Stolen Iraqi MiG-21 - Operation Diamond (1966)

[eagle20054]

 

[Imran Khan]

stupids will always stupid thats what i can say abut iraq

 

[Chogy]

Does the video have sound? What was the context of this?

 

[untitled]

Does the video have sound? What was the context of this?

Iraqi pilot defects to Israel

 

[T90TankGuy]

i belive a movie was made on it . it was called steal the sky . i caught it a few years ago , a nice watch.

 

[harpoon]

I saw one documentary about MIG-21, in which it was said that the aircraft was intentionally designed to carry less fuel so as to prevent Soviet pilots from defecting to West...but I think they overlooked Israelis and their legendary secret service Mossad.

 

[hunter_hunted]

Sorry i didnt get it what was this all about

 

[untitled]

Sorry i didnt get it what was this all about

In 1966 when the Russian MiG-21 was a relatively new and had not been exposed to the Western Intelligence, Israel managed to make an Iraqi pilot defect to Israel along with his new jet.

It was an intelligence coup.

 

[harpoon]

Sorry i didnt get it what was this all about

This is about Operation Diamond by Israeli Mossad by which they induced an Iraqi pilot to defect to Israel in 1966 along with his Mig-21. This Mig was then carefully studied and the tactics developed by Israelis to counter it was then used successfully against Arab airforces(equipped mainly with Mig-21) in 1967 Six Day War.

 

[Chogy]

In 1966, the MiG-21 was very high tech, and it would have been a huge deal. Kind of like Viktor Belenko in his MiG-25 defection to Japan.

 

[Chogy]

Before Belenko's defection, the MiG-25 was greatly feared, and in fact the F-15 was designed to counter it. It was assumed the MiG-25 was a potent dogfighter; in fact, it turned out to be a speed-demon interceptor and couldn't turn for ****. The MiG-21 was a vastly more capable maneuvering fighter.

However, the MiG-25 presented some serious danger to AWACS and other high-valued assets. We had a simulator scenario called the "High Fast Flyer" which was a MiG-25 at 63,000 feet and mach 2.5. A very challenging target to kill. The Soviets planned on sending swarms of MiG-25's to attack AWACS and other rear-area airborne targets.