Iraqi MiG-25 engages drone

In a thread discussing the MiG-21 versus the Mirage III, a member claiming to be an Iraqi Fighter Pilot (this, in fact, is their ATS name) made the following post:

by Iraqi Fighter Pilot
i made captain in the iraqi airforce, i was part of a 4 ship MIG-25RB interceptor team protectinng the border with the northern fly zone based at al-taqadumm air base IOC, scrambled on a clear summer night(july 13 1995 20:00) to a low flying target heading south/south east towards baghdad, target was at 4000 feet doing 180 knots, i came in at 1500 feet at 400knots, i thought it was an american drone, i identify it it was flashing bright orange and green light nothing i ever saw,,, i was oerderd to engage it, my mig-25RB was armed with 2 R-60/AA 8 AND 2 R-23/AA-7 i fired 2 missiles at the target which made a 90 degree turn nothing i have seen before and ther was bright flash that blinded me and filled the cockpit, i was low so i went to full afterburn and pulled up,, the target was not seen on my rader or the controler in baghdad...my government then claimed a kill on a US done,,the US said nothing has been shot down,,it was over water( lake northwest of baghdad called thirthar) no wreckage found,,,,any US radar or pilot out there who may have seen anything? i am still invistigating that encounter

Link

The thread got moved to BTS for some reason, but as the above is off topic anyhow, I thought I'd start a new thread in the right forum for it. I'll u2u Iraqi Fighter Pilot to let him know (he's gone kinda quiet since I asked some questions, hopefully this is due to the move rather than any other reason). The questions I asked were:

By Willard856
Ok, if you had it on radar, why didn't you take AA-7 shots? What range did you first get hits on the target? What was your offset? Environmentals?

For your AA-8 shots, what was the geometry? Rmax1 or Rmax2 shots? Did you have tally of the target? Did the SOC give you weapons free, or were you free to engage yourself?

The response:

by Iraqi Fighter Pilot
what would you do if u had a slow moving target in your sights at clos range with the Aphid locked on..choose the other one? are you a pilot?

And the response to the response:

By Willard856
If I had an AA-7 lock, I would have taken the shot. Less risk of not getting tally of the target, plus you can stay hot and follow up with the heater shots if needed after that. However, it's your story. Can you answer my other questions please so I can better understand the tactical picture.

which is the last we've heard so far. I thought this is an interesting topic, hopefully IFP will return to ATS and give us some more details. Oh, by way of background, here's IFP's CV:

by Iraqi Fighter Pilot
i am russian trained and we in the IRAF used to fly both migs and mirage,, i fly the mig-25RB/P started with the mig-21MF and when we used to have tactical excersises with the boys which fly the mirages IRAF MIRAGE F-1BQ we won every time with the mig-21,,known during the iran iraq war a mig-21 shot down an iranian F-14A. i am an iraqi combat pilot,,8th squadron based in al-taqaddum IOS BASE WEST of baghdad i took part in the iran iraq war since 1986-88 and i meant i trained in russia
thanks

Mods: I had a browser crash on posting this. If this is duplication, my apologies, but I can't see the thread anywhere, but am told the name already exists. Computers huh...

IFP has returned to ATS. He posted in the original thread, hopefully he'll post in this thread in future. His last post:

i am here,,when the no fly zones were created sa-2 sites inside and around baghdad are still active and because an americans rarely fly single without backup i was convinced so as the controller that this target was not alone and radar jamming should be active,,,i was ordered to and rightfully so when your up against the american airforce to use IR,,Aphid was the correct choice plus i was too close,,thanks

i dont think it was a drone,,,your guess is as good as mine,,,what was it

i dont think it was a drone,,,your guess is as good as mine,,,what was it

Can you describe the target in more detail? Size, shape, colour etc? Did you get any RWR indications? Did it turn only when you fired?

Why do you not think it was a drone?

Thanks for the post.

Sorry for taking a shot in the dark here people:
But Iraqi_fighter_Pilot, did you by any chance think that you may have shot down a UFO or something and that is why you logged onto ATS to find out a bit more?

Its a wild guess!

Anyways, I know of the Iraqi MiG 23 pilot who shot down the Iranian F-14A in the Iran-Iraq war. He was quite senior at the AFA at Tikrit in the late 80s. I wonder what ever happened to him.

he certainly is however he was in a Mig-21mf NOT A 23 I KNOW THAT PLANE VERY WELL its serial number and that plane survived untill the end of gulf war-1 where its was based at the airforce academy in tikrit, i flew in formation with that plane in the grand victory show at the end of the iran iraq war in baghdad infront of saddam,,i was number 3 in that formation....
its a well know fact check this link it reported by the iranians and those who follow up the F-14
www.aerospaceweb.org...


[edit on 25-1-2008 by Iraqi_Fighter_Pilot]

3 things
one: the lights are not nav. lights on aircrafts,,it was very bight strob lights green and orange

2nd before i fired the target made a 90 degree turn in a way not seen aircraft dont change direction like that.

3rd no explosion just bright white light.

this was no aircraft of UAV i know...
what do u think it was??



[edit on 25-1-2008 by Iraqi_Fighter_Pilot]

IFP,

Did any of your systems stop functioning?

come to think of it ..yes fuse kept going out and radar mode changes i thought it was our very old systems and poor maintance..

[edit on 28-1-2008 by Iraqi_Fighter_Pilot]

Originally posted by Iraqi_Fighter_Pilot
he certainly is however he was in a Mig-21mf NOT A 23 I KNOW THAT PLANE VERY WELL its serial number and that plane survived untill the end of gulf war-1 where its was based at the airforce academy in tikrit, i flew in formation with that plane in the grand victory show at the end of the iran iraq war in baghdad infront of saddam,,i was number 3 in that formation....
its a well know fact check this link it reported by the iranians and those who follow up the F-14
www.aerospaceweb.org...


[edit on 25-1-2008 by Iraqi_Fighter_Pilot]

So are you saying that no Iraqi MiG 23 shot down an F-14A as per your knowledge?

Final Engagements

The wish of the Soviets to catch at least one of Pakistani F-16s was perhaps influenced by several Iraqi claims, that their MiG-23MLs have shot down Iranian Phantoms, Tomcats and Tigers. The Soviets certainly wanted to show their capabilities and were eager to engage.
...
www.acig.org...

as i said its well known knowlegde that mig-21mf was the fighter that shot down a f-14 not a 23,,infact the 23 fell out of favour with iraqi pilot,,i didnt like it i flew it,,and by the end of the war most 23's are used in ground attack role.

Originally posted by Iraqi_Fighter_Pilot
as i said its well known knowlegde that mig-21mf was the fighter that shot down a f-14 not a 23,,infact the 23 fell out of favour with iraqi pilot,,i didnt like it i flew it,,and by the end of the war most 23's are used in ground attack role.

Well it(MLD version) was supposed the be best air to air fighter in the soviet arsenal until the MiG29 arrived.

Can you share that F-14A shooter pilot's name?

what happened to this?

I thought we were making good progress?



Also wanted to discuss why the MiG-23 is deemed inferior to the MiG 21 as per the pilot's PoV.

[edit on 2-4-2008 by Daedalus3]