History Main / OperationBlank

** An episode from the back half of Season 3 features a military project called "Golden Rhino", which the ConspiracyTheorist who uncovers it believes is a MindControlDevice, but is actually a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic weapon]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Lincoln is the resident "man with a plan" and frequently indicates his plans with operation names. Said operation names are often ridiculously long, and he often {{lampshade|Hanging}}s some by noting that he really needs to think of shorter names for these operations. Case in point: Operation Distract My Sisters so that I Can Get to the TV First and Watch the Special Live Season Finale of ARGGH! and Think of a Shorter Name for This Operation.

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' has "Project F" also known as "Project [[spoiler:Fate]]", which was an attempt to bring the dead back to life via cloning and implanting memories. [[spoiler:The eventual result of this being series duteragonist [[MeaningfulName Fate]] Testarossa.]]

* ''Fanfic/BoldoresAndBoomsticks'':

* In ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'', Sally and Harry determine that Mary's brother Roy, who seems to be an alien abductee, knows too much and must be done away with. Their plan to get rid of him is fittingly named "Operation: Kilroy".
* The title character from ''Series/ParkerLewisCantLose'' would occasionally do this in the middle of an episode.
-->'''Parker:''' "Gentlemen! Synchronize Swatches. It's time for Operation ______."
* ''Series/DarkAngel'' had the pretty obvious Manticore Project, which created SuperSoldier {{Half Human Hybrid}}s by combining human and animal DNA.
* ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'': The episode "Operation: Spoilsport" revolves around Ralph being ordered by the aliens who gave him the suit to stop a GeneralRipper from beginning World War Three. The titular operation (a NORAD plan to screw over the Russians in case of a nuclear strike by keeping a small number of missile silos independent from the rest and under orders to not launch immediately, but rather wait twenty-four hours as a surprise third strike) is his lynchpin (he will take over one of the independent silos and open fire).
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'':
-->'''Sheppard:''' Operation "This Will Most Likely End Badly" is a go.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' hid the [=SGC=]'s funding under the innocuous label of "Project Blue Book", but they were apparently unable to resist calling the effort to repurpose technology stolen from alien "Gods" the Prometheus Project. Note that in real life, "Project Blue Book" was the Air Force's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Blue_Book investigation into UFO sightings]], ending in 1970.
* The ninth chevron project in ''Series/StargateUniverse'' is called Project Icarus. The novelization of the pilot episode implies that [[GenreSavvy General O'Neill]] plans to tear a strip off of whoever jinxed the operation by giving it that particular name.

* The last episode of season one of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' is called "Operation - Annihilate!".
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
** In the two-part episode "Scorpion", Janeway's contingency plan for the Borg's inevitable betrayal in Part II is code-named "Scorpion", after [[TheFarmerAndTheViper Chakotay's fable about "the frog and the scorpion"]] from Part I.
** "Dark Frontier", the plan to steal a transwarp coil from the Borg is called "Operation Fort Knox," after the American gold depository that [[NoodleIncident not even the Ferengi could break into]].
* The mission to retake the space station from the enemy in season 6 of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' was called "Operation Return." Good thing the Dominion didn't hear that name beforehand.
* Creator/StephenColbert was once given a flag that had been flown over the US Embassy in Afghanistan (?) during an (apparently actually real) mission known as Operation: Beef Hammer. As he noted, it doesn't get more American than that.

* In the later seasons of ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', [[Characters/SupermanLexLuthor Lex Luthor]] had a tendency to name his secret projects this way with some straightforward classical references: the culmination of his experiments on "meteor freaks" to create a SuperSoldier was called "Project Ares,"[[note]]effectively, Project War God[[/note]] his attempts to [[spoiler: clone his brother]] was "Project Gemini,"[[note]]Twin Brothers[[/note]] his attempts to build a suit that copies Clark's powers was "Project Prometheus,"[[note]]The god who stole fire from the gods and gave it to man[[/note]] etc.
** Hilariously lampshaded by Tess when she takes over [=LuthorCorp=] and comments that she's still catching up on all the projects that Lex "named after constellations".
* ''Series/SpaceAboveAndBeyond'' gives us "Operation Roundhammer", the code-name for an all-out assault on [[spoiler: The Chig Homeworld]]. For bonus points, the moon that the operation is planned to be launched from is code-named "Anvil". The operation is even mentioned in {{foreshadowing}} earlier in the series, with earlier missions being stated to be in support of it, without revealing to the viewers just ''what'' Roundhammer was supposed to accomplish until the penultimate episode of the series. [[note]]They are [[ShaggyDogStory forced to abort the operation]] when the Chigs find out about it and sue for peace, only for the negotiations to break down in bloodshed and renewed war.[[/note]]
** Given the show's love of historical references, Operation Roundhammer is a likely reference to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sledgehammer Operation Sledgehammer]], a planned (but aborted) 1942 Allied invasion of occupied France.

