Planning on building an Israeli IDFAF F-16A that hit the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981. I have pictures of the camo scheme and know they used Mk. 84 iron bombs in this controversial bombing. Now this may pose as a challenge to most knowledgable aircraft buffs. Anyone know the fuel tank and Mk. 84 bomb arrangement? I heard the F-16’s only carried Mk. 84’s and no air to air stuff since IDFAF F-15’s were their Mig cap.
According to my copy of The Great Book of Modern Warplanes, the F-16’s that took part in that raid carried 2X AIM-9L on wing tips, 4X Mk-84 Iron Bombs, and one centerline fuel tank.
The loadout would have looked like this…
AIM9 MK84 MK84 Fuel MK84 MK84 AIM9
I don’t know the details of that mission, but as an F-16 mechanic i certainly have an oppinion.
F-16 almost never fly without anything on the wing tips, sometimes it’s just dummy sidewinders, because they act as a winglet and actually have quite a big effect on the aircrafts aerodynamics by reducing wingtip vortices significantly. So like i said i don’t know the details, but i find it hard to believe they didn’t carry something on the wingtips, and as it was a combat mission i don’t think it was dummies, so probably AIM-9, i don’t think they had Block 15’s back in 1981, but i might be wrong, anything before Block 15 couldn’t carry anything heavier than AIM-9’s on the wingtip, Block 15 and later can carry AIM 120’s on the wingtips.
btw-there was a great show on the Military Channel this past Friday about the raid. Might be worth checking TV listings-might cycle back thru again.
This helps alot, thank you. Here’s a picture of one of the F-16A’s that hit the reactor, its a museum piece now.
Not wanting/meaning to question Rand’s resources, but I do remember the Military Channel show pointing out that the F-16’s used carried multiple fuel tanks and deviated from the norm by dropping them when empty. Again, I’m going on memory and that’s not as good as it used to be…
btw-where did you find the proper decals? The show sparked an interest for me to ‘maybe’ try something that doesn’t have a prop on it sometime soon…and what kit are you using?(if you didn’t mention it earlier-I’ll scroll back up shortly.)
I am building the IDFAF F-16A from an early out of production 1/48 scale F-16A Revell kit. The kits raised panel lines doesn’t bother me that much, but the cockpit is so plain its not funny. The only detail the kit provides are side control panel and instrument decals (ugh). I can detail the pathetic ejection seat, no problem. I looked up the Eduard website for any photo etched F-16A cockpit parts and they only have it for Hasegawa, the rest are for later versions for Tamaya and Hasegawa. Any ideas?
I did some research and finally found how the IDFAF bombers were loaded. Here’s the info I found and judging from reading this, the F-16 fighter-bombers had one wing on each side and 1 Mk.84 under each wing. Probably a sidewinder on the wingtips. Check it out.
"Operation Opera was carefully planned for a Sunday to minimise the loss of lives of any foreign workers and the late-afternoon attack was designed so as to provide the Israeli Combat Search and Rescue Team (CSAR) all night to search for any downed Israeli pilots.
An Israeli Air Force squadron of 8 F-16As was outfitted, each with two unguided Mark-84 2000-pound delay-action bombs, and external fuel tanks. A squadron of 6 F-15As was also assigned to the operation to provide fighter support for the F-16As.
On June 7, 1981 at 15:55 local time (12:55 GMT) the plan was set in motion. The task force left Etzion Airbase in the Negev, flying at 240 m unchallenged over Jordanian and Saudi airspace.
1,000 km into their flight, the operation was complicated by the F-16As external fuel tanks. The planes were so heavily loaded that the external tanks were exhausted while the task force was still en route to the Osirak facility. These tanks were designed to be jettisoned, but not to be jettisoned while the plane was still loaded with the Mark 84 bombs; there was a possibility that the tanks could become entangled in the weapon mounts once released.[citation needed] However, this did not occur, and the squadron of F-16As managed to safely jettison their empty external tanks over the Saudi desert.
Upon reaching Iraqi airspace, the squadron split up, with two of the F-15s forming close escort to the F-16 squadron, and the remaining F-15s dispersing into Iraqi airspace as a diversion and ready back-up.
The attack squadron descended to 30 m over the Iraqi desert, attempting to fly under the radar of the Iraqi defenses.
The attack force flew at 360 knots, 100 feet above the desert floor in a tight formation so if they were spotted on radar, they would be mistaken for just one plane. At 18:35 local time (17:35 Israeli time/14:35 GMT), 20 km from the Osirak reactor complex, the F-16 formation climbed to 2,100 m and went into a 35-degree dive at 1,100 km/h, aimed at the reactor complex. At 1,100 m, the F-16s began releasing the Mark 84 bombs in pairs, at 5-second intervals. According to the Israeli reports, all sixteen weapons struck the reactor complex, although two apparently did not detonate. As the anti-aircraft defenses opened fire, the squadron climbed to an altitude of 12,200 m and started to return to Israel. According to Israeli reports, the Iraqi defenses were caught off guard, and were slow to react. In any case, the anti-aircraft defenses of the facility did not manage to damage any of the attacking squadron.
Despite the fears of encountering Iraqi interceptors, the squadron remained unchallenged, and returned to Israeli airspace by the route they had followed to Osirak"
Oh, one thing I like to add, when Ronald Reagan was informed about the bombing at the usual morning security meeting, the President looked up shocked at the officer and said: “They did what?” Then smiled and said: “Well, boys will be boys”. Vice-President Bush senior wasn’t impressed and had scathing remarks towards Israel for conducting the air strike. Later when briefed on the bombing details, Reagan was impressed and said it was a typical piece of brilliant Israeli planning and execution. The American military attack community I’m told was impressed with the IDFAF to have performed such precision bombing without the use of smart bombs.
Its OK Bob. [tup] I was just going by what was printed in the book. Often times info on hand is never accurate and requirers research indepth on your subject. Also given that Isreals military is very secretive we may never know what the exact load out was.
Here’s a few that look like they might do it. I’d love to see these builds.