Operation Eagle Claw: The Special Forces Disaster That Changed Everything

0:00 Welcome back, everybody.

0:01 Today we're going to be looking at Operation Eagle Claw, the Special Forces' unfortunate disaster. So we'll take a look to see what happened in Operation Eagle Claw and how it changed everything. On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and seized dozens of Americans.

0:20 As the hostage crisis stretched into months, President Carter authorized an extraordinarily ambitious military rescue attempt. The plan required approximately 90 Delta Force operators and supporting personnel to secretly enter Iran. The rescue force would fly aboard Air Force MC-130 and EC-130 aircraft to a remote location in the Iranian desert known as Desert One. Navy RH-53D helicopters would arrive separately after flying from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. From there, the helicopters would transport the assault force closer to Tehran.

0:55 The operators would hide during daylight hours, move into the city the following night, assault the embassy and other locations where hostages were believed to be held, and then evacuate aboard helicopters to an airfield secured by Army Rangers. Almost every stage depended upon the previous one working. That became the mission's greatest vulnerability. Trouble begins before Delta Force reaches Tehran.

1:19 Eight of the helicopters departed the Nimitz. They encountered clouds of fine dust from the desert known as haboobs, creating difficult flying conditions and reducing visibility. One helicopter turned back after experiencing a warning associated with its rotor system. Another developed navigation instrumentation problems and also returned. Six helicopters eventually reached Desert One. The minimum number of planners believed necessary to continue. Then another helicopter developed a hydraulic problem. Now only five were considered operational. The mission required six. Colonel Charlie Beckwith, commander of Delta Force, recommended aborting. The decision moved through the command structure and Carter approved termination of

2:01 the mission. The Americans had traveled hundreds of miles into hostile territory. They would leave without ever even reaching Tehran. But the most devastating moment was still ahead. Before departing, the helicopters needed fuel from the EC-130 aircraft. During repositioning, one of the helicopters maneuvered through the blowing dust. The pilot lost clear visual reference and collided with the EC, or one of them, carrying personnel and fuel. Both aircraft tragically erupted into flames. Eight American servicemen were killed, five Air Force personnel and three Marines.

2:35 Others suffered severe burns.

2:37 The remaining helicopters were abandoned and the surviving force evacuated aboard the transport aircraft.

2:43 Operation E, or Eagle Claw, was over.

2:46 Images of burned American aircraft sitting abandoned in the Iranian desert soon became symbols of the failed attempt. It would be easy to reduce Eagle Claw to pilot error, mechanical failure, or bad weather.

2:58 The deeper problem might have been systemic.

3:00 The mission required the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines to perform an extremely complicated operation together. Yet America's special op capabilities lacked that unified command structure at the time. Specialized aviation resources also lacked routine joint training. that later became standard. Different units used different procedures, communication systems, equipment.

3:21 The operation also contained numerous interconnected stages. Aircraft had to arrive in particular locations. Helicopters had to remain operational. Fuel had to be transferred. Ground forces had to move, undetected. The plan provided little room for cascading failure. Once enough helicopters became unavailable, the entire operation collapsed. Eagle Claw was a tragedy, there's no doubt, but its consequences extended far beyond Desert One. The lessons accelerated major reforms in American special operations. The Army created the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, SOAR, eventually known as the Night Stalkers, providing highly specialized aviation support for missions conducted at night and under extraordinarily demanding conditions.

4:09 Joint terror and counterterrorism capabilities also expanded, including the development of JSOC, The larger transformation eventually contributed to the creation of the United States Special Operations Command in 1987, bringing together, bringing greater coordination of special operation forces across military services.

4:29 That actually may be Eagle Claw's most important legacy. Elite operators alone cannot guarantee the success of an operation, but aircraft, intelligence, logistics, communications, contingency, and the people conducting this all, all have to function as a system. Operation Eagle Claw never reached the American hostages in Tehran, but the lessons learned in the Iranian desert to help build the American special operations system that would conduct some of the most complex and amazing military missions of the next four decades.

5:01 A wonderful thing for the last 40 years.