BATTLE // September 30, 1980
Operation Scorch Sword
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Source · Wikipedia
Significance
Operation Scorch Sword was the opening Iranian counterstrike against Iraqi strategic infrastructure, launched just eight days after Iraq's invasion of Iran in September 1980. By targeting the Osirak nuclear reactor at Tuwaitha — then under construction and widely regarded as a central asset of Iraq's nuclear program — Iran signaled a willingness to strike deep into Iraqi territory and attack capabilities well beyond the immediate front lines. The operation demonstrated that Iran retained the capacity to project airpower against high-value targets near Baghdad in the earliest phase of the war, complicating Iraqi assumptions about the conflict's scope.
Tactics
Four Iranian F-4 Phantom IIs conducted aerial refueling near the Iran–Iraq border before entering Iraqi airspace. Two aircraft climbed to high altitude on a deliberate false course to register on Iraqi radar and draw attention, while the other two peeled off and descended to extremely low altitude to evade further detection. The low-flying pair then changed course toward the Tuwaitha nuclear facility, using the decoy flight's radar signature to mask their true approach and strike the under-construction reactor.
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