Historical fiction AKA BS
Reader comment on item: The Soviets' Six-Day War

Submitted by Michael DeCastro (United States), May 30, 2007 at 16:22

Interesting theory, but the Dimona theory, and especially the Foxbat mission, is probably bs that is not supported either by facts or logic.

Facts: The MiG-25C recon variant prototype first flew in 1964. The Foxbat did not enter service until 1970.

Logic: The Soviets would have had to risk their prized and ultra-secret Foxbat prototype on the Dimona recon mission. This is hard to swallow and highly illogical, Mr. Pipes. The MiG-25 was the USSR's prized air superiority fighter. It was a great leap forward in combat aviation for the time and was not countered by the West until the USA introduced the awesome F-15 Eagle.

The Foxbat was designed to kill anything in the NATO inventory plus take down Blackbirds. It went toe-2-toe with the SR-71 as a high performance recon aircraft. It was also expected to intercept and shoot down SR-71s with its 80,000 operational ceiling and top speed of Mach 3.2. Or, at least it tried to. When flown to the edge of the envelope, the Foxbat would fry its engines making it a very expensive intercept. And, no SR-71 was ever intercepted or shot down. The Soviets and even the Israelis tried (in 1973). The Foxbat was no match for the Blackbird.

My point is, the Soviets would NEVER have risked their prototype super-bird on a risky Dimona recon flight. The risk-reward analysis just did not hold up to Soviet military thinking at the time.

The Foxbat also was not stealthy at all. That big bastard lit up radar with a significant cross section. Had the Dimona mission actually occurred, it would have lit up Israeli radar like a hanukiah candle. :-)

Even the much stealthier SR-71 was detected and tracked as it made two mission-critical recon flights over Israel during the Yom Kippur War, Flights that changed the course of the war and American diplomacy. But, I digress.

Foxbats flew plenty of missions over Israel although the IAF had nothing that could have touched it until the IAF acquired F-15 Eagles, the world's most awesome and lethal air superiority fighter, only recently eclipsed by the F-22 Raptor and Joint Strike Fighter.

I think this book is borrowing from what actually did happen as a build-up; to the Yom Kippur War when Soviet high altitude recon flights revealed Israeli military dispositions that were very helpful to developing the Soviet-Egyptian war plan known as Operation Badr. I suspect a little literary fiction going on here that blends facts from one war to make a good story in the previous war's historical setting; AKA, bullshit.

BTW, knowing what I do about Soviet aircraft development, I just don't buy that this flight ever happened, certainly not with a MiG-25 recon variant prototype. Any Soviet commander who would authorize a mission like that would be sent straight to the Gulag or shot. The MiG-25 was their super-secret weapon for a long time and when she finally appeared over the skies of Israel she scared the hell out of NATO, IDF and US military people. Indulge me a trip down memory lane during the 1970s, certainly NOT the 1965-67 period.

One of the sidelights to fighter operations in the Middle East during the 1970s and 80s centered around the repeated Israeli attempts to counter MiG-25 Foxbat operations - both the fighter and reconnaissance versions of this high-flying aircraft were operated within this time frame by the IDF Air Force's Arab opponents. The were usually flown by Soviet pilots. The Americans had clocked a MiG-25 over Israel at Mach 3.2 in 1973. Upon landing in Egypt, the engines were totally destroyed.

The first MiG-25 operations in the region were undertaken by a detachment of Soviet Air Force recon MiG-25R Foxbat-Bs, deployed to Egypt in October 1971 - their objective was to reconnoiter Israeli positions in the wake of the War of Attrition. Following a number of sorties along the Suez Canal, a MiG-25R made a provocative long-range overflight of Israel on 10th October which the IAF was unable to counter. However, when a Soviet Foxbat attempted a repeat overflight on 6th November the Israelis were ready with a flight of stripped-down F-4E's, armed with Sparrow missiles.

