How A Business Jet Attacked A US Warship
By: Sam Simon
Tags: War, Us Navy, Iran, History, Iraq

How A Business Jet Attacked A US Warship

The Story Behind how a Falcon 50 Business Jet was Turned into a Fighter Jet and almost Sank A US Warship on its First Mission

USS Stark listing after the attack by the Falcon 50.

Iran and Iraq began fighting in September of 1980 when Iraq invaded its Persian Gulf neighbour. The 1979 Islamic revolution of Iran shook the region, leading to Ayatollah Khomeini to take power. Wanting to take advantage of the volatile situation caused by the revolution, Iraq led by Saddam Hussein wanted to become the dominant Persian Gulf nation.

Furthermore, the threat that the Iranian revolution could have on Saddam’s regime by inciting an uprising of the Shite majority within Iraq was a further motivation for war. The attempted assassination of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz in Baghdad by an Iranian-backed group gave Saddam the pretence to go to war.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returning to Iran after 15 years of exile

The war was a brutal affair with high casualties on both sides and ultimately led to no change in territory with borders being restored to pre-war lines. The war only came to an end after both sides signed a United Nations brokered peace deal at the second attempt.

Iraq received a lot of financial aid and military aid from numerous countries during the conflict, including the United States and the Soviet Union, with Iran getting comparatively less. But this was complicated with the Iran-Contra affair. For the most part, Iraq was backed by the United States and most Western states as well as the Soviet Union.

The USS Stark was a guided missile frigate. The frigate was designed to serve as an anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare ship. The USS Stark was sent to the Middle East in 1984 and in again in 1987 captained by Glenn Brindel. The USS stark was part of a Middle East Task Force that’s objectives were to patrol off the Saudi Arabian coast near the Iran-Iraq exclusion zone, due to the increased targeting of oil tankers by Iraq. In retaliation for those attacks, the Iranians decided to attack ships that were linked to the Iraqis. But since the Iraqis did not have any ships in the Gulf, the only targets that the Iranians could strike were those of Iraq’s allies. Leading to complete chaos in the waters of the Gulf.

The USS Stark.

The increased targeting of Oil tankers by Iraq leaving Khark Island was leading to significant economic losses for Iran, who were already struggling with the continuing cost of war. This led to a reorganisation of how the Iranians organised their system of oil exports a new terminal was built on Sirri island. A safer location due to its distance from the nearest Iraqi air force base, resulting in limited reach for any Iraqi aircraft.

The Iraqi’s notice an increase in revenue being produced by Iran, which led them to discover the new facility. As result, the Iraqi’s wanted to attack this facility, however the Iraqi airforce lacked reconnaissance photographs of the loading terminal, as there needed to be an idea of the location of the terminal in order to attack it.

The General Military Intelligence Directorate of Iraq proposed sending a Falcon 50 business jet nicknamed ‘Suzanna’. So that reconnaissance photos could be taken of the terminal on Sirri island, due to the planes limited risk of being intercepted as it could mimic a commercial airliner and it had a longer range than any other aircraft the Iraqi’s could use for the task. The Falcon 50 boasting an Iraqi airway lively took off from Jordan via Iraq and Jordan heading to Mumbai carrying three experienced pilots who were posing as businessmen. The aircraft altered from its flight path, so that it could take photos of the Iranian terminal. This was repeated on the journey back. The Iranians noticed the Falcon 50 and planed to move operations away from the faculty but before that was possible the Iraqis were able to successful raid the facility.

Falcon 50 nicknamed ‘Suzanna’.

The successful mission then led to the idea of modifying the Falcon 50 due to the reduced risk of the aircraft being challenged by Iranian aircraft and the longer flight timeit could provide apposed to a standard fighter jet. The larger Falcon 50 could also carry a more substantial payload of two Exocet opposed to one on a standard Mirage fighter as this could increase the success of a successful hit on enemy ships. The Iraqi’s contacted French arms manufacturer Thales claiming that they needed a training aircraft for their Mirage pilots. The Falcon 50 was modified with the radar and weapons systems of a Mirage F1 fighter. The right side of the cockpit was rebuild with a cockpit of a Mirage (The left side of the aircraft was used to take the aircraft to the target and the right side was used to hit the target).

The Modified Falcon 50 Business Jet nicknamed Suzanne

During the second operation in the Middle East on May 17 1987, The USS Stark was on a routine patrol in the Persian Gulf and was three kilometres outside the perimeter of the active war zone. At around 22:00 the United States Central command identified an aircraft as an Iraqi Mirage Fighter and were initially not alarmed as its presence in the area. This aircraft was, in fact the Falcon 50 that been sent out on its first mission to attack Iranian tanker shipping. The aircrew on the Falcon 50 had received information that there was a large naval target near the shores of Bahrain, further details about the target were not given to the aircrew.

