Operation Airborne Dragon

Operation Airborne Dragon
Part of Operation Iraqi Freedom
Date 7–10 April 2003 Location Bashur Airbase, Iraq Result Coalition Victory
Belligerents
United States	Iraqi insurgency
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Col. Ken Riddle
Strength
First Wave: 173rd Airborne Brigade Reinforcements: Task Force 1-63: 1st Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment 5 M1A1 main battle tanks 5 M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles 5+ M113 armoured personnel carriers Military Police Company Combat Service Support Platoon 1 Battalion command post	Local Defences: Unknown Regional Defences: 6 Iraqi Army and Republican Guard Divisions
Casualties and losses
US Unknown ? Equipment: Unknown ?	Iraqi Heavy Equipment: Multiple of tanks and armoured vehicles.
The first expeditionary insertion of a U.S. armored force into combat by air.

Operation Airborne Dragon was a part of Operation Northern Delay in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. US airborne troops seized Bashur air base in northern Iraq, and were then reinforced by air with tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. The combined force held the airfield until the arrival of ground forces.

On 7 April 2003, Task Force 1-63 landed 5 M1A1 tanks, 5 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and a battalion command post at Bashur Airfield in northern Iraq. Much of the Iraqi military capitulated 3 days later.