Actual Footage of Desert Storm’s First Apache Strikes

YouTube / Smithsonian Channel

Four Minutes Of Mayhem

The Apaches take off across the desert, cruising just 50 feet above the ground to avoid radar detection. No navigation lights – total radio silence. 

It takes the Apaches over two hours to reach the radar towers. They hovered five miles away, surveying their target. 

“When we pulled the trigger, all four aircraft shot at the same time.”

Suddenly, four to six Hellfires are inbound and start hitting hard. They began using rockets with flechette rounds at about four kilometers to take out the anti-aircraft guns. As they got closer, they used their 30mms to finish off the job. 

In total, they put an excess of about forty Hellfire missiles on the target, a couple of hundred flechette rockets, and a lot of 30mms. Destroying the radar towers opened up the skies for friendly jets. 

“Five minutes into the flight back, we can see the jets coming right over our head.”

Over 900 Coalition aircraft made their way into Baghdad, courtesy of the Apaches.