Outline The Events Of Operation Eagle Claw

Operation Eagle Claw

The purpose of this paper is to outline the events of Operation Eagle Claw; the mistakes made, lessons learned, and alternate outcomes. President Carter hastily authorized a Joint Forces operation which failed due to lack of understanding and training between the US forces. Operation Eagle Claw, a rescue mission was doomed from the beginning. There was no single point of failure for the mission. It failed a crossed the board, from training to planning, intelligence collection, and time.

Planning

November 4, 1979 was the day that led to a disastrous mission for the United States. On this day 52 Americans were taken hostage in the United States embassy in Tehran (Helicopter History Site 1997). The United States spent months

The operation was to be conducted in two phases. Phase one was to drop the 133 ground forces, secure the landing strip and refuel the helicopters and EC-130’s at Desert One. The helicopters, carrying Delta force soldiers, would then fly to Desert Two where they would conceal themselves during the day. Phase two was to begin the next night CIA was to arrive with trucks to load up the Delta force soldiers and drive 52 miles from Desert Two to Tehran. While Delta force was heading to the hostage location, RH-53 helicopters would be flying to the Amjadieh stadium across the hostage location. The Rangers would then seize the nearby Manzariyeh Air Base. Once seized, Delta Force would initiate rescue of the hostages. At that point Delta Forces would take hostages across the street and load the helicopters staged at Amjadieh Stadium. Helicopters loaded with hostages and Delta Force soldiers would then fly to the Manzariyeh Air Base, where C-141s were waiting to take everyone back into friendly

Army, Air Force, and Navy lacked appropriate training for this mission which resulted in failure and devastating losses. The original recon of the area was essential for the mission. There should have been continued planning and research on the site afterwards. If a pattern analysis of the area was established, they would have known fuel trucks drove through that area on a regular basis. The haboob left an ankle deep layer of sand on the landing strip, and as the helicopter tried to take off it created a small sand storm. Further research of the area could have provided them with weather analysis, which could have led to pushing the mission left or right. Firing an RPG at a fuel truck and creating a large explosion is not tactical, and should have occurred, especially since they did not know if the truck was hostile. This shows the lack of training and intelligence that the Rangers received prior to the mission. Taking a bus full of civilians as prisoners was to ensure mission safety, but at that point the mission was compromised and should have been called off. Miscommunication from the pilot to the ground guide, as well as the blowing sand, were the reasons for the devastating crash that ensued. Leadership failure was primarily because the forces had never worked together before. Therefore, they did not communicate between with each other to exchange information and