187th Fighter Wing Facts
The unit put its F-16s up all the time for the Scud-hunting mission. Two core expeditionary fighter squadrons, from Montgomery and Buckley, performed the mission, while the Washington, DC, unit was split to reinforce both squadrons. The units divided the day into two twelve-hour shifts. Air Force Reserve Command pilots from the 466th Fighter Squadron at Hill AFB, Utah, supported a six-hour period in the middle of the day. While the pilots came from four units, a total of thirty aircraft came from Montgomery and Buckley. Six AFRC jets came from Hill, Carswell JRB, Fort Worth, Texas, and Homestead ARB, Florida. Air National Guard A-10s from Barnes IAP, Massachusetts, and Bradley Airport, Connecticut, were also a part of the force mix in the 410th AEW. RAF GR.7s and PR.9s were imbedded into the unit's mission as well.

Unable To Tell Friend From Foe
A couple of weeks into the war, a bunch of special forces were inserted into Iraq at night in relatively short order. They were compromised and were taking fire from all sides. They split up into separate teams. The situation was out of control by the time we got a call. Some of the teams were on the Guard frequency screaming for coalition aircraft support. All the radio calls were stepping on each other. When I showed up, I saw vehicles on fire. My NVGs and Litening pod were washed out from all the light. Fifty to 100 vehicles were packed in a space of about a five-mile square, in relatively flat desert, close to the Syrian border. Headlight beams shot every which way. I had to drop down to about 5,000 feet to get below the weather. I was gun-shy because I couldn't tell the good guys from the bad guys. I couldn't see the laser from the ground forces and they couldn't see mine under these conditions. I spent about thirty frustrating minutes in the area, but couldn't do anything. I burned a bunch of JP-8 and never dropped a bomb. They told us later that our forces had to abandon their vehicles and run for their lives.
     — Lt. Col. Will Sparrow

Perfect Combination
The Block 30 F-16C+—F-16s equipped with the Litening pod and SADL—was assigned the Scud-hunting mission in western Iraq because of its combination of GPS, targeting pod, data link, night-vision-goggle system, and precision-guided munitions capability. No other platform offered such a combination of advanced capabilities. We had the ability to search for Scuds day and night with the Litening pod. We had the speed to run rapidly from one predicted hiding site to another. We could drop laser-guided bombs in good weather or GPS-guided bombs in bad weather. The data link system allowed us to communicate with other F-16s and with other systems. The F-16C+ is more capable than it has ever been. While the primary mission was to support the counter-Scud hunt, we ended up doing one heck of a lot of close air support for special operations forces. In fact, we did almost every mission imaginable including OCA, CSAR, SEAD, interdiction, and time-sensitive targeting. We never cancelled a single sortie because of maintenance—a testament to the aircraft, the logistics, and our maintainers.
     — Col. Sid Clarke