The Indian Air Force (IAF) has announced it will retire its fleet of MiG 25s, Cold War-era spyplanes, previously shrouded in secrecy.
A spokesman said the last of the IAF's four surviving MiG-25s will be phased out of service on 1 May.
The MiGs, capable of flying at over three times the speed of sound, were bought from the USSR in 1981.
"It will be a nostalgic event and a flypast will be held," Air Vice Marshal S Mukherjee said.
He said the aircraft would be shown at various installations after they had been retired.
'Darned good machine'
India originally bought 10 of the MiGs from the Soviet Union and nicknamed the 20-ton reconnaissance planes Garuda after the mythical Hindu eagle king.
The aircraft were based at an undisclosed location.
"It was a darned good machine but even today we are not permitted to speak of the daredevilry these stratospheric planes have been used for," an unnamed MiG 25 pilot was quoted by news agency AFP.
"All I can say is that I more than once hit Seven Plus (70,000 feet) with them," he said.
The MiG 25, which was built in both reconnaissance and interceptor versions, is the fastest combat aircraft ever built, apart from the US Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spyplane.
It was designed in the late 1960s to beat the US Air Force's XB-70, a supersonic bomber which never entered service. The Pentagon's misplaced belief that the MiG was a highly-agile dogfighter spurred the development of the US F-15 and F-16 fighters.
In 1976, a Soviet pilot defected to Japan in a MiG 25. The US subsequently stripped the aircraft and studied it before returning it to the USSR.
They found the MiG was a heavy but powerful aircraft with a 1950s-vintage radar capable of burning through protective electronic countermeasures.
MiG 25s were later exported to several nations, including Algeria, Syria and Iraq.
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and i heared that two of Indian Recon aircrafts entered Pakistan and got shot down
Were those the same Mig 25's (they were some Migs as far as i remeber)
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U've heard it wrong my friend,the only recce plane that was shot down was an EE Canberra long ago,the PAF did'nt have any means to shoot down the Foxbat.
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"The MiG 25, which was built in both reconnaissance and interceptor versions, is the fastest combat aircraft ever built, apart from the US Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spyplane."
IMHO that title should go to the MiG 31, as it can attain those speeds without destroying itself.
>>>and i heared that two of Indian Recon aircrafts entered Pakistan and got shot down
Were those the same Mig 25's (they were some Migs as far as i remeber)<<<<
Eh?? Pakistan didnt shoot anything in the past couple of Decades.
Indian Foxbats often did sonicbooms over Islamabad to piss the Pakis off. Well knowning that nothing in the Pakistani Arsenal (SAMs or Planes) could touch them.
Apart from these the only Dedicated Recon birds the InAF have now are ageing Canberra's and that too are slated for the Axe Soon.
R.K. Laxman, India's renowned cartoonist, honours the hardy & humble Indian Jawan
AKA KRONICFEVER
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I just went to the BBC site to post the rest of the article and the link but to my surprise this is the whole article as of now !
They seem to have edited some details(esp in the last paragraph) from the original article posted on the front page in the morning.
Is it really true (as the original article mentioned) that an iraqi mig-25 shot down an F-18 in the opening hours of the 91 iraq war ? Or was it just a journalistic error which has now been corrected by BBC ? Did anyone else read the original article
[1 Edit]: Corrected typos.
This message has been edited by rockindie on Apr 9, 2006 3:48 PM
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"When you go home tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today."
- Kohima Memorial
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'Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion, preached oneness of God and brotherhood of man. At that time Hinduism and Islam were the predominant religions in India; and relations between the two communities were not good. Guru Nanak preached dignity of man and tolerance for the viewpoint of others: "The World is burning, O Lord, Save it, O Save it, by whichever door it pleases thee."
- Guru Granth
This message has been edited by FE3T on Apr 9, 2006 4:05 PM This message has been edited by FE3T on Apr 9, 2006 4:04 PM This message has been edited by FE3T on Apr 9, 2006 4:03 PM This message has been edited by FE3T on Apr 9, 2006 4:03 PM
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it is 100% true that a MiG-25 downed an F-18 and another one hit an F-15 as it was coming in for a landing on empty fuel tanks. The F-15 was subsequently written off. Those were the only two real air to air victories the Iraqis got.
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"When you go home tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today."
- Kohima Memorial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion, preached oneness of God and brotherhood of man. At that time Hinduism and Islam were the predominant religions in India; and relations between the two communities were not good. Guru Nanak preached dignity of man and tolerance for the viewpoint of others: "The World is burning, O Lord, Save it, O Save it, by whichever door it pleases thee."
- Guru Granth
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well in total the Iraqis lost some 800 birds but most were on the ground.
