Just over a year after being introduced into the IDF/AF roster, the Netz took on what was to become it’s most prominent mission to date (no, not the filming of “Iron Eagle”!). Eight F-16s were tasked with the destruction of the Osirak nuclear reactor, under construction in Iraq in what was code named ‘Operation Opera’. The raid was conducted on the afternoon of June 7th, 1981. Four aircraft from each of the two squadrons were dispatched to Etzion AB in the Sinai Peninsula, earlier in the day. The aircraft were each loaded with a pair of 2000lb bombs and three external fuel tanks, as well as a pair of air-to-air missiles to provide a rudimentary self defense capability. Hot refueling was performed short of the runway to compensate for fuel lost taxying. The 600nm flight to the shores of the Euphrates was conducted at an altitude of 150ft above the surface of the Saudi and Iraqi deserts. The return trip could not be flown at such a low altitude due to fuel limitations, but was timed so that the formation would fly into the sun, making visual identification by chasing interceptors more difficult.
In order to make the operation possible at all the IDF/AF had to modify procedures relating to the disposal of the external drop tanks. Since the tanks would have run dry relatively early in the flight, the Israelis could not afford to have the strike aircraft flying with the now useless, and drag-inducing tanks all the way to Osirak, where they could be dropped once the bombs on stations 3 and 7 were gone (as per the procedure accepted at the time). Flight tests had to be conducted prior to the mission to ensure that the drop could be performed safely with the bombs still in place. Nevertheless, the F-16s still could not realistically defend themselves against an air-to-air threat due to the limited amount of fuel remaining. As a result the planners decided to have the strike package escorted by six F-15A/Bs.
The strike itself went on rather smoothly, with the aircraft having achieved good hits on the target. Although the F-16s encountered resistance in the target area (mainly in the form of AAA, as well as at least one MANPAD launch), the threat of hostile interceptors on the return trip did not materialize, and all the aircraft returned uneventfully to Etzion.