* ''Ensign O'Toole'', an early '60s sitcom set aboard a Navy destroyer, [[IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming titled each of its episodes "Operation (something)"]].
** As did the short-lived 2007 comedy series ''The Knights of Prosperity''.
** Ditto the '70s crime series ''O'Hara, U.S. Treasury''.
* ''Series/PowerRangersOperationOverdrive''. From the same franchise, Operation Lightspeed (the Series/PowerRangersLightspeedRescue) and Project Ranger (which developed the tech later used by the Series/PowerRangersRPM).
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "Fallen Angel" has "Operation Falcon", which refers to a government procedure for covering up UFO crashes.

-->'''Regina:''' Is that what we're calling it?
-->'''Emma:''' Are you referring to the mythological bird, or the muscle car?

-->'''Emma:''' [[UnfortunateNames Didn't that end in a lobotomy?]]

* A small-scale GovernmentConspiracy revolves around covering up the details regarding the rather ironically named Operation Daylight in ''Series/{{Blindspot}}''. This is ultimately revealed to be [[spoiler: a RippedFromTheHeadlines operation where the NSA supplied illegally obtained information to government officials to blackmail opponents, the CIA for intelligence, and the FBI for criminal activity. [[DaChief Mayfair's]] part was to come up with fake sources for the information that was being provided to her to pass to law enforcement under the guise it had been obtained legally]].
** More important to the MythArc is Orion, an off-books CIA black-ops project that not only indulged in the usual SEAL Team Six sort of activities, but also highly-illegal assassinations and military attacks. Details are still vague, but Jane was a member at some point in her mysterious past, and it appears to have operated under the same umbrella as Daylight [[spoiler: being provided with intel from the latter]].
** One of the new tattoos Jane is given in Season 3 leads towards a secret CIA operation codenamed Project Dragonfly, which Keaton and Zapata are eager to keep secret from the rest of the take force. It ultimately turns out to be [[spoiler: using the [[NotQuiteDead still alive]] [[TheMole Borden]] as a DoubleAgent within a terrorist cell, instead of arresting him as they should have]].
** An episode from the back half of Season 3 features a military project called "Golden Rhino", which the ConspiracyTheorist who uncovers it believes is a MindControlDevice, but is actually a [[MakeMeWannaShout sonic weapon]].
** Throughout Season 4, new BigBad Madeline Burke and her minions repeatedly mention working towards a plan codenamed "Helios", which ultimately turns out to be [[spoiler: framing the FBI team for a terrorist attack, in order to leverage herself into a position of authority over the Bureau]].
* On ''Series/ZNation'', the mission to get [[TheImmune Murphy]] to the last remaining CDC lab in California is called Operation Bite-Mark.
* ''Series/{{Lucifer 2016}}''. When Lucifer recruits the patients at a mental hospital to help himself and God Johnson (literally God in human form) escape, he dubs it "Operation Help Lucifer Escape."
-->'''God Johnson:''' A little on the nose, son.\\
'''Lucifer:''' You are literally the judgiest person in the universe!
* ''Series/Runaways2017'': Alex's plan to get inside and hack Tina Minoru's server is....Operation Tina Server Room. He's quick to admit he's not great at making up names.

