2003: Just after 9:30 p. m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), US forces fired about 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Iraq, striking three targets around Baghdad. The attack began the US-led, multinational coalition effort to liberate the people of Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. F-117A Nighthawks, flying “decapitation strikes,” successfully used the new dual-door and ripple launch techniques. (Wingtip vortices are visible trailing from an F-15E as it disengages from midair refueling with a KC-10 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, USAF Image)
On the evening March 19, 2003, one day prior to the onset of combat operations, Air Force F-117 stealth fighters struck the Dora Farms complex southwest of Baghdad based on intelligence that Saddam Hussein was in the area. Unfortunately, the attack was not successful. Combat operations began the next day, and the USAF participated in air strikes on key targets in and around Baghdad, launching more than 1,700 coalition air sorties and missile launches against Iraq. Like Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, during the first six weeks of operations 68 percent of weapons employed were precision guided munitions. Additionally, on March 26, 2003, C-130 and C-17 aircraft dropped nearly 1,000 paratroopers of the 173d Airborne Brigade onto Bashur airfield near Erbil in Northern Iraq. That marked the first time that the C-17 had been used in a combat airdrop.