The most striking aspect of a mission that involved two B-52H Stratofortresses flying over Sweden on Tuesday was not the fact that the bombers conducted the B-52’s first live weapons drop in the country or that the two bombers flew in formation over the Swedish parliament to celebrate the country joining NATO a year ago.
No. What people will long remember about this mission is its name: Bomber Task Force mission VIKING NEBULA.
An Air Force news release uses all capital letters to spell “VIKING NEBULA,” perhaps suggesting that a name so cool must be shouted, nay, screamed to inspire fear in the enemy. “VIKING NEBULA” also sounds like the name for a YouTube video in which a man with two axes jumps from a cliff into a pool of water.
The bomber mission could have easily had a bland name such as “IKEA Resolve” or “Resolute Scandinavian,” but some genius military planner decided to be bold and go loud.
During World War II, many U.S. and Allied military operations had names that sounded like they were chiseled in granite. The invasion of Italy was codenamed Operation Avalanche. D-Day was Operation Overlord. The major exception seems to be Operation Bunghole in German-occupied Yugoslavia.
In the late 20th Century, the U.S. military began adding a PsyOp element to operation names. The December 1989 invasion of Panama was originally named Blue Spoon, but that was changed to Just Cause. The U.S. military response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks was initially codenamed “Infinite Justice,” but that was changed to “Enduring Freedom” to avoid causing offense. And the war in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 was named Iraqi Freedom and then New Dawn.
But around 2011, it seemed that military planners had lost their mojo. The U.S. codename for NATO operations in Libya that year was Odyssey Dawn — they should have gone with Bunghole again. And in 2014, one unnamed military officer described Inherent Resolve — the name given to operations against the Islamic State group, as “just kind of bleh.”
With VIKING NEBULA, there is hope that the U.S. military will once again embrace awesome names for missions and operations. Prepare for Operation CHUCK NORRIS’ BEARD.