WrrH THE I MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM 37 The First Plan On 1 January 1991, Lieutenant General Boomer signed USMarCent Operation Plan Desert Storm. In consonance with General Schwarzkopf S plan for Desert Storm, the I MIEF plan consisted of four phases. The first three phases were a combined air campaign that primarily involved the 3d Marine Aircraft Wing, which received its theater air tasking orders from the Joint Force Air Component Commander. The air campaign included the striking of targets selected by MarCent in its assigned future area of operations in Kuwait. During this period, I MEF ground combat and combat service support elements were to move into forward assembly areas. The four phases of Operation Desert Storm were: I. Phase I, a strategic air campaign to attain air supremacy, attack Iraq's warmaking capability with missiles and aircraft ordnance, cut its supply lines, and destroy the Republican Guard Forces Command. This phase was expected to last three to six days. 2. Phase II, the attainment of air supremacy in the Kuwait Theater; i.e., the suppression of the enemy's integrated air defense system sufficiently to permit tactical air and attack helicopter operations. This was planned to take two days. 3. Phase III, preparation of the battlefield to reduce the combat effectiveness of the enemy in the Kuwait Theater of Operations. The goal was to reduce tanks, artillery, tracked vehicles, and infantry in the breach area by SO percent and reduce Frog mis- siles and multiple rocket launchers by 100 percent. This was to last eight days. The duration of each phase was notional, and General Boomer was informed on a "close-hold" basis that the air campaign would last at least 30 days before commencement of any ground campaign. 4. Phase IV, the ground offensive campaign. General Boomer's initial concept operations for the liberation of Kuwait comprised four stages: penetration, exploitation, pursuit, and consolida- tion. a. Stage A was to be a rapid penetration of forward Iraqi defenses by the 1st Marine Division between the Al Wafrah Oilfield and the coastline, which was to hold open the shoulders of the breach while assisting forward passage of the 2d Marine Division.First Page | Prev Page | Next Page | Src Image |