Never been tested against a minimally strong and well-equipped enemy?
Iraqi Army was the largest and best equipped in the Pan-Islamic world in 1990:
| Army | Iraqi Army |
| Troops | Total = 640000
Regular Troops = 400000
Republican Guards = 240000 |
| MBT | Total = 5500+
Soviet T-72 = 1000
Soviet T-62 = 1500
Chinese Type 59 = 1500
Soviet T-54/55/M-77 = 1500
British Chieftain MK variants = 30 |
| APC / IFV | Total = 7500
IFV = 1500 (Soviet BMP-1/-2)
APC = 6000 (Soviet BTR-50/-60/-152; Polish OT-62/-64; Soviet MT-LB; Chinese Type 63; American M-113A1/A2; French Panhard M-3; Brazilian EE-11 Urutu) |
| Artillery Pieces | Total = 3700+
Towed = 3000
Self-propelled = 500
MLRS =200 |
| Air Defense | AA guns = 4000 (From 23 mm to 130 mm)
SAM systems* = 600+ (Soviet SA-2 = 60; Soviet SA-3 = 140; Soviet SA-6/-7/-8/-9/-14 = 300+; French Roland = 100) |
| Ballistic Missiles | Total = 86 TEL
FROG-7 class TEL = 50
Scud-B class TEL = 36 |
| Helicopters | Total = 518
Attack type = 159 (German Bo-105 = 56; Soviet Mi-24= 40; French SA-316 = 30; French SA-321 = 13; French SA-342 = 20)
Transport type = 364 (Soviet Mi-6 = 15; American Bell 214 ST = 40; Soviet Mi-8/-17 = 140; Italian Agusta AS-61 = 5; French SA-330 = 20; Soviet Mi-4 = 20; Italian Agusta A-109 = 3; American Bell AB-212 = 5; American Hughes 300C = 30; American Hughes 500D = 30; American Hughes 530F = 26; French SA-342 = 30) |
*
Iraqi Army had over 6000 SA-7 type.
Iraqi Army had created an integrated air defense system involving hundreds of AAA guns, hundreds of advanced SAM systems, and hundreds of radar systems. Iraqi Army also had de-centralized air defense measures. The most sensitive Iraqi military installations had better defenses than any in Eastern Europe even during the height of the Cold War. In comparison to Iraqi A2/AD defenses in 1990, other Islamic countries had a much smaller inventory of SAM systems let alone an integrated air defense system in place.
The US-led coalition suffered no losses in clashes with Iraqi Air Force but lost dozens of aircraft to Iraqi A2/AD defenses in war in 1991 (Operation Desert Storm).
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Yugoslav A2/AD arrangements were also decent involving thousands of AAA guns, hundreds of SAM systems, and hundreds of radar systems. Yugoslav Army had created some of the earliest examples of IMAD but dispersed SAM in the forested hills, carefully held their fire so as not to give away their frequencies and locations, and made extensive use of decoys to absorb airstrikes of the US-led coalition in war in 1999 (Operation Allied Force).
Yugoslav Military is Formidable Foe
Yugoslavia: Serbia's Air Defenses Pose Challenge To NATO
NATO faces a tough, tight Yugoslav Army
However, the US-led coalition lost only 3 aircraft to Yugoslavian A2/AD defenses in Operation Allied Force.
Reason? B-2A had changed the calculus entirely.
During Allied Force, the air war over Serbia, six B-2s conducted 45 sorties out of 9,211 Air Force fighter and bomber sorties in the entire war—less than a half of one percent—but they struck 33 percent of the targets in the first eight weeks of combat.
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The US under Biden administration wasn't doing anything significant in Yemen.
New US campaign against Yemen’s Houthis far more intense than under Biden
Indian authors have a bad habit of downplaying capabilities of other countries.
How good were Indian defenses in 1990? The outcome of Operation Desert Storm shocked Soviet and Chinese analysts of the time. Indians also underestimated PAF and generally claimed that their Su-30 MKI were better than F-16 but PAF showed otherwise in Operation Swift Retort in 2019. Indians are deluded.
