War Naming

Op Sindoor, Op Epic Fury…military operations’ names are meant to send big messages  

What’s in a military operation name? Quite a bit, actually. Despite being coordinated between America’s Pentagon and Israel’s Kirya, Washington and Tel Aviv have decided to use two separate op names for their Iran campaign – Op Epic Fury and Op Roaring Lion respectively. Why two names? It’s all about political messaging. Having rechristened US’s department of defence as department of war, Washington clearly wants to signal overwhelming power – something that feeds into the narrative of US being No.1. Israel, meanwhile, is tapping into the Judeo-Persian motif of the lion, signalling solidarity with old Persia against the Islamic Republic.

All of these may seem like little mind games. But in the age of informationised warfare, messaging is as important as cutting-edge drones. So, Op Midnight Hammer signalled a literal battering of Iran’s nuclear infra by US forces last year. But this exercise isn’t exactly new. It all started with WWI and gained prominence in WWII, when Germany under Hitler drew on historical and mythological figures to message German superiority. Hence, Op Barbarossa – after Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I – for the German invasion of Soviet Union. 

US military began with colour-coded names such as Op Indigo – plan to prevent Nazis from seizing Iceland – but later switched to a computerised naming system after Vietnam. However, big ops get two-word names that are cleared by secretary of defence, like Op Enduring Freedom for Afghanistan and Op Odyssey Dawn for Libya. One exception: UK’s op to retake the Falklands in 1982 was dubbed a very blah Op Corporate – said to be the next available name on a Whitehall list. Closer home, we had India’s Op Cactus to thwart the attempted coup in Maldives in 1988. If Op Parakram after the 2001 Parliament attack served as a warning for Pakistan, Op Sindoor last year ensured justice for those widowed by the Pahalgam terror attack. So, expect war names to get more creative, and political.

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