Operation Southern Watch begins as Persian Gulf coalition members (primarily the US Air Force and Navy) begin to enforce the ban (announced 24 hours earlier) on Iraqi airplanes from flying south of the 32nd parallel. Any Iraqi aircraft flying south of the parallel will be shot down. This action is precipitated by Iraq’s failure to comply with United Nations Resolution 688, which demands that the Iraqi government stop the repression of its Shiite population in southern Iraq. It ends March 17, 2003.
The Senate Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces heard testimony from the Defense Department’s top missile defense leaders and demanded to know why the Missile Defense Agency's proposed $9.6 billion fiscal 2023 budget will not yield more reliable defense against hypersonic weapons already being fielded by adversaries, including Russia on…