They won't need a surface-to-air missile. At 200 MPH, the ragheads will be able to shoot them down with light automatic weapons and those 37MM Soviet anti-aircraft guns. Low and slow. They won't even make it to the target area.
It sounds to me as if Gates thinks pilots are expendable.
Reminds me of my grandfather’s story about being on big slag heaps in Belgium (I think). He said the angle was wrong for the German planes to strafe their position but they came over so low that the guys were bouncing rocks off their underbellies when they flew over.