The H-3 airstrike ( fa, عملیات اچ۳) was a surprise air attack by the
Iranian Air Force * Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
, patron =
, motto = , "Skyhigh is my place"
, colours = Ultramarine blue
, colours_label =
, march ...
during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
on 4 April 1981 against the airbases of the
Iraqi Air Force
The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF or IrAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية العراقية, Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah}) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well ...
at the
H-3 Air Base
H-3 Air Base (code-named 202C, 202D) is part of a cluster of former Iraqi Air Force bases in the Al-Anbar Governorate of Iraq. H3 is located in a remote stretch of Iraq's western desert, about 435 kilometers from Baghdad in western Iraq. It is cl ...
in western Iraq. The Iranians destroyed at least 48 Iraqi aircraft on the ground with no losses of their own.
Based on the results achieved, it is considered one of the most successful raids in the history of
aerial warfare.
Operation
The target
The
H-3 Air Base
H-3 Air Base (code-named 202C, 202D) is part of a cluster of former Iraqi Air Force bases in the Al-Anbar Governorate of Iraq. H3 is located in a remote stretch of Iraq's western desert, about 435 kilometers from Baghdad in western Iraq. It is cl ...
consists of three parts: H-3 "Main" (also known as Al-Walid, ), H-3 Northwest, and H-3 Southwest. It is located near
Al Walid town close to the
Baghdad–Amman highway in the
Al Anbar
Al Anbar Governorate ( ar, محافظة الأنبار; ''muḥāfaẓat al-’Anbār''), or Anbar Province, is the largest governorate in Iraq by area. Encompassing much of the country's western territory, it shares borders with Syria, Jordan, ...
desert west of Iraq, near the Jordanian border and 1000 km from the Iranian borders. It was erected to secure the western borders of Iraq and was also used in the
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by E ...
in 1973.
According to Iraqi sources, during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations S ...
, it was used as a support airbase for the
Iraqi Air Force
The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF or IrAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية العراقية, Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah}) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well ...
and housed no more than a few transportation squadrons and a squadron of
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, as well as retired
Hawker Hunters.
The IRIAF had received "credible" reports that Iraq – reinforced by the arrival of large amounts of ammunition and spare parts from
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, as well as by the delivery of
Mirage F1
The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the popular Mirage III family.
During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would ...
s from
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and
Tupolev Tu-22
The Tupolev Tu-22 (NATO reporting name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with the Soviet military in the 1960s.
The aircraft was a disappointm ...
bombers from the Soviets
– had been preparing for an imminent major ground and air offensive against Iran.
According to Iranian intelligence, the Iraqi Air Force had relocated most of its valuable assets to its Al-Walid air base, located in the H-3 complex.
As part of
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
's attempts to carry out a successful offensive against Iran on the northern front between 12 and 22 March 1981, Iraq fired two
9K52 Luna-M
The 9K52 ''Luna-M'' (russian: Луна; en, moon, NATO reporting name FROG-7) is a Soviet short-range artillery rocket system which fires unguided and spin-stabilized 9M21 rockets. It was originally developed in the 1960s to provide divisiona ...
surface-to-surface rockets against the cities of
Dezful
Dezful ( fa, دزفول, pronounced , Dezfuli dialect: Desfil, pronounced ) also Romanized as Dezfūl and Dezfool; also known as Dīzfūl and Ab I Diz is a city and capital of Dezful County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its popu ...
and
Ahvaz
Ahvaz ( fa, اهواز, Ahvâz ) is a city in the southwest of Iran and the capital of Khuzestan province. Ahvaz's population is about 1,300,000 and its built-up area with the nearby town of Sheybani is home to 1,136,989 inhabitants. It is hom ...
. Within days after this attack, commanders of the 31st and 32nd Tactical Fighter Wing in
Shahrokhi Air Base
Hamadan Airbase or Shahrokhi Airbase or Noje Airbase ( fa, پایگاه هوایی شهید نوژه) is an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force base located 47 km north of Hamadan in the Hamadān Province. The airbase is named after Capt ...
