DT Variant - Eagles & Falcons - Khuzestan

Khuzestan Province saw some of the heaviest air raids on 22 Sept 1980 and therefore is probably the easiest to reproduce as a wargame.

We know the following Targets were attacked:

Ahwaz Internation Airport
Ahwaz Radar Station (Dehlooran)
Abadan City
Abadan Airport
Abadan Port
Adadan Refinery
Abadan Oil Station
Aghajari Dispersal airfield
Bandar-e Mashshahr
Dezful TFB.4 Base
Dezful Radar Station (Abdanaan)
Khoramshahr City
Khoramshahr Port
Omideyh TFB.5 base
Masjed Soleiman Helicopter Base

I can assume that as all of these were attacked by 2 flights of aircraft which gives me about 90 sorties.  I think that is two many and some of the attacks were secondary activities.  I also need to add in some Combat Air Patrols supporting the attacks.  I can also have a good mix of MiG-23, Su-20 and MiG-21 aircraft involved.
So IrAF order of battle has the following aircraft

3 Flights CAP {2} (2 MiG-21 and 1 MiG-23)
4 {3} Flights MiG-23BN Bombing
6 {3} Flights Su-20 Bombing

The IRIAF has two major airbases which can generate 3 flights of 2 CAP to disrupt the incoming raids.

DT Variant - Eagles & Falcons - Target List (Pt1)

While taking the actual targets struck on 22 Sep 1980 as a start I also needed to look at other possibles.  The IRIAF Air Defence Command Radar network would be viable targets.

Tehran – Dosheh-Tappen, Tehran Province

Karadj, Alborz Province
Tabriz , East Azerbaijan Province
Baboolsar – Mashhadsar, Mazandaran Province
Mashhad , Razavi Khorasan Province
ShahrAbad, Razavi Khorasan Province
Dezful – Dehlooran, Khuzestan Province
Dezful – Abdanaan, Khuzestan Province
Hamadan – Soobashi, Hamadan Province
Bushehr – Bushehr Province
Isfahan – Isfahan Province
Bandar-e Abbas, Hormozgan Province
Bandar-e Jask, Hormozgan Province
Kish Island, Hormozgan Province
Chah-Bahar (Incomplete)
Lengeh Near Bandar-e Lengeh, Hormozgan Province
Taheri Near Bandar-e Taheri, Bushehr Province
Kohkilooyeh Near Behbahan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province
Kerend Near Ghasre Shirin, Kermanshah Province


Nakhjir,  Not mentioned in any of the above.  If so the name would indicate it possibly being located in Markazi Province.

Of all these they will comprise the following elements
They will comprise:
Technical Area
Administration Area
Radar Dome
A HAWK Battery
A RAPIER Battery
AAA Concentration

DT Variant - Eagles - Background (Pt 3)

23 Sep 80

• IRIAF launches Operation Kaman 99 with 140 F-4E aircraft in 3 waves against 15 Targets supported by approximately 20 F-5?
• Al-Dadjil
• Al-Hurriya
• U/I Number of F-5E but 3 reported lost
• Mousel/Mosul/Mosel
• 18 F-5E from Tabriz
• ? 48 F-5E from Tabriz strike Mosul airbase
• Shaibah/Shoibiyah/Shoaibah
• U/I Iranian aircraft strike Shaibah
• al-Rashid
• attacked by approx 12 F-4E from Hamedan
• 8 F-4E from Tehran conduct second strike
• al-Habbaniyah
• Part of 28 F-4E From Hamedan
• al-Kut airbase
• Part of 28 F-4E From Hamedan
• Nasiriyah/Nasseriyah
• 40 F-5E from ?
• Tallil
• Um ol-Qassr
• Tanumah Bridge
• F-5E from Dezful and Omidyeh
• Basrah Oil Refinery
• F-5E from Dezful and Omidyeh
• Al-Bakr
• 60 F-14A provide Air Defence of Iranian air space
• Undefined MiG-21R with MiG-23 escort intercepted by a Pair of F-14A
• IrAF Early morning raids including Tu-22B
• Ahwaz
• Dezful
• Sanandaj
• Hamedan
• Tabriz
• Esfahan
• Bushehr
• Nakhjir Radar Station
• 12 Aircraft

DT - Variant - Eagles - Background (Pt 2)

Chronology - Major Days

The IrAF initial attacks were spread across a number of Iranian regions.  I have now broken them down into rough areas in order to possibly playout each region (providing it offers some variety in doing so).

