Lessons of the Gulf War

The Gulf War set the pattern of recent combat

By Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus

The Gulf War set the pattern for many subsequent military encounters waged by Western countries, the overwhelming dependence upon air power for example.

It also saw the widespread use of space-based systems - satellites providing a huge stream of data on what was happening on the ground.

But are there any military lessons of the war a decade on?

While waged by a coalition of Western and Arab countries, the Gulf War nonetheless appears in retrospect like a huge show-case for the US military.

A demonstration of its extraordinary technical capabilities as the one remaining superpower.

Arcade video game

Successful weapons like the Tomahawk cruise missile, along with much less successful ones like the early versions of the Patriot anti-missile system, were all used in combat for the first time.

I suppose the most striking image of the war is that of the television imagery from the nose of missiles as they plunge towards their targets.

Missiles seeking out a window here or a ventilation shaft there, all the horrors of high-tech warfare reduced to something akin to an arcade video game.

In some ways the Gulf War set the pattern of recent combat - at least by Western armies.

It was the empasis upon retribution from afar - the use of air power - organised and deployed in ways which only modern intelligence gathering and command systems can achieve.

Western forces had only few casualties during the Gulf War

Iraqi threats

The war saw the widespread use of long-range ballistic missiles by Iraq as well as fears that President Saddam Hussein might resort to chemical weapons.

Two threats that have come to dominate US thinking on defence in the post Cold war world.

The fact that western forces had so few casualties has also perhaps fundamentally influenced the way Western societies think about warfare.

It should be remembered though that military experts feared significant losses once the ground fighting got under way.

Subsequent military campaigns, notably in the Balkans, have been influenced by the Gulf experience.

Air power again seems to have evicted Serbian forces from Kosovo.

Nonetheless the limitations of military power should also be noted. Saddam Hussein remains Iraq's leader and the old order in Belgrade was removed by popular unrest, not by bombs.