Operation Southern Focus was a period in the months leading up to the
2003 invasion of Iraq (called "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
) in which the military responses to violations of the southern
Iraqi no-fly zones
The Iraqi no-fly zones conflict was a low-level conflict in the two no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991. The United States stated that the NFZs were intend ...
were increased, with more intensive bombing of
air defense artillery
The Air Defense Artillery Branch is the Anti-aircraft warfare, air defense branch of the United States Army, specializing in the use of anti-aircraft weapons (such as surface-to-air missiles) to conduct anti-aircraft warfare operations. In the ...
installations and other military complexes. It also marked a period of increased
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
gathering. The operation lasted from June 2002 until the beginning of the invasion in March 2003. It was intended to be a "softening up" period prior to invasion, degrading
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
's air defense and communication abilities. Lieutenant General
T. Michael Moseley revealed the operation's existence in mid-2003.
Operation
The operation was not publicly declared at the time, and was just said to be an intensification of the already-existing
Operation Southern Watch. When it began, the
United States Defense Department and
CENTCOM stated that increasing numbers of bombings of
Iraqi installations in the region were merely in response to more attacks by the air-defense forces of that country. The Iraqi no-fly zones had been patrolled continuously since the end of the 1991
Gulf War
, combatant2 =
, commander1 =
, commander2 =
, strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems
, page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...
, and bombings by American and coalition
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...
had taken place on a regular basis. However, Southern Focus saw many more
engagements. Coalition forces responded to 651 attacks by dropping 606 bombs on 391 targets over the course of the operation.
Bombs usage
The tonnage of bombs dropped increased from 0 in March 2002 and 0.3 in April 2002 to between 7 and 14 tons per month in May–August, reaching a pre-war peak of 54.6 tons in September – prior to Congress' 11 October
authorisation of the invasion. The September attacks included a 5 September 100-aircraft attack on the main air defence site in western Iraq. According to ''
New Statesman
''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...
'' this was "Located at the furthest extreme of the southern no-fly zone, far away from the areas that needed to be patrolled to prevent attacks on the Shias, it was destroyed not because it was a threat to the patrols, but to allow allied special forces operating from Jordan to enter Iraq undetected."
Success
Iraq's only success came on 23 December 2002, when a USAF
RQ-1 Predator UAV was experimentally armed with
AIM-92 Stingers and sent to patrol the no-fly zone in an attempt to bait Iraqi fighters into combat. It was spotted by two Iraqi
MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircra ...
s and attacked, however both planes were unable to achieve a lock-on.
A
MiG-25
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is a ...
of the 1st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was then scrambled to assist.
Both aircraft fired missiles at each other, however, the Iraqi jet was outside of the range of the Stinger so the American missile fell short. The Iraqi missile hit the Predator, destroying it. This was the first time an unmanned aircraft had been used in air-to-air combat.
The first combat use of the U.S. Navys new
F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter-bomber occurred in November 2002 during Operation Southern Focus, when aircraft from
Strike Fighter Squadron 115 (VFA-115) flying from the
aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
struck surface-to-air missile sites and command and control targets near
Al Kut.
[John Pike (26 March 2004)]
Operation Southern Focus.
GlobalSecurity.org. Accessed 4 May 2004.
See also
*
Downing Street memo
*
Operation Rockingham
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Southern Focus
Aerial operations and battles involving Iraq
Aerial bombing operations and battles
2002 in Iraq
2003 in Iraq
Attacks on military installations in 2002
Attacks on military installations in 2003
Iraqi no-fly zones conflict
Causes and prelude of the Iraq War
Aerial operations and battles involving the United States
Drone strikes conducted by the United States
Drone strikes in Iraq
2002 airstrikes
2003 airstrikes
Attacks on military installations in Iraq
2002 building bombings
2003 building bombings
Building bombings in Iraq
21st-century history of the United States Air Force