• 22 Sep 80.  The Iraqi Airforce attacks 8 airbases, 5 airports and 4 army locations. Attacks comprise 192 aircraft (one source states that 50% of these sorties were MiG-23BN), the second wave comprised approximately 60 aircraft:
• West Azerbaijan Province
• Urmia/Uromiyeh/Orumiyeh
• 1330hrs 5 MiG-21 attack the barracks and Landing Strip at Oumiyeh
• 1350hrs Second formation attack on the barracks
• Piranshahr
• U/I Attack

• East Azerbaijan Province
• Tabriz (TFB.2) – Defences include RAPIER AAGW
• 1^st Wave 1353hrs 8 Hunters attack TFB.2 and airport
• 2^nd Wave 6 Su-20 & 2+ MiG-21 Intercepted by 2 F-5E
• Tabriz Radar Station
• U/I
• Tabriz Refinery
• U/I
• Tabriz Thermal Power Plant
• U/I
• Kermanshah Province
• Kermanshah Airport
• 1^st Wave 1415hrs 5+ aircraft attacked for 20 minutes
• 2^nd Wave attack reported
• Bakhtaran/Kermanshah (reported as being 1^st Corps HQ location)
• 1^st Wave 1415hrs 5+ Fighter Bombers attack Kermanshah airport
• Qassre-Shirin area
• U/I Attack
• 2^nd Wave attack reported

• Illam Province
• Tu-16 reported as being shot down near Sar-e-pol-e-Zahab (Ilam) on route
• Illam reported as 2nd wave target but no details

• Hamedan Province
• Nojeh (Hamedan) (TFB.3)
• 1^st Wave 1345hrs Main package attacks Su-20 and MiG-21 reported
• 2^nd Wave 4 MiG-23BN and 2 Unspecified Sukhoi Attack both Nojeh and Hamedan Airport. 2^nd Wave reports mentioned 3 MiG-23 attacking Nojeh
• Hamedan civil airport
• 1^st Wave 1345hrs 4 U/I attack
• Assad-Abad Satellite Communications Station. (Intercepted by IRIAF fighters)

• Khuzestan Province
• Abadan Refinery
• Section of Su-20 aircraft attack refinery
• Ahwaz International Air Port
• 1^st Wave 1345 4 Su-20 attack (Rockets and Iron Bombs)
• 2^nd Wave 1440hrs 2 Su-7
• Ahwaz Radar Station
• 1^st Wave 1350hrs Radar Station
• Abadan City, Airport, Jetties, refinery, Oil Pumping station
• U/I Attacks
• Ahvaz (not reported as operational air base in 1980, possibly means the al-Jufair barracks or typo for Ahwaz but if so then this MiG-23 attack is not referenced elsewhere)
• 6 MiG-23 attack
• Aghajari dispersal
• U/I Attacks
• Bandar-e Mahshahr
• 4 Su-20 are intecepted by 2 F-4E from Bushehr.
• Dezful (TFB.4)
• 1^st Wave 1400hrs attacked twice at short intervals
• 2^nd Wave (1440hrs?) reported that 2 sections of 2 Su-20 attacked Dezful
• Kerendi EWR Station
• 1 Tu-22B attacks Khoramshahr and Port Installations
• U/I Attacks
• Omidiyeh AB
• 1^st Wave (1440hrs?) 2 sections of 2 aircraft attack
• 2^nd Wave 1500hrs 2 sections of UI aircraft
• Masjed Soleiman
• 1515hrs UI Large Attack Force attack the Helicopter base
• 
  
• Bushehr Province
• Bushehr
• 1^st Wave 1400hrs conducted by MiG-23BN.
• Evening Raid by MiG-23BN reported as last attack of the day
• Bushehr Naval Facilities
• Raid on naval facilities simultaneous with 1^st Wave attack
• Evening Raid attacks
• 4 Su-20 intercepted by 2 F-4E from Bushehr (3 Su-20 reported as lost)
• Tehran Province
• Doshen-Tappen/Doshen Tapeh/Doshan Tappeh
• 1^st Wave attack Target
• Merhabad (Tehran) (TFB.1)
• 1^st Wave 1420hrs 2 flights of 3 MiG-23 Attack (At least 2 MiG-23BN reported as being present and reported that only one flight reached the target).
• 2^nd Wave – 4 MiG-23BN and 2 Unspecified Sukhoi Attack at 1500
• Merhabad Fuel Depot (not sure if this is at TFB.1)
• 1 Tu-22B attacks

• Esfahan Province
• Isfahan/Esfahan/Khatami
• U/I Attacks
• Tu-16 reported as being shot down near Sar-e-pol-e-Zahab (Ilam) on route to this target

