zConsulting.net 
Est. 1998
  Operation Opera - Menu
☰
 
 Intro
 Briefing Room: Mission Setup and instructions - important
 Maps
 Downloads
 Additional Notes + Glam Shots
 References
 Top
Operation Opera for X-Plane
Here are the Basics of Operation Opera:

Disregarding the politics surrounding this mission, Operation Opera is perhaps the most daring, challenging, and generally extraordinary mission any F-16 pilot (and the plane itself) has ever flown to this date...

On June 7, 1981 at 15:55LT Operation Opera was launched

Eight F-16s, each armed with two 2,000 lbs Mk. 84 bombs, two AIM-9J Sidewinders, two 370 gal. external tanks under the wings and one 300 gal tank under the belly left Etzion air base.

The F-16s flew at an altitude between 150 and 300 ft agl all the way to their target: the Iraqi nuclear power station named Osirak (now referred to as the Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Center)

At 17:35 with the sun at their back complicating any intercept attempt, the aircraft arrived over the target.
They climbed to 4000 ft agl to deliver their payload

The Fighting Falcons then immediately climbed to 44,000 ft to save fuel and flew straight back to Etzion at full military power; flying over the third hostile country, Jordan.

Some screenshots, including cockpit pointers:

Some screenshots of the target: a completely fictional and very poor reproduction of Osirak:

FMS basics:
Briefing Room: Mission Setup and Instructions on this package (Maps and downloads below): -- read carefully

• As far as i can tell, Etzion air base is very close to the airport called Eilat; since there is no Etzion in X-Plane, we will use Eilat instead (see notes below for more info):
Eilat - Code: LLET (runway 21) -- this is your departure
• You will want to use the specially adapted ACF, called 'F-16 Operation-Opera' available in your downloads at the org store (log into your account, and download the 'F-16_Operation_Opera.zip'):
Before the flight:
Make sure to go into 'Weight, Balance, & Fuel', and move the dial for 'Total internal fuel weight' all the way to the max; this should give you 7162 lbs internal fuel, and 37760 lbs total takeoff weight.
Then go into 'Weapons', click 'Reset to Default Armament', then Remove the first two MK-84's (line numbers 4 and 5) by clicking on the X
(See the screenshots above)
• You should follow the flight plan included in this package, you can take some liberties, especially at the beginning in the mountains, but you must never stray to the west of the line!!
Jordan was a (very) hostile country at the time, and would have immediately responded aggressively if the raid had encroached on its airspace.
You must stay within Saudi Arabia all the way to Iraq.
(although flying back, you will fly over Jordan, but you'll be doing Mach 1.7+ at 44000ft, so the chance of getting shot down is vastly reduced)
You should load the flight plan before takeoff:
look down and to the right in the cockpit,
click on the FMS,
click 'Route Menu',
click 'Co Route List',
click 'Operation Opera',
You can close the FMS by clicking its top left corner
• You must not fly over 300 ft agl the entire way to the target
• You must keep fuel consumption around 6600 lbs/hr; 7000 lbs/hr maximum on the way to the target
Remember that there are no options for refueling on this mission, and the entire flight is over hostile territory!
• Your total internal fuel capacity is 7162 lbs. Your F-16 will first rely on the external tanks under the wings.
When you see that your total fuel is under 7162 lbs -- this should happen over Iraq, fairly close to the target -- click the button (twice) to drop all three tanks.
(here's an easy way to know you're in Iraq: its border is immediately after the first slight right turn -- see the maps below)
• i created a fictional airport (helipad, actually) for Osirak -- Code OROS
This is only to help find the target more easily.
• When you are within sight of Osirak -- you will see a giant smoke plume -- climb to 4000 ft, slow down, and deliver your payload.
• Then, as soon as you can, go to full military power (100% throttle -- afterburner and all), climb to 44000 ft, fly straight back to Eilat.
If you follow these instructions, you will not encounter any hostile SAM (Surface-to-Air) activity or fighter aircraft -- although AA gun batteries started shooting towards the middle of the raid and, amazingly, no aircraft was hit (sadly, some civilians were, from bullets coming back down..).
True Story: you might notice that you'll fly over a Yacht in the Red Sea at the very beginning of your mission,
That is the yacht of the King of Jordan (!!), who immediately noticed that this was a hostile raid and called his top military brass in Jordan;
Luckily for the pilots of this raid, the Jordanian generals didn't think to warn Saudi Arabia, or, more importantly, Iraq.
Maps: (click images to see larger and even download)