(TAB 3, near
Hamadan
Hamadan () or Hamedan ( fa, همدان, ''Hamedān'') (Old Persian: Haŋgmetana, Ecbatana) is the capital city of Hamadan Province of Iran. At the 2019 census, its population was 783,300 in 230,775 families. The majority of people living in Ham ...
) planned a counter-attack to degrade the Iraqi Air Force's capabilities.
The attack
Being almost 1500 kilometres from the Iranian fighters at Shahrokhi Air Base, H-3 was out of range and if choosing a direct route, the Iranian aircraft would have had to fly over
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
and perform
aerial refueling twice in Iraqi airspace, including once near Baghdad, which was heavily fortified by Iraqi air defence sites.
A team of IRIAF commanders (including Col. Ghasem Golchin, Col.
Bahram Hooshyar and Col. Fereydoun Izadseta) planned a more sophisticated, surprise operation instead. Senior Iranian military officials had determined that Iraqi Air Force activity was lower in northern Iraq, so a plan was made to approach the Iraqi sites from that direction. To increase their chances, the Iranian commanders decided to fly their aircraft to
Urmia Lake
Lake Urmia;
az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü;
ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê;
hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich;
arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is l ...
first and refuel in the air, and then from there they would have a "clean" route passing over the mountains of northern Iraqi–Turkish border, while keeping the altitude at less than 300 ft (100 m) to avoid Iraqi and Turkish
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...
s.
The route was around 3,500 km.
Nevertheless, the Phantoms could not reach their target without aerial refuelling a number of times.
The 31st and 32nd Tactical Fighter Wings (TFW) employed eight
McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantoms, four
Grumman F-14A Tomcat
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...
s, one
Lockheed C-130H Khofaash, a
Boeing 747 airborne command post (which was to monitor Iraqi radio communications, and also act as a communication relay between the raiders and the IRIAF HQ), and two tankers (a
Boeing 707 and a
Boeing 747) for aerial refueling for the attack.
![Operation H3 map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Operation_H3_map.png)
The operation began at 10:30am of 4 April 1981. A formation of eight F-4 Phantoms (including six F-4Es and two F-4Ds), accompanied by two airborne reserves, departed from
Hamedan Air Base
Hamadan Airbase or Shahrokhi Airbase or Noje Airbase ( fa, پایگاه هوایی شهید نوژه) is an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force base located 47 km north of Hamadan in the Hamadān Province. The airbase is named after Capt ...
(TAB 3) and proceeded towards
Urmia Lake
Lake Urmia;
az, اۇرمۇ گؤلۆ, script=Arab, italic=no, Urmu gölü;
ku, گۆلائوو رمیەیێ, Gola Ûrmiyeyê;
hy, Ուրմիա լիճ, Urmia lich;
arc, ܝܡܬܐ ܕܐܘܪܡܝܐ is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is l ...
and then, after refueling in friendly airspace, crossed into Iraq, while the two reserve aircraft returned. A pair of F-14 Tomcats patrolled the area hours before and after the strike began to counter any interception attempts by the Iraqi Air Force. Meanwhile, three
Northrop F-5Es from
Tabriz Air Base
Tabriz Shahid Madani International Airport ( fa, فرودگاه بینالمللی شهید مدنی تبریز) is an airport that serves Tabriz, Iran. It is the primary airport of Tabriz. The runway of the airport is also used by Tactical A ...
(
TFB.2) performed diversionary attacks on
Hurriya Air Base near
Kirkuk, with unknown results, but certainly distracting Iraqis away from the Phantoms.
The C-130H was flying near the Iran–Iraq border. Some time earlier, the two tankers, which already had been sent to
Syria, had taken off from a Syrian airport, and then clandestinely diverted from international commercial corridors in total radio silence, while apparently being bound for Iran. Flying at a very low altitude over southern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
and eastern Syria, they crossed mountainous northwestern Iraq and finally joined the Phantoms over the western Iraqi desert. Each Phantom refueled four times from the tankers, at the altitude of 300 ft (100 m), which was risky and far below any safety standards
(aerial refueling is normally performed at ).
This was done to avoid detection by Iraqi radars; however, the fighters briefly appeared several times on the radars, but were mistaken for Turkish aircraft patrolling the border. Colonel Izadseta supervised the operation from a command Boeing 747 that was in Syria's airspace. The Syrian
airport at Palmyra could also be used for possible emergency landing.
