Direct proof of use
The documented Gulf War use of the BLG 66 Belouga centers on the French Air Force Jaguar raid against Ahmad Al Jaber airfield in Kuwait on 17 January 1991. Aviation Geek Club reporting, citing Richard P. Hallion's Osprey study of Desert Storm, states that some of the twelve Jaguar A strike aircraft carried four Matra-Thomson BLG 66 Belouga parachute-retarded cluster bombs apiece during the attack.
A separate image record derived from U.S. National Archives metadata identifies a French BLG-66 Belouga bomb at Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base in Kuwait after Operation Desert Storm. The record is useful as physical post-strike evidence at the same airfield, while the operational reporting supplies the sortie and loadout context.
Sources: Ahmad al-Jaber Airfield Attack, French BLG-66 at Ahmed Al Jaber
Timeline
French Jaguar units deployed to Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, before the air campaign; Colonel Alain Mahagne later described a 24-Jaguar French presence there when air operations began and identified Ahmad Al Jaber as the assigned target for the first French mission over Kuwait.
At about 0530 local time on 17 January 1991, twelve French Jaguar A aircraft departed Al Ahsa for Ahmad Al Jaber. The strike package included BLG 66 Belouga-equipped aircraft and laser-guided AS-30L aircraft, with supporting refueling and coalition air cover. The raid encountered heavy ground fire, and several Jaguars were damaged, but the aircraft returned.
Sources: Ahmad al-Jaber Airfield Attack, Mahagne Ahmad Al-Jaber Interview
Narrative
In this conflict record, the Belouga's role was a low-level airfield-attack munition used by coalition French strike aircraft against Iraqi-controlled military facilities in Kuwait. The BLG 66 was an air-dropped dispenser carrying 151 66 mm submunitions, which matches the source description of the Jaguar loadout during the Ahmad Al Jaber attack.
The sources support a narrow, dated claim: French Jaguars carried and released Belouga-type bombs in the 17 January 1991 Ahmad Al Jaber attack. They do not provide a complete French campaign-wide count of Belouga sorties, expenditure, target damage, or variant mix, so this page treats the Ahmad Al Jaber mission as the documented Gulf War use case.
Sources: Ahmad al-Jaber Airfield Attack, Belouga BLG 66 and EG/IZ/AC Submunitions, Mahagne Ahmad Al-Jaber Interview
