Operation Babylon

Israeli Air Force F-16A Netz 243, flown by Colonel Ilan Ramon in Operation Babylon.


The lead F-16 Falcon lumbered forth from its subterranean vault onto the tarmac, spewing fire and smoke. 2,000-pound Mark-84s were positioned under each wing and the plane listed side to side as each munition was alternatively secured to the under-carriage. Improvised twin auxiliary fuel tanks hung pendent between the munitions. Eight more similarly configured Fighting Falcons soon completed the wedge formation and were joined by a contingency of six flanking F-15 Eagles.

And as the throttle of the lead Falcon was applied, the Pratt & Whitney F100 roared to life that late desert afternoon in June and raced down the air strip, but failed to lift off. Each Falcon was so overloaded with munitions and fuel, every structural specification was far exceeded. And the required powerplant thrust could only be achieved by the potentially disastrous transgression the turbine’s RPM red-line.

But, like the mythical Prometheus, the lead Falcon strained and screamed and trembled in agony as it struggled to break the chains that bound it to earth, until at last it was free….

On 7 June 1981 Israel carried out a “mission impossible,” terminating Saddam Hussain’s burgeoning nuclear program by destroying the French constructed Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. For this the world is indebted to Israel for averting nuclear conflict for 34 additional years.

On 1 March 2015 it was reported that that US President Barack Hussein Obama countered a similar 2014 Israeli military response against the existential threat of Iran’s nuclear facilities by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets over Iraq in transit to Iran.