tank plinking

Tank plinking is the military practice of using precision-guided munitions to destroy artillery, armored personnel carriers, tanks, and other targets.{{cite web|url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030701faessay15404-p50/max-boot/the-new-american-way-of-war.html|title= The New American Way of War | first = Max | last = Boot| work = Foreign affairs |accessdate=2008-05-06|url-status=dead|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080501171735/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20030701faessay15404-p50/max-boot/the-new-american-way-of-war.html|archivedate=2008-05-01}} The term was coined by pilots during the Gulf War, but discouraged by the military.{{cite web|url=http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/1993/October%201993/1093plinking.aspx | work =Air Force Magazine | title = Tank Plinking | first = Michael J. | last = Bodner | first2 = William W. | last2 = Bruner III | date = October 1993 | accessdate=2013-06-04}} As the war progressed, the term began to encompass all forms of destroying a target with an excessively capable weapon.Flight manual TO 1A-10A-1 (20 February 2003, Change 8), page vi, 1-150A.

General Norman Schwarzkopf was looking for a plan to incapacitate 50% of the Iraqi army before any ground invasion could begin. Planning was performed including high intensity air strikes with General Dynamics F-111, A-6 Intruder, F-15E Strike Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8 Harrier, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and F-16 Fighting Falcon crews. This culminated in December 1990, with Operation Night Camel in which air crews of the F-111 evaluated the ability of aircraft to use guided munitions with the LANTIRN and Pave Tack target designation systems from medium altitude.

This is a deviation from standard military air engagement. Due to the prevalence of surface-to-air missiles, most aviators would prefer to engage a target from either a very high altitude, or a very low altitude, and certainly with low observability aircraft. However, the Iraqi defenses proved very inadequate. The winning combination{{citation needed |date= April 2013}} for the eventual campaign was either a pair or quartet of F-111F aircraft loaded with four GBU-12 {{cvt|500|lb|kg}}, laser-guided bombs. Bombs were designated for entrenched, hard targets, and for softer targets (e.g. armoured personnel carriers).