| Operation Mikado | |
|---|---|
| Part of Falklands War | |
 Argentine Navy Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard | |
| Type | Airborne operation |
| Location | |
| Planned | May 1982 |
| Planned by | Brigadier Peter de la Billière |
| Target | Super Étendard squadron of the Argentine Navy |
| Executed by | Special Air Service |
| Operation cancelled | |
Operation Mikado was the code name of a military plan by the United Kingdom to use Special Air Service troops to attack the home base of Argentina's five Super Etendard strike fighters at Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego, during the 1982 Falklands War.[1] Brigadier Peter de la Billière[2] was in charge of planning the operation.
The British Task Force had been successfully attacked by these Argentinean aircraft using French Exocet air-to-sea missiles, sinking two ships. This operation was intended to destroy the three remaining Exocet missiles that Argentina had in its possession as well as the Super Étendard launch aircraft. It was also intended to kill the pilots in their quarters.[2] To achieve this, Brigadier Peter de la Billière (Director of the SAS) proposed an operation similar to Operation Entebbe,[3] which consisted of landing 55 SAS soldiers in two Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft directly on the runway at Rio Grande.[2]
According to the plan, the C-130s would be kept on the tarmac with engines running while the men of B Squadron SAS performed their mission. If the C-130s survived, then they would head for the Chilean air base at Punta Arenas.[4] If not, the surviving members of the SAS Squadron and aircrew would use whatever transport available on the airfield to make their way to the Chilean border, about 50 miles to their west.[2]