Operation Desert Thunder
Order of Battle
13 November 1998 Snapshot

This is a reasonably up-to-date and accurate order-of-battle of forces currently deployed in CENTCOM's part of Southwest Asia [that is, excluding Turkey]. There are currently some 23,500 military personnel in the area, including 2,600 soldiers, 14,300 sailors and Marines, 5,600 Air Force, and joint headquarters and other joint units comprised of 1,000 people. Forces in the region include land and carrier-based aircraft, surface warships, a Marine expeditionary unit, a Patriot missile battalion, a mechanized battalion task force, and a mix of special operations forces deployed in support of US Central Command operations. To enhance force protection throughout the region, additional military security personnel are also deployed. Currently, there are 173 combat aircraft, which total includes air to air, air to ground, dual role, support, and attack helicopters. The cruise missile force is twice the pre-October 1997 level and can be augmented significantly within days.

OPSEC NOTES - Loose Lips Sink Ships

• On 12 November 1998 the Defense Department issued a corrected listing of land-based aircraft ordered to deploy to the Gulf. It added ten aircraft to the total, and reclassified a number of helicopters as "combat" rather than "support."
• This highlights the outstanding problem of determining the pre-crisis order-of-battle, which retained a rather hazy definition of "combat" aircraft.
• News reports suggest that the total B-52 deployment may consist of up to 17 aircraft, versus the dozen initially reported.
• When last checked, the homepage for 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit currently deployed in the Gulf was non-operative.
• As of this update COMNAVAIRLANT was "Temporarily Shutdown for certification of compliance with NAVAIRLANT MSG 291816Z OCT 98 and SECNAV MSG 211930Z OCT 98" so we relied on MRupprecht's U.S. Navy Database for Ike's squadron. The Navy's nice United States Naval Forces in 5th Fleet - The Arabian Gulf remains offline [probably permanently], though CHINFO continues to provide this information via FAX, and this listing reflects their 02 November 1998 hardcopy SITREP. Compared with our previous Desert Thunder ORBAT listings, this present edition includes all aircraft, reducing somewhat the uncertainty as to the deployment details.