M117 750-pound unguided bomb in the 1990 Gulf War

Direct proof of use

The M117 750-pound unguided bomb was used by U.S. Air Force B-52 crews during Operation Desert Storm in the 1990 Gulf War. An Air Force article on the final Pacific Air Forces M117 drop states that B-52 aircrew dropped M117s during Operation Desert Storm from January 16 to February 28, 1991.

The Air Force's B-52-specific Operation Desert Storm fact sheet gives the clearest public quantity record. Its munitions table lists 44,650 M117 750-pound bombs used by B-52G aircrews, split across Jeddah, Diego Garcia, Moron, and RAF Fairford operating locations.

Sources: Blast from the Past M117, Operation Desert Storm B-52 Specific

Timeline

M117 use belonged to the Operation Desert Storm combat phase, after the coalition air campaign opened in January 1991. The Air Force M117 article gives the Desert Storm M117 date range as January 16-February 28, 1991, matching the campaign period in which B-52s flew sustained conventional bombing missions.

During that campaign, B-52G crews operated from four main locations. The Air Force fact sheet lists 22,532 M117 bombs from Jeddah, 10,398 from Diego Garcia, 9,527 from Moron, and 2,193 from RAF Fairford, for a total of 44,650.

Sources: Blast from the Past M117, Operation Desert Storm B-52 Specific

Operational role

In Gulf War service, the M117 was a B-52-delivered unguided general-purpose bomb used for heavy conventional bombing rather than precision attack. The Air Force B-52 fact sheet says B-52s dropped unguided general-purpose and cluster bombs from above 30,000 feet, with targets including dug-in armored units, suspected Scud storage and production facilities, and troop concentrations.

Air & Space Forces Magazine described the M117 as the most common B-52 bomb for night interdiction missions in Desert Storm. It associated B-52 interdiction targets with ammunition factories, storage areas, fuel depots, industrial sites, air bases, armor, artillery, supply facilities, and troop concentrations.

The available public sources support aggregate B-52G M117 use and target categories, but they do not identify a complete mission-by-mission list of every M117 release, aircraft tail number, or individual impact location.

Sources: Operation Desert Storm B-52 Specific, The BUFF at War