Darvan wrote
to highlight the concern the US had about our doctrine at the time, which conflicted with their own
Apologies if I have mis-read your post. During those initial days did it really conflict with what the US and others were doing?
The initial phase of the campaign was at low level for many of the players and was apparently planned for three days. F-111s, F-15Es and even B-52s were in those initial days flown at low level to strike targets. A number of B-52Gs suffered combat damage at low level. One F-15Es was lost during a low-level mission near Basra. Again during this low level phase other Coalition aircraft suffered damage. One French Jaguar returned with its tail shredded.
After the initial part of the low level phase CENTAF ordered the switch to medium level operations. Details of the low level phase were highlighted in Operation Desert Storm - Evaluation of the Air
Campaign - General Accounting Office - House of Representatives.
Moreover, in the first 3 days of the war, some aircraft (B-52s, A-6Es, GR-1s, and F-111Fs) attacked at very low altitude, where they found they were vulnerable to low-altitude defenses—AAA and IR SAMs. As a result, on day two, Brig. Gen. Glosson ordered that all coalition aircraft observe a minimum attack level of about 12,000 feet.
http://www.gao.gov/archive/1997/ns97134.pdf
B-52 low level info.
Colonel Ramsay bio
In January 1991 he was the flight leader for the first night, low-level combat mission ever flown by a B-52G, leading 14 aircraft to strike five Iraqi airfields in the opening minutes of Operation Desert Storm.
http://www.151arw.ang.af.mil/resourc...o.asp?id=10878
On 17 January 1991, seven B-52Gs, known as the "Doom Flight", took off from Barksdale AFB in Louisiana to help kick off the air campaign. They performed a flight that lasted 35 hours and took them almost halfway around the world to launch 35 CALCMs and then go back home. The routes of the missiles were planned so that they would impact almost simultaneously, and 33 of them hit their assigned targets. That same day, the B-52G followed up this strike with the first low-level attacks conducted by the type after decades of training. Buffs swept into Iraqi airspace at an altitude of 90 meters (300 feet) to pound four airbases and a highway.
With Iraqi air defenses disabled, the B-52Gs then returned to high-altitude bombing, with three-ship formations pounding Iraqi troops concentrations in Iraq with 340 kilogram (750 pound) bombs and cluster bombs. The B-52 performed 1,600 sorties in the Gulf War and dropped 22,725 tonnes (25,000 tons) of munitions.
[2.0] B-52 At War
Major James Riggens, USAF also highlights the initial low-level phase in the following.
'Brilliant Attack: The Need For Autonomous Standoff Weapons in Airfield Attack Missions'
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc...c=GetTRDoc.pdf
See also accounts online of low level operations - B-52 Stratofortress Units in Operation Desert Storm by Jon Lake
John Ritter, a 42nd BW pilot who flew with the the 4300th BW(P), recalled that, "We sent representatives up to Riyadh to advise the central air planners on how best to use our aeroplane. 'We wanted to fly low, preferably at night, protected by fighters and radar jamming aircraft. In the end, the planners decided that the B-52s would 'sneak in below radar cover for the first few nights and then go high bombing when it was safer'. Heavy casualties were expected according to John Ritter.
.....
'I flew several mission after that one - each is notable in its own way. Some nights the flak was so intense I felt I could have walked on it. Other nights, I just wanted to rain bombs down on the enemy, like the night Navy Lt Jeffrey Zaun appeared beaten on Iraqi TV. None, however, can compare to that first mission because of the way it changed us.'
Whatever the reason , Brig Gen 'Buster' Glosson soon ordered that all coalition aircraft should observe a minimum attack level of 12,000 ft.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...y+Jon+Lake+low
Account by EF-111 pilot on 17th January 1991 providing the jamming for strike packages. He highlights the following '10 F-111Fs and 2 Mud-Eagles (F-15Es) were coming in on the deck against two different targets.'
See online pages of 'F-15E Strike Eagle in Combat 1991-2005 by Steve Davies'
F-15E
On the first night of the war there were 21 F-15Es that went into Iraq. The original plan was for 18, but three more were added near the start time...... Once the refuelling was completed , we headed north and descended to low level.... We were all on the Terrain Following Radar at 200ft in radio silence - the pilots were hand-flying the TFR steering while concentrating on the FLIR picture in the HUD .....
More details at following link of the F-15E low level missions.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...0Iraq.&f=false