Direct proof of use
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that U.S. services used 117,634 self-destructing landmines during the Gulf War and that the largest category was aircraft-delivered, surface-laid Gator mines. GAO identified 116,770 Gator mines delivered by Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft, plus 432 RAAM anti-armor mines and 432 ADAM antipersonnel mines fired by Marine Corps artillery.
Human Rights Watch summarized the same reported use as 117,634 U.S. landmines in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991, divided between 89,667 antivehicle mines and 27,967 antipersonnel mines. HRW also identified the delivery paths as Gator cluster bomb units from U.S. aircraft and a smaller number of Marine Corps artillery-delivered mines.
Sources: GAO Persian Gulf War Land Mines, Human Rights Watch Landmines in Iraq Q&A
How they were used
GAO described the U.S. mine use as both offensive and defensive. Aircraft scattered Gator mines to deny Iraqi use of Al Jaber airbase in Kuwait, hamper Iraqi movement, and inhibit movement in and around suspected staging and launch areas for Iraqi Scud missiles, including possible transporter hide sites such as culverts, overpasses, and bridges in Iraq.
On the defensive side, GAO reported Gator mine use along U.S. force flanks and Marine Corps use of artillery-fired ADAM and RAAM mines to reinforce defenses against possible Iraqi attacks north of Al Jaber airbase in southern Kuwait.
Sources: GAO Persian Gulf War Land Mines
Evidence limits
GAO found that no nonself-destructing U.S. landmines were confirmed as used in the Gulf War. The Army reported no confirmed landmine use, while qualifying that it was unsure whether archived records might contain evidence of two minefields of unknown type.
GAO also reported that the services provided no evidence that the surface-laid Gator, ADAM, or RAAM mines caused enemy casualties, equipment losses, or maneuver limitations. The record therefore supports documented U.S. use and intended roles, but not a measured battlefield effect from those mines.
Sources: GAO Persian Gulf War Land Mines
Conflict context
The mine use occurred inside the broader U.S.-led coalition campaign to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The U.S. State Department history places Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, the coalition air campaign in January 1991, the land campaign from February 24, 1991, and the Iraqi defeat and retreat from Kuwait on February 28, 1991.
Sources: State Department Gulf War
