30 years ago today, the Gulf War began with a massive air campaign. Although many have debated the reasons for the war, it did represent a shift in how the US used air power.
As JFACC Gen Chuck Horner said, "to understand the success of Desert Storm, you have to study Vietnam."

US forces implemented large changes at every level. Command, control, and communication structures were more efficient, the enemy was industrialized, using fielded forces vulnerable to strategic bombing, and the objectives and victory conditions were clear

Not to mention there was a massive international coalition built that gave the US major support, legitimacy, and leverage

The US has often been criticized for overreliance on technology in Vietnam. This is not unfair, but I would argue it was more that the tech was not well-suited for the conditions of the Vietnam War. But late developments, like guided weapons, pointed to more effective methods

Guided weapons played a key role in the Gulf, but a small one (only about 8% of weapons used in Desert Storm were guided). Precision weapons are not perfect, but reduced collateral damage and were very effective against difficult targets

The aircraft themselves were also a huge advance in technology. Instead of the interceptors designed to fight and defend in a nuclear exchange, the US focused on more specialized planes for conventional warfare.
(Although B-52s like these 2 still played an important part)

The A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka Warthog) was built for close air support, and could devastate ground forces with a huge array of weapons and the GAU-8 Avenger cannon, which fired depleted-uranium (ultra-dense) rounds

The F-15 Eagle was designed mostly for air-to-air combat--a rare occurrence in the Gulf War, but one at which the Eagle just dominated. It was also effective in other attack roles too.

The F-16, smaller, lighter, more maneuverable, and cheaper to build in large numbers, was also conceived of as a specialized air-to-air weapon, wasn't used for that role but proved highly effective in ground attack

Older planes still had a key role to play. For example, F-4G Phantoms conducted Wild Weasel SEAD missions and EF-111s were important electronic warfare platforms, among an array of other aircraft types from all the services.

And I'm focusing on the USAF contribution here, but lets not ignore that the Navy (and Marines) were core to the effort in Desert Storm, and that those services also fielded new advanced aircraft too

Including the F-14 Tomcat, which cannot go without mention and a photo:

Famously, one of the most important new planes was the F-117A Nighthawk, whose stealth characteristics made it difficult for ground radars to see--allowing it to slip past air defenses and strike key targets

(Some of the night-vision images from the F-117 operations are amazing)

Less famously, the very first air attack of Desert Storm was not any of these fixed-wing USAF planes. It was a force of US Army AH-64 Apache and USAF MH-53J Pave Low helicopters that took out a key Iraqi early warning radar, clearing the way for the rest of the air campaign

Not only was the technology vastly improved and more of a specific match for the missions and enemy forces encountered in the Gulf War, but training was vastly improved too, with programs like USAF's Red Flag or the Navy's Top Gun producing top notch air crews

I need to also emphasize that women played a key role in the Gulf War. They were not allowed in combat roles yet, but were vital in support roles, many were in the line of fire, and some were killed.

SECDEF Dick Cheney Said: “Women have made a major contribution to this effort. We could not have won without them.”
For ex. this is 1st Lt. Kathy Hambleton, a KC-135 navigator

These innovations and changes were part of a tough process of reflection coming out of Vietnam.
The military can't solve all problems, but with the right people, tools, and alliances, can achieve specific objectives effectively
#GulfWar30