LESSONS LEARNED AND SUMMARY

THE UNITED STATES NAVY
IN "DESERT SHIELD" I "DESERT STORM"

VI.: LESSONS LEARNED AND SUMMARY

"The United States Armed Forces, with the forces of allied coalition countries, achieved
a great victory in the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi aggression. We must ensure that the
lessons,of Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM inform our decisions for the
future.

- Memorandum from Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, 8 March1991

"I believe the magnificent performance of our forces and the totality of their victory have
clearly established the tenor of after action discussions - success. We planned, mobilized,
deployed, and executed this operation farther from the shores of the continental United States
than ever before. We applied military power beyond what our coalition partners - and indeed
many Americans - could have imagined. Our,,accomplishments and successes greatly over-
shadow any identified shortfalls or deficiencies.

- General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, USA
Commander-in-Chief U.S. Central Command,
Preliminary Report on Lessons Learned, 5 April 1991

"It is absolutely essential that we review the performance of our people, platforms,
weapons, and tactics while memories are fresh. We want to find out what worked well and
what didn't work so well."

- Statement by Admiral F. B. Kelso, II, USN
before the House Armed Services Committee, 24 April 1991

INTRODUCTION: From almost any vantage lessons learned underscores keys to victory
point Operations DESERT SHIELD and which mustbe nurtured and reinforced. It also
DESERT STORM were tremendously success- highlights areas for improvement.
ful. There has not been sufficient time to
collect, sort and analyze all the data required The lessons of DESERT SHIELD/
for detailed tradeoff analyses between specific STORM can be usefully separated into three
systems and programs. Nevertheless, some broad categories: (1) areas not tested, (2) old
useful broad trends and conclusions are al- lessons revalidated, and (3) new lessons
ready apparent. This initial recapitulation of learned. Areas not tested encompass systems

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