While approaching the airbases, the Phantoms split their formation into two groups, ''Alvand'' and ''Alborz''. This allowed attacks to come from several directions on the H3 complex. They bombed all three airfields within the H-3 complex.
Achieving complete surprise, the fighters made several passes against all three airbases. Both runways at Al-Walid were targeted in order to prevent any Iraqi aircraft from taking off. Cluster bombs of the second group of Phantoms damaged three large
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
s. The Phantoms were able to make multiple attacks on multiple targets with cannon fire. By the end of the second group's attack the Iraqi military forces had not responded with a coordinated counter-attack. Effective
anti-aircraft fire was also impaired due to the surprise attack. Iraqi aircraft were scrambled in an unsuccessful attempt to intercept the Iranian force.
After the attack, the Iranian formation turned back towards its own bases. Iranian military officials stated that none of the Iranian Phantoms was damaged during the attack.
[Cooper and Bishop ''Air Enthusiast'' March/April 2004, pp. 7–8.]
Casualties
The IRIAF claimed it destroyed a total of three
Antonov An-12BP
The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed and produced by Antonov. It was produced in many customized variants for uses within the country and for exports. More than 60 variants were produced, each having a uniq ...
transports, a
Tupolev Tu-16
The Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberation ...
bomber, four
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s, five
Sukhoi Su-20/22s, eight
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generati ...
s, two
Dassault Mirage F1EQs (delivered only weeks earlier) and four helicopters,
as well as damaging eleven others beyond repair, including two Tu-16 bombers. Two Iraqi pilots and fourteen personnel were killed, together with three Egyptian and an East German officer, while 19 Iraqis, four Egyptians, and two Jordanians were badly injured. This strike degraded Iraq's capability to retaliate.
[Fire in the Hills: Iranian and Iraqi Battles of Autumn 1982, by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 9 Sept. 2003]
According to Iranian intelligence, prior to the attack there were at least two squadrons equipped with ten
Tupolev Tu-22B and at least six
Tupolev Tu-16
The Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberation ...
heavy bombers, as well as two other units with MiG-23BNs and Su-20s, which were hidden in the hangars. This has been disputed by Iraqi officials. Iraqi sources claimed that only a single MiG-21 was damaged in the attack; that the damaged hangars were empty at the time of the attack; and that its Tu-22s and Tu-16s were stationed at
Tammuz Airbase due to the ongoing war with Iran. Iraq claimed that the bombers were stationed at Tammuz until they were retired from the Iraqi Air Force in the late 1980s, and then were bombed in 1991 during the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
. Iraq denied any losses of any Mirage F1s, claiming that all were located in an airbase built specially for them at the request of the French government. The Mirage airbase, called
Saddam Airbase, was located approximately 300 kilometers north of Baghdad.
Iraqi air defense command later claimed to have detected the formation coming from the direction of Syria en route to the target, and their radar followed Phantoms for some 67 minutes,
[Assault on Al-Wallid](_blank)
Historical Iranian attack against H-3 base in 1981. although the Iranians achieved total surprise.
In popular culture
''The Attack on H3'' (), directed by
Shahriar Bahrani
Shahriar Bahrani ( fa, شهریار بحرانی) is an Iranian director.
Selected filmography
* 2009: The Kingdom of Solomon
* 2000: Saint Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, ...
in 1994, is an
Iranian movie depicting the operation.
References
External links
روایت بزرگترین حمله هوایی جهانin ''
Ettela'at
''Ettela'at'' ( fa, اطلاعات, Ettelâ'ât, ) is a Persian language daily newspaper of record published in Iran. It is among the oldest publications in the country, and the oldest running Persian daily newspaper in the world. The paper has ...
'' (in Persian)
Operation H-3in the official website of the Iranian Air Force
{{Iran–Iraq War
Airstrikes during the Iran–Iraq War
Airstrikes conducted by Iran
Cross-border operations into Iraq
Military operations of the Iran–Iraq War in 1981
1981 in aviation
1981 in Syria
April 1981 events in Asia
Airstrikes in Iraq