Cochimbo raid (Napoleon's World)

The Cochimbo raid was a military operation codenamed Operation Rapid Run that was executed on January 10, 1983 by the United States Navy as well as the United States Special Forces and various factions of the anti-Brazilian alliance. The raid was carried out against the Cochimbo Air Force base, where Brazil's largest nuclear reactor was located. Having confirmed in 1982 that Brazil was refining its own plutonium and planning the construction of nuclear weapons with assistance from French scientists, the raid was considered critical to the ability of the United States to transition the war into Colombian and rebel hands.

Shortly after dawn, members of the US Special Forces tagged the nuclear reactors with lasers and Navy F-14's struck the reactor with laser-guided silicate bombs. A second sortie of F-14's only a few minutes later cratered the runways at the adjacent airfield as guerilla snipers took out anti-aircraft gunners. In all, the raid resulted in zero casualties for either the United States or their allies, killed up to 300 Brazilians, incapacitated one of Brazil's largest airfields for over a year, and permanently crippled the Brazilian nuclear weapons program, which had already been hobbled by attacks by Argentineans at other weapons research facilities in southern Brazil. Having taken several months to plan and set up, it was regarded as one of the crowning achievements of US involvement in the war.