As darkness fell over the Arabian Peninsula on January 29, 1991, the ground trembled with the onset of Iraq’s most ruthless offensive of the Persian Gulf War. High above, aboard a modified Boeing 707 with state-of-the-art surveillance systems, the E-8 Joint STARS crew was vigilant. Their screens flickered with the movement of a massive Iraqi armor convoy advancing towards Khafji, marking Saddam Hussein’s forceful bid to shift the war’s momentum.With the APY-7 radar detecting enemy movements from over 250 kilometers away, the crew of 21 specialists rapidly processed data and began coordinating the battlefield below. This high-altitude vantage point allowed them to direct coalition air strikes and ground movements with unprecedented precision, tracking up to 600 targets simultaneously from over 30,000 feet above the battle zone.As the enemy armor clashed with the US Marines and other Coalition troops throughout the night, the E-8 Joint STARS orchestrated a critical defense, managing complex operations across thousands of square miles.With new threats emerging every second, the E-8 aircraft became the combined arms center of all the allied troops, the eyes in the sky for all the men on the ground. While monitoring the offensive, the crew abruptly detected a fresh wave of enemy armor heading straight into an outpost with US Marines to crush them.Lacking proper anti-armor weaponry, the leathernecks began to fall back in order while the E-8, always vigilant, coordinated a series of artillery and air strikes to halt the Iraqi’s advance. Bomb after bomb led to more casualties, leading to an abrupt stop from the enemy column.Saddam’s men looked at the sky and wondered how the enemy was detecting them with such accuracy in the middle of the night. Hell was falling from the sky. And there was more to come. The battle for Khafji was not over yet, and the E-8’s screens were still flickering with thousands of enemies.—