Battle of Ilopango Airport

On the morning of 27 January 1982, 8 FMLN guerrillas led by Alejandro Montenegro entered the Ilopango International Airport,^[3]: 12 used by the Salvadoran Air Force as a military base, and planted bombs on the air force's aircraft stationed there.^[4] The guerrillas' primary goal was to damage infrastructure as to hamper the efforts of the government in stopping the FMLN. As a result, aircraft and helicopters were the primary target of the attack.^{[citation needed]}

The bombs detonated at 1:30 a.m. local time.^[4] The attack destroyed six Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopters, five Dassault Ouragan fighter-bombers, and three Douglas C-47 Skytrain military transport aircraft.^[5]: 30 The FMLN claimed that it destroyed 28 aircraft, while Minister of Defense José Guillermo García stated that 11 aircraft and 4 helicopters were destroyed.^[4] García described the raid as a "terrorist attack".^[6]

In February 1982, U.S. president Ronald Reagan signed an executive order that authorized the U.S. military to send $55 million in emergency military aid to the Salvadoran government. The military supplied the Salvadoran Air Force with new Bell UH-1H helicopters as a part of the emergency military aid to replace those destroyed in the Ilopango Airport raid.^[7]