Look at what Saddam had hidden in the sand!

Military Magazine | April 2004 | Lawrence H. Boteler

[johnmorris886]

An Iraqi jet, an advanced Russian MiG-25 Foxbat, was found in August 2003 buried in the sand after an informant tipped off U.S. troops. The MiG was dug out of a massive sand dune near the Al Taqqadum airfield by U.S. Air Force recovery teams. The MiG was reportedly one of over two dozen Iraqi jets buried in the sand, like hidden treasure, waiting to be recovered at a later date. Contrary to what some in the major media have reported, not all the jets found were from the Gulf War-era.

The Russian-made MiG-25 Foxbat being recovered by U.S. Air Force troops in the photos is an advanced reconnaissance version never before seen in the West and is equipped with sophisticaed electronic warfare devices.

U.S. Air Force recovery teams had to use large earth-moving equipment to uncover the MiG, which is over 70 feet long and weights nearly 25 tons. The Foxbat is known to be one of Iraq's top jet fighters. The advanced electronic reconnaissance version found by the U.S. Air Force is currently in service with the Russian air force. The MiG is capable of flying at speeds of over 2,000 miles an hour, or three times the speed of sound, and at altitudes of over 75,000 feet.

The recover of the advanced MiG fighter is considered to be an intelligence coup by the U.S. Air Force. The Foxbat may also be equipped with advanced Russian and French-made electronics that were sold to Iraq during the 1990s in violation of a UN ban on arms sales to Badhdad.

The buried aircraft at Al Taqqadum were covered in camouflage netting, sealed and, in many cases, had their wings removed before being buried more than 10 feet beneath the Iraqi desert. The discovery of the buried Iraqi jet fighters illustrates the problem faced by U.S. inspection teams searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is larger in size than California, and the massive deserts south and west of Baghdad were used by Saddam Hussein to hide weapons during the first Gulf War.

U.S. Intelligence sources have already uncovered several mass grave burial sites in the open deserts with an estimated 10,000 dead hidden there. In addition Iraq previously hid SCUD missles, chemical weapons and biological warheads by buring them under the desert sand.

UN inspection teams found those weapons in the early 1990s after detailed information of the exact locations was obtained. Former top U.S. weapons inspector Dr. David Kay is known to favor human intelligence as the primary means to finding Iraq's hidden treasure trove of weapons and secrets. While there are rumors of Iraqi chemical and biological weapons being shipped to nearby Syria, the weapons may very well still remain inside Iraq buried under the vast desert wastelands.

Some critics of the Bush Administration have claimed that the inability of U.S. Forces to uncover weapons of mass destruction is proof that the President mislead the nation into the war with Iraq. However in recent days the critics have fallen silent as word quietly leaked from Iraq that major discoveries have already been made and are now being documented completley. Bush Administration officials are keeping any such discoveries secret for the moment.

[cwb]

Pretty sad, indeed...especially when we have a presidential candidate running around practically apologizing for our so-called deception. When you see what's happening with these countries who broke the embargo...and the fraud in the UN's Oil For Food Program, it is amazing that Kerry could find comfort in letting any of these people run anything in Iraq.

What people like Kerry seem to forget, is that both Chirac and DeVillipane(sp) gave Bush and Powell assurances that they would support the war, if need be. Not only did France break their promise, they began their own campaign to lobby other countries against us. But even still with all this deception from our so-called allies, it is Kerry who seeks to apologize for our president's behavior.

[Porterville]

[Porterville]

[Porterville]

Look at the missiles.... now what would Saddam need with missiles?? And who would he get them from?

[Sender]

Oh buy the way the later model Russian planes use 486 processors :)). Go figure!!

Well I hope they don't run on Windows 95 ;-) in which case I'd stay up as high as possible and always drive like it was time to reboot.

[yhwhsman]

Oh buy the way the later model Russian planes use 486 processors

Seems to me so was NASA until recently.

[Tommyjo]

Sorry, but none of the equipment found on this FOXBAT B was French. Standard Soviet supplied photo recce and SIGINT gear was onboard. The aircraft, like all the MiG-25s that have been discovered in Iraq, are all from the 1980s deliveries during the Iraq/Iraq conflict. French Mirage F.1s have also been recovered and all of these are from the Iran/Iraq period. The stories are all good from the media perspective. Insert a few "maybes" and suddenly it turns into "New French equipment found".

[Tommyjo]

The Aussies disovered FOXBAT C (Two-seat trainer version of the MiG-25). This one was discovered wing-less, covered in cammo netting and placed under palm trees.

[Tommyjo]

That MiG-25 being dug out of the sand is a dedicated recce version. It was built that way. The aircraft does not carry air-to-air radar, but a package/combination of cameras and signals intelligence gear. Iraq also received the standard interceptor version. Some of the recce versions also had an air-to-ground capability. The Iraqis used the recce version in this dual role during the Iran-Iraq war in which they carried out high-level bombing raids.

[Tommyjo]

"Look at the missiles.... now what would Saddam need with missiles?? And who would he get them from?"


Your image #1 and #2 are standard interceptor variants of the MiG-25. Iraq was supplied with these and the ACRID air-to-air missiles that are on shown on these examples. Iraq had thousands of air-to-air missile stockpiles from the Iran/Iraq war. The last time an Iraqi MiG-25, and their air-air-missile inventory was used, was December 2002. During this confrontaton with Coalition force patrolling the South No Fly Zone and Iraq MiG-25 shot down a US Predator UAV.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73927,00.html

[Tommyjo]

"I submit the Tornado FR.1 for example"

No such designation. UK designations:

Tornado F.2 and F.3. Some airframes were given a SEAD role and ended up as EF-3. These are the ADV variants easily distinguished by the long nose-cone.

The ground attack (IDS)are known as:

GR.1, GR.3, GR.4.

[Tommyjo]

"GR.1, GR.3, GR.4."

Should read GR.1 and GR.4. (No GR.3)

[Wombat101]

Thank you for the correction...