Australian contribution to the 1991 Gulf War

OK I was a little young when this war happened but have watched many documentaries on it however why was our contribution to the Coalition so small? All we did was send a couple of Adelaide class guided-missile frigates which never fired a shot in anger.

I'm sure our SAS would have been perfect to join the British SAS and US Delta Force in either SCUD hunting or long range reconnaissance patrols lasing targets for GBUs.

I read that apparently the US sent a request for some of our RF-111 reconnaissance aircraft but our government thought the loss of any of these aircraft in combat would have inflicted a heavy blow on Australia's reconnaissance capability at home.

So was there any real reason why Prime Minister Hawke didn't send troops or aircraft? Or was it just a war that Australia didn't really need to get involved in?

Thanks guys...

Hi Dawg

Australia's contribution to the 1991 Gulf War centred around a Naval Task Group which formed part of the multi-national fleet in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, under Operation Damask. In addition, medical teams were deployed aboard a US hospital ship and a naval clearance diving team took part in de-mining Kuwait's port facilities at the end of the war. Following the end of the war Australia deployed a medical unit on Operation Habitat to northern Iraq as part of Operation Provide Comfort.
as referred to last paragraph.

Operation Damask I (6 September 1990 – 3 December 1990)
Task Group 627.4
HMAS Adelaide 1 S-70B-2 Seahawk, SITU and 1 AS-350BA Squirrel, 723 Squadron

HMAS Darwin 1 S-70B-2 Seahawk, SITU and 1 AS-350BA Squirrel, 723 Squadron

HMAS Success (6 September 1990 – 25 January 1991) Detachment, 111 Battery (Light), 16th Air Defence Regiment
1 AS-350BA Squirrel, 723 Squadron


Operation Damask II (3 December 1990 – 28 May 1991)
Task Group 627.4
HMAS Brisbane (until 26 March 1991)
HMAS Sydney (until 26 March 1991) 1 S-70B-2 Seahawk, SITU, 1 AS-350BA Squirrel, 723 Squadron

HMAS Westralia (26 January 1991 – June 1991) Detachment, 111 Battery (Light), 16th Air Defence Regiment


Operation Damask III (13 June 1991 – 4 September 1991)
HMAS Darwin 1 S-70B-2 Seahawk, 816 Squadron and 1 AS-350BA Squirrel, 723 Squadron


Other Deployments
Logistic Support Element (Muscat, Oman) Logistic Support Detachment Bahrain
Logistic Support Detachment Dubai


Task Group Medical Support Elements (served aboard USS Comfort)
TGMSE 1 (13 September 1990 – 4 January 1991)
TGMSE 2 (31 December 1990 – 15 March 1991)
TGMSE 3 (13 January 1991 – 15 March 1991)

Clearance Diving Team 3 operated in the theatre from 27 January 1991 to 10 May 1991. It was involved in mine clearing operations in Kuwait from 5 March to 19 April 1991.

Royal Australian Air Force

RAAF C-130 aircraft from No. 36 and No. 37 Squadrons provided a shuttle service between Australia and the Persian Gulf. Boeing 707 aircraft from No. 33 Squadron and VIP aircraft from No. 34 Squadron also flew to the Middle East. A small team of RAAF photo-interpreters was posted to Saudi Arabia. Intelligence analysts from the RAAF and Defence Intelligence Organisation were also posted to Saudi Arabia.

Australian Army

The only formed Australian Army units to participate in the Persian Gulf War were anti-aircraft missile teams from the 16th Air Defence Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery who, equipped with RBS 70 missiles, provided point defence to HMAS Success and HMAS Westralia. A small number of Australians (mainly Army officers) on exchange to US and British units saw action in the Persian Gulf with those units.

Operation Provide Comfort/Operation Habitat (16 May 1991 – 30 June 1991) [edit]

The Australian Army and Air Force provided personnel to Operation Habitat, the Australian contribution to Operation Provide Comfort, the delivery of humanitarian aid to Kurds living in the UN-declared exclusion zone in northern Iraq. [1]
Australian Medical Unit (Gir-I-Pit, Northern Iraq) Headquarters and Administrative Support Group
Four Medical Teams
Dental Team
Preventative Medical Section
Engineer Section


So for our size and distance,..we did pretty good
Best
Gordy

Hey Gordy,

As always thanks for the reply I like how I can learn ADF history on this site however this time you're busted Gordy cutting and pasting from Wikipedia hahaha ;)

Your certainly right about our contribution to the 1991 Gulf War centred around a Naval Task Group however with 3 warships at any given time we never fired a shot in anger. The RAN had to wait another 12 years to fire off its 5 inch guns in support of the Battle of Al Faw.

Looks like the Navy Clearance Divers did an outstanding mission after mission in mine clearing operations in Kuwait. One thing I disagree on is the use of the 16th Air Defence Regiment as a defensive anti aircraft missile on a warship. Either of the frigates should have been able cover the replenishment ship or like the HMAS Success have it's own Phalanx Mk 15 close-in weapon systems to defend itself!

Correct me if I'm wrong but even the newly acquired HMAS Sirius doesn't have any weapons systems. The unit price of a battery of RIM-162 Evolved SeaSparrow Missile system is only $800,000, add another 4 x Rafael Typhoon 25mm stabilised guns and some 12.7mm M2s and at least it can defend itself. The Phalanx CIWS is out of the question at $35 million.

However I digress.

In Operation Habitat as of the 16th May 1991 we only had 75 ADF personnel deployed to supply aid to the Kurdish people. Yes it's easy for me to sit back and be an armchair General however I think we might have been able to do more.

Cheers,

Simon

Yeap Busted. You could have save us all by going there first! B)

Missing are the following: One RANFAA Sea King Pilot on exchanged with 846Sqn flying Junglies (HC4s), and,.......several Aussies in the Allied Head Shed in Saudi Arabia.

Nominal roll of Australians who served there

http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/nominal...ages/index.aspx

(Thanks to the Phantom)

Before asking a question I will write a small disclaimer at the same as to whether it has been Wiki searched :P

What I was trying to say is that even though our contribution was based around a Naval Task Group we never even fired a shot in anger. However when I did a bit of research there was a naval armada of 130 U.S. Navy and Allied warships including several Aircraft Carriers. So I can see why our Navy was redundant while the USS Missouri was firing 9 of her 16 inch guns and 32 of her Tomahawk cruise missiles rocking Baghdad all by herself :P

However what I said in the first post was that our SASR would have been perfect in both the SCUD hunt and lasing targets for smart bombs. That is my main question, was it a Hawke government thing of not sending ground troops (albeit Special Forces behind enemy lines) or did the US just not need us?

I've read many a book from former SASR troopers saying they wanted into the game back in 1991.

The Amazing SAS by Ian McPhedran shows that for the second time around (the 2003 Invasion) that the Australian SASR wasn't going to miss out on the action this time around. With Maurie McNarn, Gus Gilmore and Pete Tinley flying to US Central Command in Florida to show to US war planners what our Special Forces could bring to the table.

"The RAAFs role would be somewhat limited because of the lack of self-protection on its F/A-18 Hornet fighters".


Cheers,

Simon