The MiG was attacked in a high-altitude snap attack - reportedly the F-4E's fired Sparrow missiles in a high-angle climb from 44,000 ft - head-on at the Foxbat, which was cruising at 76,000. The attack failed because the proximity fuse delay on the Sparrows (probably late AIM-7E models) could not cope with the Mach 3 speed of the Foxbat, and by the time they detonated, the MiG was out of their lethal radius. Nevertheless, it was undoubtedly a sobering experience for the Soviet MiG-25 crews to see missiles tracking them at that height for the very first time. Close, but no kill.

Only two subsequent missions were flown in March and May 1972. These overflew the Sinai rather than Israel itself. It is believed that the photographs taken in these missions were later provided to the Egyptians, who found them invaluable in their planning for the 1973 War, also known as the top secret Operation Badr.

The Soviet Foxbats were withdrawn in July 1972, only to return in the autumn of the following year after the 1973 war cease fire. These aircraft would not penetrate Israeli airspace again. As Egyptian relations with Moscow deteriorated, the detachment moved to Syria. There, both fighter and recon Foxbats continued to fly regularly with Soviet pilots and a purely Soviet deployment. The Soviets never let the Egyptians or Syrians touch their Foxbats although the aircraft carried Syrian markings. Israel actually captured Soviet pilots during engagements that ensured after the Yom Kippur War. This, of course, was a deep black secret at the time. But you could actually hear the Russian chatter between pilots during the war. The MiG-25s always remained dependent on Soviet advisors and logistics support throughout. Syria's remaining Foxbat are still reportedly maintained by Russian engineers today.

The irony is that Israel has been maintaining and upgrading Indian Air Force Foxbats for many years now with the last of the Indian MiG-25s finally about to exit service soon.

The Israelis were unable to counter the Syrian MiG-25 Foxbat-A fighters until the introduction of the F-15A into service. Israel finally defanged the Foxbat threat once and for all by drawing them into a peacetime battle with F-15s over Lebanon.. On 13th February 1981, two Israeli RF-4E's flew a high-altitude reconnaissance mission over Lebanon to report on renewed Syrian offensive action in the Bekaa Valley. The Israelis though that this mission was likely to evoke a Syrian response, and sure enough two MiG-25's were scrambled and climbed after the RF-4s.

However, as they entered firing range on the rapidly fleeing Phantom II's, they found that their targets had started to both dispense chaff and send out jamming signals from their ECM pods - a combination of the two had effectively obliterated the MiG-25's radar picture. The Phantoms were not recon birds but in fact were Wild Weasels. Meanwhile, a pair of F-15A's flying CAP had been vectored onto the Syrian fighters by either an E-2C or ground-based radar. When the Eagles swooped down out of clouds undetected and fired AIM-7F Sparrow AAM's at the blind Foxbat's they immediately flamed one of them. His wingman escaped to tell the tale. I still get goosebumps just writing about this outstanding air victory.

Despite this loss, another MiG-25 attack was staged against RF-4E's over the Bekaa Valley on 29th July 1981, and this again resulted in another Foxbat getting flamed by the escorting F-15A Eagle flight. According to the Syrians, an Israeli F-15 was ambushed and shot down. This was pure bullshit. No F-15 has ever been lost in aerial combat in the history of the aircraft. It is an aviation historical first and stands to this day.

Meanwhile, Syrian recon MiG-25s, which were capable of achieving faster speed and flying at higher altitudes than the fighter version, continued to overfly Lebanon until 31st August 1983, when one was damaged by a modified Israeli HAWK SAM and forced down into the clutches of a waiting F-15A.

So, say "adios muchachos" to those pesky Foxbats. And "kol ha kavod" to Eagles flown by Israelis.

Facts, not bs. Or at least as I understand them to be the facts.

Mike DeCastro, San Francisco

Former Jerusalem Bureau Chief, Israel Sun, Ltd. press photo agency

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Daniel Pipes replies:

Interesting points, indeed. I suggest you read the chapter in the book and then respond to that too.