Some landmarks and reference points along your route:

Saudi landmarks:
You'll fly somewhere between Halat Ammar and Bir Ibn Hirmas
You'll fly far to the East of the Gurayat (OEGT)
You'll fly somewhere between Turaif (OETR) and Hazem Ajalamid
You'll fly far to the West of the Arar (OERR) Border Crossing

You'll be dropping your tanks very close to the target..

The whole mission will take you about 3 hours.
Note: there is an extra turn in the flight plan that is not shown here, that's because the original plan and the above maps had us flying right smack above a town in Saudi near the Iraqi border, so i tweaked the flight plan a little...
Downloads:

The F-16 Livery, in case you don't have the custom ACF:
Download The F-16 Livery    -- Updated 09/27/19
Please unzip and place the folder called 'Operation Opera' inside: <<F-16 folder>>/liveries/
The resulting path should be: <<F-16 folder>>/liveries/Operation Opera/


The Osirak Custom Scenery:
Download The Osirak Custom Scenery    -- Updated 07/29/19
Please unzip and place the folder called 'Osirak' inside: <<X-Plane folder>>/Custom Scenery/
The resulting path should be: <<X-Plane folder>>/Custom Scenery/Osirak/


The Flight Plan:
Download The Flight Plan    -- Updated 08/01/19
Please unzip and place the file called 'OperationOpera.fms' inside: <<X-Plane folder>>/Output/FMS plans/
The resulting path should be: <<X-Plane folder>>/Custom Scenery/Output/FMS plans/OperationOpera.fms



Here is a situation file to get you started all configured correctly..    -- Updated 09/27/19
In order to load properly, you must install the custom scenery, and the Operation Opera aircraft folder so that the path to the ACF is: <<X-Plane folder>>/Aircraft/_purchases/F-16 Operation Opera/F_16.acf
Then, all you have to do when you open X-Plane is to click on 'File' -> 'Load Flight' -> 'F-16 Falcon (Operation Opera)'
Download the situation file to get you started
Please unzip and place the file called 'F-16 Falcon (Operation Opera).sit' inside: <<X-Plane folder>>/Output/situations/
The resulting path should be: <<X-Plane folder>>/Output/situations/F-16 Falcon (Operation Opera).sit



Bonus file -- My old Apache for X-Plane 11.3+ -- still very much stuck in alpha state -- sorry Apache..:
My Beloved Apache
for X-Plane 11.3+ only


Notes:

i just realized, having never been to Israel, and knowing close to nothing about its history, that Etzion Air Base, the real point of departure, is now the Taba airport in Egypt (since 1982, apparently)... We may as well keep LLET as the point of departure, since it is in Israel today, and it's extremely close to Taba..

i know that the original aircraft, the Netz (see references below), featured an eagle as tail art, but i like the scorpion from the 105th Squadron better... Sorry, but... not sorry..

Some gratuitous glam shots:


References:

Wikipedia

The Aviationist

Here is the only copy of an old Military Channel episode about Operation Opera that i could find..
(if you have a higher quality copy of that Military Channel episode, please contact me!)



Contact Us:
peter@zconsulting.net

[Start anim] , DocHeight: ,
scrollTop: , scrollDir: , TitleHeight: , TitleOffset: , SlideySquareHeight: , SlideySquareOffset: , ParSpacerHeight: , ParSpacerOffset: , TitleMainFixedState:

 ↑ Top