Rao bulletin 1 August 2017 html edition


Insanely Daring Air Raids



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Insanely Daring Air Raids No.3 | Operation Opera
Air raids were one of the military strategies that were used to attack enemies using fighter planes which would drop bombs and blow buildings apart. This task was perhaps the most dangerous and terrifying mission during the times of war. However, many brave aviators risked their lives and conducted daring raids against insane odds. Following covers one often of the most daring raids to ever been conducted in history, the story behind the raids and the crews who flew the military planes.

Operation Opera was the code name of 7th June 1981 Israeli air strike on an Iraqi nuclear reactor. The operation followed the 1980 Iran-Iraq war where a pair of Iranian Phantom jets, part of a group of aircraft that were attacking a nearby conventional power plant, bombed the Iraqi reactor but only caused minor damages which were later repaired by French technicians.
The story began when Israeli intelligence confirmed the purchase of a nuclear reactor from the French by the Iraq government. Both the countries claimed that the reactor was purely for research purposes but soon after Israel confirmed Iraqis intention of developing a nuclear weapon, they were aware of the threat the Iraqi posed to them. Quickly, the Israel tried to seek a diplomatic solution that would halt the French from financing and supporting the Iraqi project, but if failed. At this point, Israel had no much time as Iraq was within a year of obtaining nuclear weapons. Israel planned their attack and on June 7, 1981, their forces took off.
The operation which was conducted carefully involved fourteen F-15 and F-16 fighters which flew off the runway of Etzion Air Force base in the Negev, and proceeded to pass over Jordanian, Saudi, and Iraqi airspace, to attack the French-built Iraqi nuclear reactor. The flight to Iraq was done low-level so as to minimize the possibility of being spotted by aircraft radar in any of the Arab nations the planes flew over.
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