Military strike

Operation El Dorado Canyon had among its goals the destruction of 3-5 Ilyushin Il-76. No regime change was sought, nor any land occupied.

In the military of the United States, strikes and raids are a group of military operations that, alongside quite a number of others, come under the formal umbrella of military operations other than war (MOOTW).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn What the definition of a military strike is depends on which particular branch of the military is using them.Template:Sfn However, they do have formal, general, definitions in the United States Department of Defense's Joint Publication 1-02:Template:Sfn

strike: An attack to damage or destroy an objective or a capability.Template:Sfn
raid: An operation to temporarily seize an area in order to secure information, confuse an adversary, capture personnel or equipment, or to destroy a capability culminating with a planned withdrawal.Template:Sfn

For the United States Air Force, strikes and raids are the least common types of MOOTW, there only having been eight of them in the period from 1947 to 1997, including Operation Just Cause, Operation Urgent Fury, and Operation El Dorado Canyon.Template:Sfn For the United States Marine Corps, the latter was also a raid, and Operation Praying Mantis was a strike.Template:Sfn

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