Iranian air force pilots said they bombed a key US base with two nearly 70-year-old F-5 fighter jets and destroyed large numbers of American helicopters, in a mission they described as a complete surprise.
The pilots spoke at a meeting with Hojjatoleslam Ahmadreza Pourkhaghan, head of the judicial organisation of the Armed Forces, who attended on behalf of the head of the judiciary ahead of Sacred Defence Week.
The pilots said that after hearing news of the martyrdom of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and a number of students from Minab, they decided to strike the enemy hard. They said they had information that the enemy had stockpiled large quantities of equipment at one of its important bases in a neighbouring country, and so at dawn on March 1, they were dispatched with two F-5 jets that were nearly 70 years old and considered almost obsolete.
They said that to avoid detection they had to fly at less than 50 feet, about 18 metres above the ground. "The flight altitude was so low that when passing between two ships, the decks of the ships were higher than the fighters," they said.
They said that by God's grace, passing through active Patriot systems and in complete radio silence, they reached the target base in a totally surprising manner, adding that the enemy had not considered such an attack possible.
The pilots said they bombed the helicopters stationed on the flight ramp with full force and destroyed a large number of them. "All of this was God's grace; we clearly saw God's hand in this, because we felt each of our bombs did the work of dozens of bombs, and the helicopters exploded one after another," they said.
They said the enemy admitted to the destruction of only 12 helicopters, but that the real number of destroyed aircraft and casualties was much higher. They said they managed to return to base without the slightest damage.
On the return, they said, an F-16 pursued them, and during this, three American F-15 aircraft that had taken off from a base in another country to attack Iran were mistakenly targeted and shot down by the same F-16 and friendly Patriot systems.
They said that according to an estimate by the AEI think tank, the operation inflicted more than five billion dollars in damage on US infrastructure.
The pilots said the bombing used upgraded, heavy, precise and devastating bombs, and that by God's grace the advanced American helicopters were destroyed in their hangars before any reaction, and the base suffered serious damage.
MNA
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