Package Q Strike

The Package Q Airstrike was the largest airstrike of the Gulf War and the largest strike of F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft in military history. Many aircraft, including the F-117 Nighthawk, were used to attack targets in Baghdad, which was the most heavily defended area of Iraq. The same target was hit several times by F-117s, and the last package consisted of seventeen F-111F Aardvarks on the 19th day of the war.

Package Q Airstrike
Part of the Gulf War

Remains of F-16C 87-0257 as found by U.S. Marines in Iraq during Desert Storm. The canopy was recovered by U.S. forces in the 2003 invasion.
Date19 January 1991
Location
Baghdad, Iraq
Result Iraqi victory
U.S. tactics revised
Belligerents
 United States  Iraq
Commanders and leaders
Norman Schwarzkopf
Buster Glosson		 Saddam Hussein
Muzahim Hassan
Units involved
Ninth Air Force Iraqi Air Force
Strength
56 F-16s
6 F-4s
14 F-15Cs
2 EF-111s
Total:
78 aircraft		 Thousands of SAMs & AAA guns
25 MiG-23s
20 MiG-25s
10 MiG-29s
Total:
55 aircraft
Casualties and losses
2 pilots captured
2 F-16s shot down		 Hundreds of military & civilian casualties
Serious damage done to air defenses
Critical oil refinery damage

The main target of the strike was the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center near Baghdad, which was the site of the Osirak Nuclear Reactor that was attacked by the Iranian Air Force in 1980 and again by the Israeli Air Force in 1981, along with many other military sites across the city. Two aircraft were shot down, with two pilots becoming POWs. The mission goal was not met, with the reactors of the research facility only slightly damaged, although many of the secondary targets were hit. F-117 aircraft re-attacked the facility later, causing significant damage.

The attack was the largest of the war and represented an attempt to strike Iraqi defenses a serious blow. The raid illustrated how a number of small incidents or stresses, none by themselves necessarily serious, could contribute to an unsatisfactory outcome, which eventually convinced United States Air Force (USAF) commanders to call off further airstrikes against downtown Baghdad by conventional (non-stealth) aircraft.

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