* ''Series/{{Pennyworth}}'': Season 2 has Project Stormcloud, a chemical weapon program developed by the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Raven Union]] to win their CivilWar with the English League.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''

* ''Theme Park Inc.'', also known as ''[=SimCoaster=]'' in the states and ''Theme Park Manager'' in Australia, despite being barely military themed, oddly uses this trope to full degree as every single obejctive in the game follows the same naming scheme, such as "Operation: Expand!", "Operation: Onwards!", etc.

* Many on ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'':
** Project Phoebus made Rufus a genius, and Project Ray X made a ray gun, Ray X, which was to be stored at undisclosed location, Location X, for instance.
** Also worth mentioning is Dr. Drakken's "Operation Catastrophic Doom". Which [[DeadpanSnarker Shego]] renamed "Plan Too-Complicated-To-Actually-Work."
** Drakken takes it to the point of telling Shego that he needs her for "Project Gherkin" -- which turns out to be getting a stuck lid off a pickle jar.
** Shego also once snarked to Drakken by asking how Operation-Growing-More-Ridiculous-By-The-Day was going.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Bart tries to make the teacher's strike go longer. His plan: "Operation: Make Strike Go Longer".
** In another episode, the family tries to make Lisa reverse her conversion to Buddhism using "Operation: X-mas, Remind Of How Good Is".
** "Operation: Judge Get Back At"
** "Operation: Hoyven Mayven"
** Project Arctarus.
** In [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie the movie]], after several days of Springfield being trapped under a transparent dome, the government prepares to enact Operation Soaring Eagle… [[spoiler:which involves nuking Springfield]].
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':
-->'''Army General:''' Peter Griffin! Surrender immediately, or we will institute "Operation: Bomb the Crap out of Your House". The guy who makes up the name is on vacation.
* An old ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short had Wile E. Coyote attempt to capture Bugs Bunny with a number of complex scientific contraptions, the name of the cartoon (and each device, with an ascending number as the previous attempts fail) is "WesternAnimation/OperationRabbit".

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** In the "Imaginationland" Trilogy, the army uses such operations as "Project: Imagination Doorway" and "Operation: Blow up Imaginationland with a Nuclear Missile", which are exactly what they sound like.
** In "The List" Cartman comes up with "Operation: Cannot Possibly Fail", to steal the titular list from the girls. This involves a GroinAttack on the girl carrying The List and taking it. When that doesn't work, Cartman instigates Plan B, "Operation: Cannot Possibly Fail A Second Time."
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Dwight proposes that he and Cubert leverage their paper route jobs to take over Planet Express using a ruthless business strategy titled "Strategy: Dwight Lightning". Cubert replies, "OK, but I get to name the next strategy."
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', Soundwave would seem to use this trope, except his speech patterns meant he was simply issuing orders.
-->"Rumble: activate piledrivers. Operation: tidal wave."\\
"Laserbeak: prepare for flight. Operation: assimilation."
* In season three of ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', the time-displaced Maximals have to watch over and protect the crashed ship containing their own ancestors from the G1 cartoon. When the Ark is endangered in the GrandFinale, Optimus considers using Operation Eternity - firing up the engines and moving it.

* Happens OncePerEpisode in ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar''. Sometimes the operation names are clever, sometimes they're quite obvious. A [[LampshadeHanging lampshade is hung]] in "Popcorn Panic" when Kowalski points out that "Operation: Popcorn" seems "a bit on the nose". Whenever Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} promotes new episodes, promotions for it usually give it such a title, when the actual title is something entirely different. So far the only episode titles actually done this way are "Operation: Plush and Cover", "Operation: Cooties", "Operation: Good Deed", "Operation: Antarctica" and "Operation: Big Blue Marble".
* ''WesternAnimation/SheepInTheBigCity'':
-->'''General Specific:''' We will begin Operation Kidnap That Sheep That We Need For The Ray Gun And Don't Let Him Get Away Again Storm as soon as I say "Commence Operation Kidnap That Sheep That We Need For The Ray Gun And Don't Let Him Get Away Again Storm". Commence Operation Kidnap That Sheep That We Need For The Ray Gun And Don't Let Him Get Away Again Storm!
** You could always use the ''acronym'': Operation [=KtStWNftRGaDLHGAAS=].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' naturally has plenty of these. Brock Samson's assignment as Venture's bodyguard is the insulting, if accurate, "Operation: Rusty's Blanket."
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' had a villain named Phantom Blot plot to steal an experimental stealth jet from the Navy under the codename of Operation: Aardvark. His henchman complains it's a stupid name, but Blot reminds him that they agreed they'd name their evil schemes ''alphabetically''.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'':
** The Gizmoduck suit was developed under the code name "Project Blatherskite", named after [[ByThePowerOfGrayskull the phrase used to activate it]].
** The GrandFinale revolves around "Project 87", whose name is a MythologyGag to [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 the original series']] release date. [[spoiler:It's an attempt to obtain a powerful magical artifact that could only be found by Scrooge's true heir by making OppositeSexClones of him.]]
* Two episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' were named as this: "Operation Field Trip", and "Operation Stuart".
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
-->'''Mabel:''' It's time to begin "Operation: Get Stan Over His Fear Of Heights"! I came up with that name.

