Operation Sultan 10

Operation Sultan 10

Part of: First Gulf War

date	October 29, 1980
place	Iraq
output	Iranian success

Parties to the conflict
Iraq	Iran
Troop strength
4 MiG-23	6 McDonnell F-4 , 2 Grumman F-14 , 2 KC-707
losses
2 MiG-21 , 3 Mil Mi-8 , 4 MiG-23	No losses

Operation Sultan 10 ( Persian عملیات سلطان ۱۰[ æmælijɑt ɛ soltɑn ɛ dæh ]) is the name of an operation by the Iranian Air Force on October 29, 1980, at the beginning of the First Gulf War . This operation took part in six F-4E Phantom IIs from the 32nd and 33rd Squadrons , which attacked the Al-Hurriah Air Force Base near Mosul in northern Iraq.

Motive of the operation

In October 1980, the commanders from Mehrabad Air Force Base received information about the deployment of 47 French technicians at the Al-Hurriah military airfield near Mosul in northern Iraq. The French staff was supposed to train Iraqi fighter pilots to become fighter pilots on the Mirage F1 C. Iraq had already ordered these warplanes in 1977 and should now be delivered. Because of this, the Iranian Air Force designed an operation for the attack. This operation was called Operation Sultan 10 . In this operation, a remarkable number of F-4s with F-14 fighter guards were to attack Iraq at a depth of 300 km from the north. The key people behind this operation were Colonel Afshar and Major Shoghi.

surgery

Six F-4E, each carrying twelve Mark 82 bombs, were supposed to cross the border to Iraq from the north instead of from the east and attack Mosul in order not to be detected by Iraqi MiG-21s and the air defense (SA2, SA3 and SA6) . Since the Iranian Phantoms were too heavy with the gun load, they had to be refueled in the air to make the way back. Therefore, two tanker planes were provided, accompanied by two F-14 Tomcats from the 81st Squadron. This operation was one of the rare operations in which Iranian F-14s and tankers crossed the border of Turkey. The F-14s should stay with the tankers to protect them against possible attack.

Colonel Afshar had ordered absolute radio silence during the operation. Three tanker aircraft (one in reserve), eight F-4E Phantom II (two in reserve), three F-14 (one in reserve) took off from the Tabris military airfield on October 29, 1980 and met south of Urmia . The planes sought shelter behind the Zagros Mountains to avoid being detected by the Iraqi radar .

Before the combat group flew over the border to Turkey, the third tanker refueled all of the combat aircraft and returned to the airfield while escorted by an F-14 and F-4 Phantom II . The Turkish air defense had the operations group on their radar at least once, but did not respond. The battle group flew into the Iraqi airspace over the Sinjar to be discovered without MOUNTAINS. All fighter planes were refueled again, the Phantoms then flew over the cities of Dahuk and Akrê towards the target.

Both tankers remained over the Dahuk Plain while two F-14s protected them and waited for the F-4 to return. Major Shoghi led the attack group. It approached the target and bombed the Al-Hurriah military airfield. Meanwhile, F-14s noticed four Iraqi interceptors that were 70 km away from the tankers and were flying in a direction between the tankers and the F-4. Since the F-4 had no air-to-air missiles in this operation , Colonel Afshar ordered the pilots of the F-14 (Captain K. Sedghi (Sultan 7), Captain Taibi (Sultan 8)) to mount the four MiG-23 Shoot them down before they could attack the Phantoms.

The tomcats headed south immediately. K. Sedghi and Taibi checked their systems and concluded that the four MiG-23s had not yet noticed them. Sultan 7 had two AIM-54 Phoenix , three AIM-7 Sparrow and two AIM-9 Sidewinder . Sultan 8 had six Aim-7s and two Aim-9s. The F-14s had the longer range weapons. Now the F-14s were only 56 km away from the four MiG-23s. The first Aim-54 was shot down by K. Sedghi. After eight seconds, the second Phoenix was shot. The four MiG-23s were still flying in a straight line as if they were on a routine flight. Meanwhile, the F-14s received a message from Sultan 9 that the four Mig-23s had been notified of the attack on Al-Hurriah and had orders to attack the Phantoms. The four MiG-23s changed direction. The first Aim-54 hit a MiG-23, after a few seconds the second Aim-54 hit the other MiG-23. The two remaining interceptors changed their flight south and then east, then lost altitude. Apparently they did not know from which direction they were attacked. K. Sedghi approached the Iraqi planes to attack them with Aim-9P. He successfully shot down the two other MiG-23s with two Aim-9P Sidewinders. One of the four Iraqi pilots was able to save himself with the ejection seat.

The results of the operation

The Phantoms that bombed Mosul destroyed two MiG-21s and three Mil Mi-8s on the ground. At least one French technician was killed and another wounded. The French technicians were ordered back after this operation. Four MiG-23s were shot down, three pilots were killed. One of those killed was Captain Ahmad Sabbah, who shot down two Northrop F-5s in the early days of the war .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop , 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 28
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 29
3. ↑ Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 31
4. ↑ Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, p. 32
5. ↑ Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat by Tom Cooper & Farzad Bishop, 2004, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, from 33-34