Order of Battle for CENTAF

Order of Battle for Air Forces, Central Command (CENTAF)

Lt. Gen. Charles Horner, USAF, Commander, CENTAF
Brig. Gen. Buster Glosson, USAF, Director of Campaign Plans, CENTAF
Col. George Gray, USAF, Chief of Special Operations, CENTAF
Cmdr. Donald McSwain, USN, Naval Aviation Strike Planner

The easiest way to list the order of battle is to start with the contribution from the U.S. by service, and list foreign assets by country. This list comes from Chadwick (Gulf War Fact Book), and does not detail the number of aircraft per unit. It only shows which units came with which aircraft types, and the total numbers. Without more detailed information, I am obliged to follow essentially the same format.

My list shows approximately 2200 aircraft (about 3 times the size of the Iraqi air force) from the U.S. alone, and about 2900 all together. Aside from the U.S, 12 other countries committed aircraft to the operations, and all but one included combat aircraft in their deployments.

In the table below, "TFW" is the abbreviation for "Tactical Fighter Wing"

United States Air Force
Approximately 1450 aircraft (twice the size of the Iraqi air force), in 26 or more tactical fighter wings.
1st, 33rd, 36th TFW
144 F-15C; Fighters
35th, 52nd TFW
48 F-4G; "Wild Weasal" electronic warfare
50th, 363rd, 388th, 401st TFW
288 F-16; Fighter/Attack
10th, 23rd, 354th TFW
192 A-10; ("Warthog") Attack
37th TFW
44 F-117A; Bomber
4th TFW
52 F-15E; Bomber
48th TFW
36 F-111F; Bomber
17th RW
6 TR-1A; Recon
117RW
48 RF-4; Recon
552nd AWCW
5 E-3; Surveillance & Control
23rd TACS
24 OA-10; Surveillance & Control
366th TFW
12 EF-111; Electronic Combat

In addition, there were approximately 80 B-52 bombers, an unknown number of RC-135 recon aircraft, 2 E-8 surveillance & control aircraft, an unknown number of EC-135 electronic combat aircraft, a total of 162 KC-135 and KC-10 aerial refueling aircraft, and 288 C-130 transport aircraft, all in units of designation unknown to me.

United States Navy
Approximately 420 aircraft in six Carrier Battle Groups. See the Navy Order of Battle for details about groups and ships deployed.
144 F-14 Fighter/Interceptor.
120 F-18 Fighter/Attack.
24 A-7 Fighter/Attack.
60 A-6E Bomber.,br> 24 E-2C Surveillance & Control.
24 EA-6B Electronic Combat.
24 KA-6D Tanker.

United States Marine Corps
Actual number unknown, numbers here are estimates based on ground troop strengths. Unknown number may have operated from U.S. Navy carrier ships.
120 FA-18 Fighter/Attack.
168 AV-8B Attack.
30 OV-10 Surveillance & Control.

And now the list of aircraft attributed to other allied nations. The largest contributer amongst them was Saudi Arabia. The lists are as accurate as I can make them, but there are bound to be errors such as aircraft listed that actually had not yet been delivered, or arrived late in theater. The list is in alphabetical order.

Bahrain
12 Mirage 2000 Fighter/Interceptor.
12 F5-E/F Fighter/Attack.

Canada
24 FA-18 Fighter/Attack.

France
12 Mirage 2000 Fighter/Interceptor.
24 FA-18 Fighter/Attack.

Italy
10 Tornado GR1 Bombers.

Kuwait
32 Mirage F-1CK Fighter/Interceptor.
30 A4-KU Attack.

Oman
20 Jaguar Attack.
12 Hunter Attack.
3 C-130 Transport.
26 "Other" transports.

Qatar
12 Mirage F-1 Fighter/Attack.
2 Hunter Fighter/Attack.
6 AlphaJet Attack.

Saudi Arabia
70 F-5E Fighter/Attack.
57 F-15 Fighter.
2 Torando F3 Fighter.
48 Tornado GR1 Bomber.
10 RF-5E Reconnaissance.
4 E-3A Surveillance & Control.
6 KC-135 Tanker.
8 KC-130H Tanker.
35 C-130 Transport.
The list also includes an unknown number of KE-3A tankers and 50 "other" transport aircraft, besides the 35 C-130's shown.

South Korea
5 C-130 Transport.

United Arab Emirates
29 Mirage 5 Fighter/Interceptor.
3 AlphaJet Attack.
5 C-130 Transport.
23 "Other" transports.

United Kingdom
18 Tornado F3 Fighter/Interceptor.
12 Jaguar GR1 Attack.
63 Tornado GR1 Bomber.
4 Buccaneer Bombers.

And an unknown number of VC-K10 tanker aircraft.

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