* In the second season of ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo'', [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Killface's]] presidential campaign is struggling to raise funds, so his campaign manager directs his bodyguard [[DirtyCop Wendell]] to raise funds using prison gangs to smuggle drugs.
-->'''Wendell:''' Commence Operation: Meth Nazis! Heeyah! ''[engine revving]''\\
'''Killface:''' Operation ''what!?''\\
''[beat]''\\
'''Killface:''' [[ThisIsGonnaSuck You know, I... don't have a great feeling about this.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Lincoln is the resident "man with a plan" and frequently indicates his plans with operation names. Said operation names are often ridiculously long, and he often {{Lampshade|Hanging}}s some by noting that he really needs to think of shorter names for these operations. Case in point: Operation Distract My Sisters so that I Can Get to the TV First and Watch the Special Live Season Finale of ARGGH! and Think of a Shorter Name for This Operation.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' occasionally tries to invent a snappy operation name for something he's doing, but isn't always successful:
-->'''Archer:''' Commence operation... something about I rescue Lana and she begs me to take her back, so then Cyril commits suicide. Swear to god I had something for this.

* Harry Turtledove's Literature/{{Timeline 191}} series has Operation Blackbeard (the Confederacy's ''blitzkrieg'' invasion of the United States at the start of the Second Great War) and Operation Coalscuttle (the attempt by the Confederates to seize the vital industrial center of Pittsburgh).

* Mined for as much [[HehHehYouSaidX juvenile humor]] as possible in ''LetsPlay/LetsDrownOut'', as Yahtzee had previously modded the aforementioned ''[[Videogame/XCOMEnemyUnknown XCOM]]'''s pool of possible adjectives/nouns for random operation names full of InherentlyFunnyWords of his choice. Examples including Operation Sweaty Slapfight, Operation Dribbling Bastard, Operation Oozing Panties and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Operation Smelly Stench]].

* ''Literature/BlackTideRising'': The clearance of the hospital at near-totally abandoned Guantanamo Bay for the sake of gathering materials to make a vaccine to the [[ZombieApocalypse zombie virus]] is dubbed Operation Echo Bird.

* In the ''[[Literature/NewJediOrder Enemy Lines]]'' duology, General Wedge Antilles labels a couple of his battle tactics this way, with [[OrbitalBombardment Operation Emperor's Hammer]] and [[RammingAlwaysWorks Operation Emperor's Spear]].

* In ''LetsPlay/{{Boatmurdered}}'', [=StarkRavingMad=] is responsible for the creation of Project "Fuck the World", a canal funneling lava to the outside world, as a drastic solution to the settlement's elephant infestation. He also has a secret escape tunnel built as part of Project [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere "Get Me The Fuck Out of Boatmurdered"]].

** Operation Red Dog: A failed attempt by a group of KKK members to seize control of Trinidad and Tobago.

* Operation: Rebirth is the name of the experiment that gave Steve Rogers his Super Soldier enhancements that would make him [[Characters/MarvelComicsSteveRogers Captain America]]. However, the "operation" would be more accurately named "Project: Rebirth." Or Project:[[spoiler:Weapon I/Weapon Plus]].

* The ''ComicBook/{{Avengers}}'' crossover ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm''.