Radar operators on the USS Stark tracked the aircraft as it approached the warship, At around 22:09. The USS Stark then issued a radio warning to the aircraft to identify itself. The following message was relayed over the International Military air distress channel:

“Unknown aircraft, this is US Navy warship on your 078 degrees for twelve miles. Request you identify yourself.”

The aircraft did not respond and carried on its approach to the US warship. Thirty-seven seconds the message was repeated, and again there was no reply. At 22:10 the aircraft targeted the USS Stark, at a distance of 35 kilometres, the aircraft fired two French-made Exocet anti-ship missiles (It seems that the French Exocet has hit more French allies than enemies). The aircraft then banked sharply to its left and withdrew from the area.

The USS Stark Radar and Electric countermeasures did not pick up the incoming missiles, which were the last line of defence against the missiles. The missiles were only picked up by the human eye as seamen on lookout duty saw a flash in the distance. Leaving the personal on the USS Stark no time to respond to the attack.

Both of the Exocet missiles hit the port side of the ship under the bridge.The first Exocet did not explode but its rocket fuel ignited and led to a fire. The second Exocet did detonate. The two missiles led fire to spread throughout the ship storeroom and combat operation centre leading to the failure of the Standard Missile system to fail causing the ship not being able to return fire. Also, communications were soon out with smoking filling the ship, The fire that the missile ignited became so intense that it melted parts of the USS Starks steel structure.

USS Stark after the attack.

A US airforce airborne early warning and control plane (AWACS) was in the area and witnessed the attack. The AWACS then radioed the closest Saudi airbase to send aircraft for an interception, but the personal at the base did not have the authority to order aircraft to incept the aircraft, leaving the Falcon 50 to leave the area unchallenged. However some accounts from Iraq, state that the aircraft was incepted by two US-F-14 Tomcats but the look of a commercial aircraft allowed the aircraft to avoid further suspicion.

To stop the USS Stark from sinking, crewmen flooded the starboard side to keep the hole on the hull’s port side above water. The USS Stark quickly dispatched a distress call after the first missile hit. USS Waddell and USS Conyngham received it. USS Waddell and USS Conyngham arrived to provide damage control and relief to Stark’s crew. A private firefighting tugboat was also dispatched to help put out the intense fire.

The USS Stark was towed to Bahrain the following day. There she was temporarily repaired by USS Acadia a specialist repair ship, the USS Stark then set sail to its homeport of Mayport Naval Station, Flordia for a full repair.

USS Stark prepares for re-launch 1988 after Repairs

A total of 37 crew perished in the attack; most were in forward berths the ship where the two missiles had hit. The USS Stark did not fire a shot in defence. A Naval Board of inquiry formed to investigate the incident and later Captain Brindel was recommended for court-martial but was reprimanded. But, Capitan Brindel and Tactical Action Officer Lieutenant Basil Moncrief (Moncrief was blamed for the failure to target the Falcon 50) later resigned.

The investigation found that USS Stark was 2 miles outside the exclusion zone and was attacked unprovoked. But a wide array of equipment on the USS Stark was found to be ineffective and could have led to an effective response and could of have prevented the attack.

The United States used the incident to pressure Iran, and blamed them for the whole situation, even though there was clear evidence that the aircraft was Iraqi. The Joint Chiefs of Staff investigation into the incident recommended that Iraq be held accountable. Iraq did apologise, for the attack and stated that the pilot mistook the USS Stark for an Iranian tanker and stated they had executed the pilots of the Falcon 50 but some accounts state the pilots actually revived a bonus. Some within US intelligence circles noted that the pilots had gone rogue but this unclear. The motives and orders of the pilot still remain unanswered.

Bibliography

Adam, J (1987) ‘USS Stark: What really happened? Human error may have triggered the disaster, but questions have been raised about the frigate’s electrotechnical defenses’. IEEE Spectrum, 24(9), pp.26–29.

Brummer, A. and Hirst, D (1987) US navy ordered to hit back after Exocet kills 28. The Guardian, [online] Available at https://www.theguardian.c om/world/1987/may/1 9/iraq.davidhirst [Accessed 5 July 2020].

Iraqi Armed Forces Forums (2010) ‘Iraqi Falcon 50 & how it got away after hitting USS Stark’, Iraqi Armed Forces Forums ,[online] Available at: http://iraqimilitary.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=663,Iraqi [Accessed 2 July 2020].

Leone, D (2019) How a Modified Iraqi Falcon 50 Business Jet Nearly Destroyed a US Frigate. The National Interest, [online] Available at: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/ buzz/how-modified-iraqi-falcon-50-business-jet-nearly-destroyed-us-frigate-66772 [Accessed 3 July 2020].

Rossinow, D (2015) The Reagan Era : a history of the 1980s, New York, Chichester: Columbia University Press.

Stilwell, B., (2018) The only successful missile attack on a US warship was an Iraqi sucker punch. We Are Mighty, [online] Available at: https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/only-successful-missile-strike-warships?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2 [Accessed 2 July 2020].