The US claims 39 air to air victories in Gulf War 1, though 1 of these involved a MiG-29 whose pilots drove the plane into the ground in an apparent suicide. 35 of the 39 kills were credited to F-15C's.
The British and French got some additional kills but only a handful.
Of the 39 kills 9 were Mirage F-1's, 8 were MiG-23's, 8 were MiG-29 and 2 were MiG-25's, the rest were a combination of Su-7 derivatives and older junk.
The Iraqis did force the write off of some 70+ airframes because of excessive AAA and SAM damage, so its not as one sided as it looks, the Western pilots were simply able to get home. Most of these 70 air frames were A-10's, Jaguars, Tornados and other low level flying birds. These are not air combat victories as such and I wouldnt even call them victories because in most cases the jets was able to drop bombs on target and still get home.
SAM's did hit F-15's, 16's, 18's and even 1 F-14 had to be written off after being hit by either an SA-3 or SA-6.
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Considering what they were up against, I would say that's pretty good for their Air Defense Artillery, but for their air force....
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"When you go home tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today."
- Kohima Memorial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion, preached oneness of God and brotherhood of man. At that time Hinduism and Islam were the predominant religions in India; and relations between the two communities were not good. Guru Nanak preached dignity of man and tolerance for the viewpoint of others: "The World is burning, O Lord, Save it, O Save it, by whichever door it pleases thee."
- Guru Granth
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No guys i am serious i remember when one day i was sitting and watching Fox News when they reported that 2 Indian Fighters entered Pakistan and were shot down and also their wreckage was shown on the hills very clear ............although i don't remember which aircraft they were
but i think they were some Mig
by the way India had a lot of aging migs so what's being done to replace them
LCA will replace them or the advanced fighters India is considering of buying???
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When you go home tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today."
- Kohima Memorial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion, preached oneness of God and brotherhood of man. At that time Hinduism and Islam were the predominant religions in India; and relations between the two communities were not good. Guru Nanak preached dignity of man and tolerance for the viewpoint of others: "The World is burning, O Lord, Save it, O Save it, by whichever door it pleases thee."
- Guru Granth
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"When you go home tell them of us, and say, for your tomorrow, we gave our today."
- Kohima Memorial
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Guru Nanak, the founder of the religion, preached oneness of God and brotherhood of man. At that time Hinduism and Islam were the predominant religions in India; and relations between the two communities were not good. Guru Nanak preached dignity of man and tolerance for the viewpoint of others: "The World is burning, O Lord, Save it, O Save it, by whichever door it pleases thee."
- Guru Granth
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In 1991 there were some 500 S-300 TEL's around Moscow and lining the approach to Moscow (some 2,000 missiles) in the so called "Golden Ring" of cities around Moscow (there are way less today), Baghdad may have had more SAM's than any other city except Moscow but the Baghdad network was a obsolete relic of the 1970's in 1991 and cant be compared in the slightest with the Moscow network which had somewhere on the order of 4-5,000 missiles at its disposal, none of which where obsolete SA-3's.
Its sad that today the procurement of 6 S-400 TELS (not systems) is all we can manage in a year when in the old days that would have been a 2-3 weeks worth of work for Almaz-Antei.
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"No guys i am serious i remember when one day i was sitting and watching Fox News when they reported that 2 Indian Fighters entered Pakistan and were shot down and also their wreckage was shown on the hills very clear ............although i don't remember which aircraft they were
but i think they were some Mig"
You are damm right they were Migs. In 1971 Indian mig aircraft undertook strike missions into Pakistan. It was a very hazardous mission in the sense that the IAF had to undertake many sorties to cover every strategic asset of Pakistan and bomb them into submission (which was achieved). So its no big deal that two of the Mig aircraft got shot down in the conflict, actually more than two Migs got shot down in the 1971 conflict. I just dont understand why are you posting about the 1971 war in 2006. Guess you were in a time wrap.
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No he is talking about the Mig-27 and Mig-21 shot down in Kargil. That was in 1999 and no special feet to gloat about considering the Planes were doing low level Bombing runs at 18000 Ft.
R.K. Laxman, India's renowned cartoonist, honours the hardy & humble Indian Jawan
AKA KRONICFEVER
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Quote elvesninja :Yeah Kronic is right and as about Mr.Free NAtion iam just 20 years old and how come u think i was sitting and watching Fox News in 1971???
Just 20 years old, you make me jealous.
When I was 20 (and a few years), in 1971 I visited India, West Pakistan, East Pakistan (after the conflict Bangladesh), before, during and after the war, flying home in late in the year. There was a lot of hardship on all sides, particularly in Bangladesh. Not something to be repeated if at all possible.
By the way, I think back in 1971 Fox News was just a “Cub Reporter”.
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