Gulf War (Operation AXE)

International Information

International Operation Name: Operation AXE (Gulf War)

International Mission Name: Operation AXE (Gulf War)

Mandating Organization: Government of Canada

Region Name: Middle East

Location: Kuwait, Iraq

Mission Date: 1 March 1991 - 30 April 1991

Mission Mandate: To gather and examine Iraqi weapons to determine both what weapons Iraq had used and how effective they were.

Mission/Operation Notes: After the end of the war, Canadian army officers in Saudi Arabia traveled to Kuwait to gather arms and equipment abandoned by the Iraqis, under the name Operation AXE. The goal was to gather and examine Iraqi weapons to determine both what weapons Iraq had used and how effective they were. This was a highly dangerous enterprise as the ground was littered with unexploded ammunition and some Iraqi weapons were booby-trapped.

A second group of personnel from the Department of National Defence traveled to Kuwait in April under Op AXE II. These were defence scientists and researchers whose goal it was to examine how effective new technologies and force-multipliers had been. These included advanced weapons targeting systems, satellite communications and surveillance systems, and stealth technologies.