Iraqi Mirage F1 - The story of Cold War Home IrAF missions and IrAF Mirage F.1 fighters being able to shoot down four IRIAF F-14 Tomcats
The story of how IrAF missions and IrAF Mirage F.1 fighter-bombers managed to shoot down four IRIAF F-14 Tomcats
Iraqi Mirage F1
When two Miraage F.1 interfaces are within 20 km of their target, the ground controller will send a predetermined code word - "irairaf!" - advising pilots to get on and activate their radars. He set up two remote locks and fired at least two Super 530Fs from a distance of about 10 kilometers. The stunned Iranians had little time to react...
Mirage F 1eda
Between April 1981 and June 1988, France delivered a total of 86 single-seat Miraage F.1EQ and 15 two-seat Miraage F.1BQ convertible trainers in four different variants. During this time, the type became the focus of the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF): the four units that operated them flew fewer aircraft than the MiG-21 or Su-22 against Iran, but their bases proved more versatile. , offering excellent flight performance (especially at low altitudes), high navigation and weapon delivery accuracy, as well as payload and defense capabilities.
The highly skilled pilots performed most of the missions admirably and there is no doubt that the type was superior to any other fighter aircraft in the Iraqi arsenal, and then advanced by a wide margin.
The Iraqi Mirages may not have won many victories in the Iran-Iraq War, but their successes were some of the most important aerial victories of the war. Acting impressively, it conducted four critical strikes against Iranian F-14s, thereby dispelling the type's aura of invincibility and setting an example for other IrAF interface units.
As Tom Cooper and Milos Sipos explain in their book Iraqi Legacies, the Dassault Mirage Family of defenses operated alongside the Iraqi Air Force from 1981 to 1988, with their main adversaries still being the IRIAF F-14A Tomcats. no doubt. The first fighter jet equipped with a microchip, the F-14 was a technological marvel of its time: as well as the ability to reach speeds above Mach 2 or stay airborne for up to 4 hours (or up to 12). 13 hours by in-flight refueling), it was able to perform as well as the smaller MiG-21. In addition, the Tomcat was equipped with a powerful AWG-9 radar and weapon system, with a maximum detection range of 200 km for combat targets. It can carry six AIM-54A Phoenix active radar missiles with a range of over 100 kilometers. Iran initially ordered 80 Tomcats and 714 Phoenix missiles: 79 F-14As and 240 AIM-54s were delivered after Tehran cut ties with Washington in April 1979. However, Iran did not receive any of the advanced AIM-7F Ant and AIM-9H Sidewinder missiles to complete its arsenal of Tomcats, so for the first months of the war the type was armed with the Phoenix and internally mounted General Electric 20mm. M61A1 Vulcan six barrel cannon. It was not until the spring of 1981 that IRIAF technicians adapted the fleet to replace the older and more reliable AIM-7E-2 Ant and the AIM-9J.
File:u.s. F 16 Carrying An Aim 9 And Jordanian F 1 Mirage Over Iraq 1996.jpg
About 120 Iranian pilots and more than 100 radar intercept officers (RIOs) who had completed F-14 training by 1979 were still serving as of 1981. However, each of them received extensive training in aerospace. War tactics in the United States and at home were updated in crash courses that began in August 1980 after the first border clashes with Iraq. US support and support infrastructure have largely cut off with the Islamic Republic. The Iranian Air Force (IRIAF) could not maintain more than 12-20 (out of 76) Tomcats in full mission capable (FMC) status. However, it was sufficient to maintain combat air controls (CAP) over Khuzestan, Khark Island and Tehran, which normally lasted from 0900 AM to 1700 PM.
