Air-Defence For The 21st Century

摘要

After US air power demonstrated its supremacy during Operation Desert Storm in January and February 1991, the world of air-defence was never the same. Over the six weeks of the war, Iraq's integrated air-defence network was systematically rendered ineffective by US air strikes. At the same time the Iraqi Air Force was prevented by US-led combat air patrols from mounting any air attacks on allied ground forces. The conflict also saw the first use of missile defence systems to counter long-range ballistic missiles. Over the next decade the lessons of this conflict were absorbed by air-defence forces around the world, which were already beginning to feel the impact of the ending of the East-West stand-off which followed the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. The most immediate effect was the de-activation of the large ground-based air-defence networks and surface-to-air missile (SAM) belts that had been deployed on either side of the 'Iron Curtain'. Over the next couple of years, swingeing cuts in force structures and new procurement programmes were implemented across NATO and former Warsaw Pact air-defence forces. The rare exception was in the United States where interest in countering ballistic missile threats remained high as a result of the prominence given to the Raytheon MIM-104 Patriot in the duels with Iraqi Scud missiles.