170 U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 199~1991 Captain Padilla served as a weapons and sensors officer with Marine All Weather Fighter Aaack Squadron 121, which flew the F/A -181) Hornet during Desert Storm. In this brief article, Captain Padilla describes his squadron `5 preparations for war and the techniques used in combat. F/A-i 8Ds Go to War by Captain Rueben A. Padilla, USMC U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, August 1991 Marine All-Weather Fighter-Attack Squadron 121 began trading in its A~Es for two-seat night-attack F/A-i8Ds on 27 April 1990 at home base in California, and left for Saudi Arabia on 7 January 1991--five days later, six aircraft and 118 Marines were at Shaik Isa air base in Bahrain. By the end of January the whole squadron was there--12 F/A-l8Ds and 204 Marines, including 34 pilots and WSOs (weapons and sensors officers). A lot happened before we got to the Middle East. The new aircraft arrived at a rate of two per month and we trained constantly. The aircraft has many capabilities and missions, some of which are: > Air-to-air > Air-to-ground > Night attack > Combined arms control and coordination > Reconnaissance In July 1990, the squadron was preparing to send a six-plane detachment to Turkey to participate in Exercise Display Determination and was scheduled to send a detachment to Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, in early August to prepare for the exercise. On 2 August Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait; two days latter the detachment flew up to Fallon--and on 9 August was recalled to El Toro. Aircrew training became paramount as small detachments deployed to MCAS Yuma, Arizona, to take advantage of the desert terrain. Crews began intensive night operations, with lunar illumination cycles determining deployment schedules. The squadron trained 18 pilots and WSOs to employ the nightattack Hornet's weapons systems, and the crews concentrated on deep air support missions, flying low-level routes, and attacking targets throughout the desert. Target tactics varied from low-level weapons deliveries to the Hornet high-popup maneuver--a low-level run-in, an afterburrier climb to roll-in altitude, and a 45 degrees dive attack. All of these missions were conducted using Catseye night-vision goggles, and--when they were avail able--forward-lookingFirst Page | Prev Page | Next Page | Src Image |