, the air portion of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), had a large task ahead of them. They had to defeat the sixth largest air force in the world, cripple Iraqi military infrastructure, and reduce the Iraqi Army's combat effectiveness in Kuwait. The planning for Operation Instant Thunder, the codename for the operation, was taken by the planners in the 9th Air Force, commanded by Lieutenant General Chuck Horner , and with a large amount of assistance from the "Checkmate" air planning team in the Pentagon, commanded by Colonel John Warden.
Planning the Air Campaign
Almost immediately after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Chuck Horner and the planners in the 9th Air Force began to map out plans for an air campaign against Iraq. At Horner's request, the Pentagon designated the "Checkmate" planning team to assist them.
The "Checkmate" planning team began creating a list of targets, selected by the "Five Rings" concept of strategic targeting. The Five-Rings model(Figure 1) was formulated by Colonel Warden to show what targets could be destroyed, and have an effect on enemy operations disproportional to their size; these targets were called "centers of gravity". The five rings model consisted of five concentric rings, each one representing a type of target, such as military/civil leadership or infrastructure. The target in the center ring is the most important, and the importance of the targets decrease as the rings grow outward. This targeting model allowed the Checkmate team to compile a list of targets that, if destroyed, could cripple Iraq. Eventually, Checkmate created a comprehensive, 200 page series of target plans, named Operation Instant Thunder.
The "Checkmate" planning team began creating a list of targets, selected by the "Five Rings" concept of strategic targeting. The Five-Rings model(Figure 1) was formulated by Colonel Warden to show what targets could be destroyed, and have an effect on enemy operations disproportional to their size; these targets were called "centers of gravity". The five rings model consisted of five concentric rings, each one representing a type of target, such as military/civil leadership or infrastructure. The target in the center ring is the most important, and the importance of the targets decrease as the rings grow outward. This targeting model allowed the Checkmate team to compile a list of targets that, if destroyed, could cripple Iraq. Eventually, Checkmate created a comprehensive, 200 page series of target plans, named Operation Instant Thunder.
Figure 1: The "Five Rings" concept of strategic targeting
The Checkmate team then presented their plan to the CENTCOM commander, General Norman Schwarzkopf, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell. Powell then requested them to expand the air plan to destroying the Iraqi Army inside Kuwait, not just crippling the Iraqi infrastructure and rendering them defenseless to air attack. After developing Phase Two and Three, which involved the destruction of Iraqi units inside Kuwait, Checkmate presented the plan to General Horner and the 9th Air Force senior staff. The 9th Air Force then took the plan and added to it. They devoted more air assets to providing close air support to Coalition ground units, which Checkmate primarily ignored. Also, they made the objectives and targets more realistic to the amount of air assets devoted to the use of CENTCOM for Operation Instant Thunder. By October 1990, the air campaign was ready.