Zephyr Net
http://jkpeterson.net/forum/

Australian troops find (and capture) 51 Iraqi warplanes
http://jkpeterson.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=89
Page 1 of 1

Author:  da big man! [ Fri Apr 18, 2003 14:34 pm ]
Post subject:  Australian troops find (and capture) 51 Iraqi warplanes

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/18/1050172757153.html

You know it's like the Iraqis didn't even want to win this war. They have a fairly decent airforce, yet they keep it on the ground so smart bombs can wipe it out.

They didn't fire at Israel or Saudi Arabia

They didn't use WMD

They didn't mass their forces anywhere

All the endless bunkers full of weapons that were never used

They never attempted a counter offensive

Even though they knew the MiGs stood no chance against American warplanes, still- you'd think if someone was comin for your head on a silver platter that you'd use every weapon in your arsenal.

Author:  CAG Hotshot [ Fri Apr 18, 2003 15:40 pm ]
Post subject: 

I still believe the Iraqi pilots made a deal early on to avoid getting the crap kicked out of them... Better to let Saddam do the flying.. (Now wouldnt that have been funny as hell!!) :lol:

Author:  da big man! [ Fri Apr 18, 2003 18:40 pm ]
Post subject: 

If I were Saddam I would have done all the things I listed in my above post, as well as send a flight or two out to search the Persian Gulf and attack the U.S. fleet.

They had no chance of winning the war without disabiling our cruise missile / Naval aircraft capability.

But a strike like that would take brains to pull off............

Author:  Zephyr [ Sat Apr 19, 2003 13:25 pm ]
Post subject:  re: Aircraft

From MSNBC:

Quote:
Fighter under wraps
An Australian special forces soldier stands guard Friday next to one of 51 Iraqi air force MiG fighter aircraft found under camouflage netting at an undisclosed location in western Iraq within the previous 24 hours.


Image

Zephyr

Author:  da big man! [ Sat Apr 19, 2003 14:45 pm ]
Post subject: 

MiG-25 I see, aren't the two seaters used for training purposes?

Also- does the MiG-25 handle as bad in real life as it does in FA? If so, then I don't see why anyone would waste their time, money, fuel and oxygen on it.........

Author:  Zephyr [ Sat Apr 19, 2003 17:37 pm ]
Post subject:  re: MiG-25

Manueverablility wasn't what it was designed for. Its mission was high speed interception, basically straight line flight, where acceleration and speed are needed. The SR-71 may have beat it at high altitude, but the MiG didn't require as much maintanance or pre-flight prepping. Witness how the Iraqi MiG-25s performed when used to violate the Southern No-Fly Zone- they outran the AMRAAMs and Pheonixes fire at them.

Zephyr

Author:  da big man! [ Sat Apr 19, 2003 23:25 pm ]
Post subject: 

Yeah, they are fast little birds. But keep in mind they did knife it out against U.S. planes in the Gulf War. One of them shot down an F/A-18 IIRC

Author:  CAG Hotshot [ Sun Apr 20, 2003 11:05 am ]
Post subject: 

Did we down any MiG-25s in the Gulf War or afterwards?

Author:  da big man! [ Sun Apr 20, 2003 13:27 pm ]
Post subject: 

I'm not sure, most of the kills by the F-15 in that war were either MiG-21s or 29s.

But this discovery ties in with my 'future of the Iraqi aiforce' thread. Now that we have found these 51 planes, will we-

A. let the Iraqis keep them for themselves.

B. scrap the MiGs and / or bring them back to the U.S. to integrate into Red Flag or something like that.

C. let the Iraqis keep them, but also supply them with Western planes (the system Germany has now)

I'd like to do B. I still don't trust the Iraqis not to fly off and bomb Israel or something like that..............I'm not sure we should supply them with more weaponry. But on the other hand- they're right inbetween Syria and Iran.

Not a good combo there....

Author:  Centurian [ Sun Apr 20, 2003 14:56 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: re: MiG-25

Zephyr wrote:
Manueverablility wasn't what it was designed for. Its mission was high speed interception, basically straight line flight, where acceleration and speed are needed. The SR-71 may have beat it at high altitude, but the MiG didn't require as much maintanance or pre-flight prepping. Witness how the Iraqi MiG-25s performed when used to violate the Southern No-Fly Zone- they outran the AMRAAMs and Pheonixes fire at them.

Zephyr


First encounter with a MiG-25 was with an Israeli F-4 and a Syrian MiG-25 IIRC in the 70s. F-4 climbed real high and was struggling to keep up with the MiG but was doing a good job. Then the MiG put on its AB and was gone. Zeph said it wasn't mean't to do much but climb real high and shoot down the XB-70 (originally) but it was adapted to take out the SR-71 too. It would have had no chance catching either plane and its Acrid missiles do go Mach 4 iirc or maybe higher. It would have caused hell to our B-52s that is for sure but only if it got a missile lock and hit. The B-52 is one hard plane to shoot down what with all the ECM and chaff/flare on it.

Where were these planes found?

Author:  da big man! [ Sun Apr 20, 2003 21:12 pm ]
Post subject: 

Vast majority were MiG 21s with a few 25s and 23s too IIRC.

Author:  Centurian [ Sat Apr 26, 2003 18:37 pm ]
Post subject: 

Prob. in disarray though.

Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/