* The strategic and tactical advantages            Southwest Asia poses special challenges for
      of high technology.                              the Navy. While not every naval warfare area
                                                       was stressed or even tested, naval forces par-
    * The c~allenge of finding and neutral-            ticipated in virtually every aspect of the cam-
      intig naval mines.                               paign. Multi-mission platforms proved espe-
                                                       cially valuable.
 THE LESSONS OF DESERT SHIELDI
 ST()RM. This initial review of lessons learned           *  COMMAND RELATIONSHIPS.
 underscores keys to victory which must be                   DESERT SHIELD/STORM high-
 nurtured and reinforced.    It also highlights              lighted the importance of establishing
 areas for improvement.                                      peacetime planning relationships and
                                                             staffs which parallel wartime respon-
      QUALITY PEOPLE AND REALISTIC                           sibilities and requirements.
 TRAINING. The outstanding quality of our
 people, and their high state of training, were           *  ANTISUBMARINE WARFARE.
 fundamental to success. The all-volunteer force             ASW was not tested as there was no
 worked and worked well. Our men and women                   threat, but primary ASW systems
 knew their jobs, knew their equipment, and                  such as P-3s, S-3s and LAMPS heli-
 knew how to fight. Naval forces arrived in                  copters used multi-mission capabili-
 theater trained and ready. We must continue                 ties to good advantage.
 to emphasize:
                                                             ANTI-AIR WARFARE. DESERT
      People programs - the foundation of                    SHIELD/STORM presented a com-
      the all-volunteer force.                               plex AAW challenge. All operations
                                                             were conducted safely and success-
      High quality, realistic training -                     fully from pre-hostilities through re-
      including joint operational training -                 deployment. There were no `tlue-on-
      which is fundamental to success in                     blue" air eng~gements.
      combat.
                                                             STRIKE WARFARE. The Joint Force
      JOINT OPERATIONS.             DESERT                   Air Component Commander (JFACC)
- SHIELD/STORM iilus~Tated the importance                    used the air tasking order (ATO) as a
 and benefits of joint and combined operations.              centralized planning and execution
 While some problems were encountered -                      tool to effectively manage the unpre&
 particularly in command and control, commu-                 eden ted volume of sorties, especially
 nications, i nteroperabili ty, and matters of joint         during the preplanned, structured
 doctrine --- the sigi~ificant progress made in              stages of the campaign.
 joint operations over the past several years
 was reflected in success on the battlefield.                -  STRIKE AIRCRAFT. The A-6
 That success firmly cemented theNavy's com-                    aircraft was the workhorse for
 mitment to joint operations.                                   long range strike and performed
                                                                extremely well in an environment
      WARFIGHTING.           Conducting com-                    of established air superiority.
 plex joint operations in an environment like                   However, it was also apparent the


                                                    - viii -

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