• Kordestan Province
• Sanandaj Airport
• U/I attack

• Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province
• Shahre-Kurd Sugar Factory
• 1420hrs Single U/I Bomber dropping 12 Bombs

• Target Locations not yet identified
• Khosro-Abad Barracks
• 1^st Wave 1400hrs 4+ Su-20
• Nakhjir EWR
• U/I Attack
• Islamabad West
• U/I Attacks
• 2^nd Wave attack reported

IRIAF Counter Attacks

• TFB.6
• 2 F-4E attack Um-ol-Qassr, 20 minutes later overflight by RF-4E.
• 2 F-4E attack Baghdad
• 2 F-4E attack naval force approaching Bushehr
• 1600 – 1800hrs 60 F-4 and F-5 aircraft reported as launching additional counter attacks
• Al-Rashid Air base – 31^st TFW tasked F-4E
• Kut Air Base
• Basrah airport
• Khaled-Ibn-Walid Bridge
• Ground attack units
• Zubair Petrochemical plant attacked
• Shaibah/Shoibiyah/Shoaibah Air Base 4 F-4E from Bushehr late afternoon
• Additional 20 F-5? Provide ground support

---

[i] Cooper/Bishop P72

DT Variant - Eagles - Background (Pt 4)

24 Sep 80

• IrAF
• 4 MiG-21 and 4 Su-22 are engaged by F-14A in the area of Dezful airbase
• 3 MIG-23BN attack Khark Island (subsequently shot down by F-14A)
• IRIAF
• 2 flights of 2 F-4 (6000lb bomb load) in two waves targets near Kut
• U/I Iranian aircraft strike Shaibah

25 Sep 80

• IrAF
• Tu-22B attacks against Tehran
• IRIAF
• a large raid was conducted by the IRIAF (20 F-4E reported) on the two Iraqi airbases at Tahmmouz/al-Habbinayah and al-Taqqadum. The striking Phantoms attacked in two waves 10 minutes apart. Reported that at least 12 MiG-21MF and MiG-23MS engaged the strike on egress).
• The al-Taqqadum strike comprised wave 1 of 5 F-4D and 3 F-4E and the second wave comprised 8 F-4 (undisclosed marks but assumed to be F-4E)
• 0500hrs two strikes one against al-Hurriya and the second against Ar Qayyarah
• ?hrs 8 F-4E and 1 RF-4E attack Al-Rashid

26 Sep 80

• IrAF
• 2 IL-28 Attack Panjwin
• IRIAF
• 2 F-4E attack ? Iraqi Airbase
• 3 F-4E from TFB.6 attack Bridge near Basrah with AGM-65

28 Sep 80

• IrAF
• Tu-22B attack Tehran

30 Sep 80

• IRIAF
• attacks on Baghdad and the Osirak Nuclear Reactor
• 2 F-4E are reported to have attacked the Osirak Reactor as part of a larger raid on conventional power stations in the area of Baghdad

3 Oct 80

• IrAF
• 2 Tu-22B attack Tehran (Rey Oil Refinery and Mehrabad Airport)
• 2 Tu-16 attack Mehran and are intercepted by 2 F-4E Scrambled from ?
• 2 MiG-21 on a hit and run attack are intercepted by F-4D (Mentioned in Osprey Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 book but not on the ACIG.ORG database)
• IRIAF
• 30 Phantoms raid eight different targets in Iraq, including airfields and oil terminals near Basrah.
• 4 airfields
• 2 deep-sea oil terminals near the port of Faw

4 Oct 80

• IRIAF
• 2 F-4D with LGB attack Buzaragan oil pumping station

6 Oct 80

• IrAF
• 3 Tu-22B supported by ? MiG-23BN attack Mehrabad

12 Oct 80

• IrAF
• 2 Tu-16 attack Tehran intercepted by F-4E
• IRIAF
• 2 F-4D attack Tammouz/Al-Habbinayah Air Base
• RF-4E photo recon run over Baghdad

16 Oct 80

• IRIAF
• 2 F-4D escorted by 2 F-14A and Tanker support attack Tammouz/Al Habbiniyah

21 Oct 80

• IrAF
• 2 Tu-22B attack Karaj EWR near Tehran

25 Oct 80

• IrAF
• 4 IrAFi Su-22 intercepted by 2 x F-14A over Abadan

26 Oct 80

• IrAF
• 2 MiG-21MF and 2 MiG-23BN attack Abadan (0910hrs ?)

