Progress had been set back in January 2012, when an early version of the modified Eitan crashed during a test flight. But development continued and the resulting model was designated the Eitan-B. Its critical upgrade was the replacement of the propeller driven Pratt & Whitney engine with a new quiet and efficient small jet engine — the GE/Honda HF120 delivering over 2,000 pounds of thrust. The engine, combined with upgraded wing spars, allowed the Eitan-B to fly higher, carry more payload and, most importantly, fly much faster.
Israel had successfully kept the development of the Eitan-B secret for initial use on Project Block G — even to the extent of reprimanding those IDF officers who knew of its existence and asked for operational deployment over Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip during the winter months of 2012–2013.
But now the time had come and the first Eitan-B to takeoff on a combat mission lifted off a runway at Tel Nof Airbase as the last of the big Ilyushins was maneuvered into place at Shangri-La. The UAV carried two Modular Stand Off Vehicles, or MSOVs, that each carried 36 runway denial submunitions. The MSOV was designed to create enough craters to keep enemy aircraft from using targeted runways until repairs are made. The MSOV itself was unpowered but able to glide for up to 75 miles on two wings that deploy from the delivery vehicle. The Eitan-B also carried two Spice 1000 gliding bombs that could autonomously glide up to 100 miles from the altitude that this UAV would be operating at.
The Eitan-B took off at 7:37 p.m. Israeli time to the northwest and climbed as it headed out over the Mediterranean Sea. The UAV flew to a point 87 miles off the coast and turned north. By the time it had reached its operating altitude of 59,000 feet, it turned again to head east over the northern portion of Syria, just inside its border with Turkey. The UAV’s target was the two parallel runways and two connector strips that provided access to the runways at Tabriz International Airport, an airport used jointly by civilian aircraft and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. At the average cruise speed of 330 knots, the UAV would take just under two and a half hours to reach its weapons launch point. Once its weapons were launched, each of which operated autonomously, the UAV would fly to the southeast into Iran on a mission to jam radar and communications emissions in the area of Hamadan and Kermanshah.
Ten minutes later, two more Eitan-Bs lifted off the same runway. They carried no external weapons and were able to cruise at a speed of up to 405 knots. They would assume a tight formation with the lead UAV until they passed over the Iranian border. At that point, the two unarmed Eitan-Bs would turn north and then east again to pass well north of Tabriz before turning south and southeast to execute their missions. Each UAV was armed with chaff dispensers and electronic jamming gear that was designed to simulate the electronic emissions of a large force of aircraft. Chaff, a World War II innovation that is still effective to this day, involves the release of thousands of strips of aluminum foil into the air to create large radar echoes. It is used to create confusing radar returns and mask the approach of aircraft. The two UAVs were part of Operation Northwind, the plan to convince the Iranians that the attack was coming from Azerbaijan.
The planners at Olympus did not expect any of these three Eitan-B UAVs to make it back to Israel.
54 — Aircraft Carrier in the Desert
Eighteen minutes after the last of the three Ilyushin Midas tankers shut down its engines, the first of four C-130s landed at Mudaysis. The plane taxied to the upper northeast corner of the rectangular tarmac, heading toward one of the four telescopic floodlights. When the plane was about 80 feet from the light, the pilot turned its nose left, sweeping the plane around on its axis until it faced almost due south, its open rear cargo ramp now facing the floodlights. Two of the men on the ground acted as marshals, working as a team to act as the eyes for the pilots in the cockpit. The pilot altered the pitch of his propellers, causing them to reverse their thrust. He applied power until the plane and its heavy cargo reversed, the open ramp slowly moving toward the floodlight pedestal. The pilot continued to reverse as directed by a marshal standing off to his left side, out of the blast area of the reversed propellers. Just as the pilot was getting nervous, the marshal finally raised his hands over his head, forming an “X” with his two orange-coned flashlights. The pilot stopped the plane.
In the cargo cabin, the loadmaster released the restraining straps and floor locks that held the cargo in place during flight. He walked to the front of the cabin and stood behind the last of three 2,500 gallon fuel bladders. Each bladder, weighing 17,900 pounds, sat inside an aluminum bath tub that rested on the C-130’s floor roller system that ran the length of the cabin floor, including the cargo ramp. The loadmaster told the pilot he was ready.
The pilot set his propeller pitch to takeoff angle and applied military power to his throttles, holding the brakes. After three seconds, he released the brakes and the plane jolted forward. The forces of acceleration and inertia worked together, with the help of a push from the loadmaster, to slide the three large bladders and their aluminum tubs off the ramp and onto the tarmac of Mudaysis. Where they landed was where they would be used. There was no equipment big enough on the ground to move the bladders.
The pilot pulled his throttles back to idle just a couple of seconds after releasing the brakes, his timing based on dozens of rehearsals, all of which were done using bladders full of water. He could feel when the final bladder left the plane in the same way a bomber pilot could feel his plane lighten as the load exited the bomb bay. Over the intercom, the loadmaster simply said “Cargo free. Perfect.”
The C-130 closed its rear ramp and continued on to the taxiway which served as the takeoff runway for this operation. As soon as he turned onto the taxiway, he applied military power and began the journey home. Behind him, three other C-130s repeated the same maneuver at the base of the three other telescoping floodlights.
The entire process, from the touchdown of the first C-130 to the takeoff of the last, took only twelve minutes. Mudaysis now had 105,000 gallons of fuel awaiting the IAF strike force, with more fuel on the way.
Ten minutes later another C-130 landed at Mudaysis and taxied to a stop on the tarmac about 200 feet away from the northeastern edge, being careful to maintain a safe distance from the large fuel bladders that had just been dropped off. Within twenty seconds, a second C-130 stopped one hundred yards behind the first. Both aircraft held identical loads and within ten minutes each plane had dropped off an Air Traffic Control, or ATC, trailer with five trained ATC personnel. Following the ATC trailer, an airplane tug towing three wheeled carts full of spare parts and tools and twenty more ground personnel emerged. In addition, each plane unloaded an eight man IDF security team armed with four FIM-92 Stinger heat seeking surface to air missiles and a three man team of IDF demolition experts with enough C-4 plastic explosive and timed detonation triggers to accomplish their assignment to destroy all equipment left behind in the Iraqi desert, starting with the three Ilyushin aircraft. The last man out of each airplane was an officer, bringing the ground force command team for the night to four.
Each ATC trailer was quickly towed to a spot close to one of the two Pramac generators. Power cables were run to the trailers. Within minutes, the redundant trailers had established a communications link with the G550 Eitam orbiting about 120 miles to the south over Point Romeo. The trailers had no active radar and were reliant on the information being beamed to them via encrypted microwave link from the Eitam. One trailer took responsibility for aircraft inbound to Shangri-La and the other for aircraft outbound to Iran. But each trailer could perform both functions if either was unable to proceed.