The recent attack on the Iranian nuclear sites by the US Airforce was an extraordinary mission in its complexity and the deceptions used. A flight of 7 B-2 Stealth bombers, plus F-22 and F-35 fighters, got into Iran, bombed their targets precisely, and returned home without a scratch.

Admittedly the Israelis had taken out almost all of Iran’s air defence systems in the previous few days, plus the destruction of the same that they wreaked last year after the Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, plus the complete destruction of the abandoned Syrian military systems, which then left Iran almost naked to air attack.

But the following piece of video is an extraordinary testimony to what it’s like when planes do have to deal with intact air defence systems, meaning SAMs, Surface to Air Missiles. This is from January 19, 1991, the first day of Operation Desert Storm and these planes were attacking an oil refinery in Baghdad in daylight after the F-117 night attacks.

The video comes from the Head Up Display (HUD) of an F-16 fighter-bomber flown by one Major Emmitt Tullia as part of a “strike package”, a group of F-16’s. They were given the temporary call sign of “Stroke”, hence his plane being called “Stroke 3”. They were part of an even bigger force of 78 planes, including F-15 Eagles and older F-4 Phantoms. The other F-16 groups were called Basset, Collar, Rover, Dane, Ruff, Howler, Pointer, and Clap.

Some context here before you watch the 10m video.

  • The vertical line on the left of the HUD is the speed in knots. He’s flying around 300 most of the time, surging between 200 and 400 as he maneuvers.
  • The vertical line on the right of the HUD is his altitude. He was flying at about 23,000 feet before his fight with the SAMs begins and he dove to below 10,000 feet to gain speed to defeat them.
  • The horizontal lines in the middle of the screen show the roll and bank of the plane. They are always level with the earth. Their movement shows how he’s maneuvering.
  • At the top Left-Hand corner is the number for the G-forces he’s pulling. For six minutes he rode between 0.5 – 6 gees, maxing out at 6.4. After several minutes of this he starts breathing heavily.
  • The background hum is a 400Hz AC power signal.
  • The chirping and buzzing noises is his plane alerting him to SAM radar systems targeting him (the SA-2 and SA-6 had different ones).
  • The wavy lines from 9:00 to 9:45 are his targeting system.
  • “Stroke 3 Defending 6” means that he is maneuvering defensively against a SAM-6 missile. Early on he calls out “2”, which were older SAM-2 missiles the size of a telephone pole.

Two other flights were hit – Stroke 1 and Stroke 4, you can hear the latter happen at 4:48. The pilots survived as POWs.

Stroke 3’s missile defense systems, flares and chaff, failed – yet he managed to dodge six missiles. He also dropped his bombs on the target even with all this!

0:00 to 1:07 is ground prep.
1:07 to 2:57 is flight.
3:06 Chirps alert him of a SAM launch. “Got SA-2 launch”. “Stroke 3 defending 2”
3:15 “Break now jester.”……”Stroke 3 defending 2″
4:35 “Stroke 3, come on”…. Stroke 3, break right”… “SAM”…. SAM launch”
4:48 “Wait, somebody got hit….” “Stroke 4’s hit!” ….”Stroke 4, status?”….“Stroke 4, status?”
5:22 “Stroke 3, go southeast NOW”
5:22 Smoke trail from a SAM missile. “SAM launch now”
5:38 “Stroke 3 defending”
5:57 “Another SAM launch, same location”
6:00 Smoke trail from another SAM missile
6:14 “oh shit”
6:20 “Stroke 3 defending”
6:58 “Stroke 3 defending 6”
7:06 “WOAH….” (A SAM went just behind him and he heard the rocket motor)
7:10 “SAM launch, SAM launch” ……”Stroke 3 defending”…. “Fuck”
8:10 “Fuuuukkkk,,,, there’s another one……”Stroke 3 defending again”

The man, his crew chief and his F-16.

USAF 401st Tactical Fighter Wing in Doha. Major Emmett Tullia with his F-16C, famous with successfully defending against six Iraqi SAMs in four minutes during Gulf War in 1991. [629×513]
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