29 Oct 80

• IrAF
• Tu-22B heading towards the Iranian holy city of Qom or Esfahan intercepted by 2 F-14A (TFB.8)
• Tu-22B City of Qom bomb the Shahin-Shahr thermal powerplant
• IRIAF
• On 29 October, 1980, a complex raid on the al-Hurriyah airbase north of Mosul. Carried out to destroy a major part of the IrAFi Mirage fleet. The raiders (Sultan 1-10) approached from the north (rather than from the east, the most direct approach to the airbase from Iran), skirting several SAM sites and CAP MiG-21s in the process. To approach from this direction, the Iranian raiders required re-fueling tankers to accompany them on the raid. Two were assigned to this raid, and were escorted by two F-14As, one of which has 3 x AIM-7E-2 Sparrow and 2 x AIM-54, the other has 4 x AIM-9J. The raiders, consisting of six F-4Es armed only with 12 Mk-82 bombs each, were to bomb the airbase, then rendezvous with the tankers and then head back to Iran. As the raid was underway, two flights of two patrolling IrAFi MiG-23s happened to be flying towards the raiders. The F-14s left the tankers and took off after the MiGs, hoping to intercept them before they encountered the F-4s.

28 Nov 80

30 Nov 80

• IRIAF
• On November 30, 1980, a single IRIAF RF-4E - escorted by two F-4Es armed with air-to-air missiles - took off from TFB.3 to take pictures of Tuwaitha. The F-4Es entered Iraqi airspace first, drawing the attention of the Iraqi defenders away from the sole RF-4E. The recon-Phantom approached to the south of the target at low level, then turned back towards the east and made a single pass over the Osirak reactors while being fired at by several Iraqi AAA and SAM sites. Once out of the target area, the two F-4Es joined up again and escorted the RF-4E safely out of Iraq.

7 Jan 81

• IrAF
• 4 MiG-23BN interdiction raid near Ahwaz intercepted by a pair of F-14A

4 Apr 81

• IRIAF 6 F-4E and 2 F-4D attack 3 airfields making up the H-3 Complex support by two F-14A, two 707-2J9C tankers, one C-130H COMINT and two F-5E (TFB.2)

6 Apr 81

• IRIAF Attack on Haj Sen Airbase
• Tu-22 Bombers reported to be target

25 Apr 81

• IRIAF
• F-4E from TFB.3 Hamadan attack Shaibah. MiG-21MF CAP is reported as being present

AIRCRAFT LOADOUTS

22/23 Sep 80

F-14A 2 Phoenix, 2 Sparrow, 2 Sidewinder

F-4E attack al Rashid AB 2 Sparrows and 6 GP Bombs

F-4E attack al Rashid AB 2 Sparrows, 2 Sidewinders, 6 GP Bomb (Lead aircraft of each pair)

DT Variant - Eagles - Background (Pt 1)

Forces
I have tom coopers book somewhere around in a box so need to dig it out and have a flick through as well as some in depth browsing.
Iran is reported to have had 447 functional combat aircraft on 21 Sep 1980 however trusty wikipedia currently lists the following 473 aircraft plus J-7s.......plus RF-4Es.....

• 18 J-6s,
• 79 F-14s
• 209 F-4 Phantom IIs
• 32 F-4D
• 177 F-4E
• 167 F-5s
• 165 F-5E/F
• 16 RF-4E

Iran operated from 10 Airbases:

• Ahvaz (not sure if this is correct)
• TFB.1 Merhabad (Tehran) F-4E
• TFB.2 Tabriz - F-5E
• TFB.3 Hamaden - F-4E (also known as Shahid Nojeh)
• TFB.4 Vahdati (Also Known as Dezful)
• TFB.6 Bushehr
• TFB.7 Shiraz - F-14A (also known as Tor?)
• TFB.8 Isfahan - F-14A (also known as Khatami?)
• TFB.9 Bandar Abbas
• TFB.10 Cha Bahar

Iraq is estimated to have had 332 aircraft again from trusty Wikipedia

• To Follow ?

Iraqi airbases included:

• al-Hurriyah Su-20, Su-22M, Su-22MR & MiG-21MF
• al-Rashid MiG-21PFM, MiG-21bis & MiG-21RF,
• al-Habbaniyah Tu-16 & Tu-22, MiG-23MS (also known as Tahmmouz) MiG-25 units reported ?
• al-Kut Su-7 & MiG-23BN (also known as al-Jarrah)
• Nasiriyah MiG23MF & MiG-23BN
• Shaibah
• MiG-21MF & Su-22M
• 24 MiG-25R/RB/RBShs, 12 MiG-21MFs and at least eight MiG-23MLA (Reported as Soviet Aircraft)
• H3 Complex MiG-21bis/MF & MiG-23MF
• Mosul MiG-21MF