Direct proof of use
The GBU-28 Paveway III is directly documented in the 1990 Gulf War through NASA NTRS, FAS, and GAO records. NASA NTRS describes the GBU-28 as the weapon used against the main Iraqi command-and-control bunker during Operation Desert Storm. FAS records two Desert Storm drops, both by F-111Fs, and GAO identifies the F-111F as the only Desert Storm aircraft to deliver the 5,000-pound laser-guided penetrating GBU-28.
The documented user was the U.S. Air Force on the coalition side of the conflict. The supported role was a rushed hard-target strike munition for deeply buried or multi-layered command targets, not a general-purpose bomb used across the air campaign.
Sources: NASA NTRS GBU-28 Concept to Combat, FAS GBU-28 Bunker Buster, GAO Desert Storm Air Campaign
Timeline
FAS describes a compressed February 1991 fielding sequence. Fabrication began on February 1 using surplus 8-inch artillery tubes, the official project go-ahead followed on February 14, and the first two units were delivered to the U.S. Air Force on February 16 and February 17. After flight and penetration testing, the first two operational bombs reached the theater on February 27.
The operational use came at the end of Operation Desert Storm. FAS states that only two GBU-28s were dropped in Desert Storm, both by F-111Fs, with one weapon hitting its precise aimpoint. NASA NTRS ties that use to the main Iraqi command-and-control bunker.
Sources: FAS GBU-28 Bunker Buster, NASA NTRS GBU-28 Concept to Combat
Operational role
In the Gulf War record, the GBU-28 appears as an emergency hard-target penetrator rather than a widely expended munition. FAS describes it as a 5,000-pound laser-guided conventional munition with a 4,400-pound penetrating warhead, developed to penetrate hardened Iraqi command centers deep underground.
GAO's postwar air-campaign evaluation places the munition within F-111F employment. It reports that the F-111F's prewar mission planning emphasized low-altitude air interdiction against strategic targets, including airfields, radar sites, and chemical-weapons bunkers, but that Desert Storm missions were generally flown from medium to high altitude. In that appendix, GAO identifies the F-111F as the only Desert Storm aircraft to deliver the GBU-28.
Sources: FAS GBU-28 Bunker Buster, GAO Desert Storm Air Campaign
Evidence boundary
The cited sources support U.S. Air Force use by F-111F aircraft in Operation Desert Storm against hardened Iraqi command targets. They do not support Iraqi possession or use, coalition use by another aircraft type in the 1990 Gulf War, or a larger Desert Storm expenditure total beyond the two weapons recorded by FAS.
Sources: FAS GBU-28 Bunker Buster, GAO Desert Storm Air Campaign