Fighting Iranian F-14As in the fall of 1981 proved a futile exercise for the IrAF: the existing MiG-21MF/bis and MiG-23MS were equipped with inferior radars and missiles that required rear-hemisphere attacks: they were often found early, or is also shot or forced to retreat. All the IRAF managed in the year-long effort was one MiG-21 pilot hitting and destroying an F-14A with several shots from its 23 mm gun during a frantic fight over Ahuaz. For Iraqi fighter bombers, this situation was even more problematic: because the old RWR systems could not detect the AWG-9 emission when operating in tracking mode. and as the AIM-54 flew on a ballistic trajectory and attacked its targets from above, dozens of Iraqi pilots were shot at long range without knowing what they had hit. The only effective form of defense was possible only when the presence of IRIAF Tomcats was visually confirmed and the fighter-bombers immediately dropped their weapons and made a hasty retreat.
As expected, in Baghdad, GHQ No. 79 Squadron (and in news the Miraage F.1) find a way to stop the 'Tomkat threat'.
As IRIAF F-14As at CAP Station north of Ahvaz continued to suffer losses, in early November the IrAF High Command instructed No. 79 Squadron to reinforce its unit at Wanda AB with 10 aircraft. Brigadier General Nagdat al-Nakeeb, commander of the newly formed 3rd IrAF Air Defense Division (responsible for air defense in southern Iraq), will now use Mirage and MiG-23 airstrikes in every Iraqi airstrike. at least ignore the Tomcats. On the morning of November 15, 1981, a pair of MiG-23MS from No. 39 Squadron arrived at Tomkats, north of Ahvaz, for attention. As the Iranians moved for cover, a pair of Miraage F.1EQ-2s led by Major Mukhalad took off from the other side at very low altitude. When the two low-flying interfaces were within 20 km of their targets, ground control issued a preprogrammed code word - "irairaf!" - advising pilots to get on and activate their radars. He set up two remote locks and fired at least two Super 530Fs from a distance of about 10 kilometers. The stunned Iranians had little time to react. The F-14A, piloted by Captain Gholam-Reza Nezam-Abadi - with Lt. Fahollah Jalal-Abadi, a Radar Control Officer (RIO) - took at least one direct hit, forcing the crew to eject. IrAF first confirmed kill against F-14A Tomcat.
Iraqi Mirages: Mirage F.1 In Service With Iraqi Air Force, 1981 2003 (volume 11): Cooper, Tom: 9781912390311: Books
Encouraged by this success, Brigadier General Naqeb on 24 November 1981 ordered No. 79 Squadron to make a major effort. Due to the flight schedule, two air raid operations were coordinated that day again with MiG-23MS from No. 39 and MiG-23MFs of the newly formed No. 67 Squadron, both identical to the first successful ones. However, the Iraqi pilots nervously targeted only one F-14A, so they shot down only one in each attempt. In the late morning, the plane of Captain Jafar Bahadora and Lt. Adadollah Hosseini was shot down, and in the afternoon, the plane of RIO Lt. Ahmad Roustaei (both Iranians) was shot down by Major Abolfazl Hoshyar.
The last IRIAF operation took place on 24 April 1988 when a pair of Miraage F.1EQ-4s and F.1EQ-5s were deployed against an IRIAF F-14A. Using a combination of attack fragmentation and irraf tactics, the F.1EQ-5s executed a CAP for Tomkat about 50 km south of Khark, engaging the Iranian fighter until two F.1EQ-4s were launched by Captain Ahmed Hussain Khalaf. locked in and took out the Super 530F at 10km. According to Iraqi sources, the Hussein missile was either a direct hit or exploded under the target's area, and the pilot was later confirmed dead. However, after reviewing the CCTV footage, what the Iraqis saw or concluded was that Major Jalal Zandi was able to land at the heavily damaged Tomkat Bushehr: the IRIAF did not lose a single F-14A during 1988.
Dario Leone Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the founder and editor of Aviation Geek Club, one of the most read military aviation blogs in the world. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other media outlets. He reported from Europe and flew Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.
Cold War / Military Aviation This Iraqi Miraage F.1EQ-5 makes an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia after being shot down
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