Tank plinking is the military practice of usingprecision-guided munitions to destroyartillery,armored personnel carriers,tanks, and other targets.[1] The term was coined by pilots during theGulf War, but discouraged by the military.[2] As the war progressed, the term began to encompass all forms of destroying a target with an excessively capable weapon.[3]
GeneralNorman Schwarzkopf was looking for a plan to incapacitate 50% of theIraqi army before any ground invasion could begin. Planning was performed including high intensity air strikes withGeneral Dynamics F-111,A-6 Intruder,F-15E Strike Eagle,F/A-18 Hornet,AV-8 Harrier,A-10 Thunderbolt II, andF-16 Fighting Falcon crews. This culminated in December 1990, withOperation Night Camel in which air crews of the F-111 evaluated the ability of aircraft to use guided munitions with theLANTIRN andPave Tack target designation systems from medium altitude.
This is a deviation from standard military air engagement. Due to the prevalence ofsurface-to-air missiles, mostaviators would prefer to engage a target from either a very high altitude, or a very low altitude, and certainly withlow observability aircraft. However, the Iraqi defenses proved very inadequate. The winning combination[citation needed] for the eventual campaign was either a pair or quartet of F-111F aircraft loaded with fourGBU-12 500 lb (230 kg),laser-guided bombs. Bombs were designated for entrenched, hard targets, and for softer targets (e.g.armoured personnel carriers).
