The Iraqi said that their Mirage F.1EQ-5 was hit by a ‘Strela’ MANPAD, fired by the IRGC: actually, there was no MANPAD: it was an AIM-7E fired by an F-14A, scrambled from Bushehr.
This post shows a photo of an Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) Mirage F.1EQ-5 with serial number 4569. This picture was taken in 1988 at Dhahran AB in eastern Saudi Arabia after the Mirage was forced to land after being stopped by a flexible barrier at the end of the runway during one of several air raids it was involved in on Farsi Island, a small rock in the middle of the Persian Gulf.
As explained in the book ‘Iraqi Mirages The Dassault Mirage Family in Service with the Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988‘, Farsi Island was converted into the IRGCN (IRGC’s “Navy”) base in 1986. It now houses a radar station and a protected port. The Iraqis had no clear picture of what was happening there, having only received images taken by their MiG-25RBs. Even less so did they know that the local CO had a telephone hotline to TFB.6, i.e., that the Iranians would call Bushehr whenever any Iraqi jets were detected.
So, on Apr. 21, 1988, the Iraqis opted to hit that radar station with AS.30Ls: You can see the PDL.1EQ Patricknlaser-designator installed under the centerline on the attached photo.
Before firing from about 4,000 meters away, the two Mirage F.1EQ-5 aircraft approached at a low altitude at a minimum speed of 920 km/h. As Captain Amer Abdullah’s aircraft was executing the standard 4G avoidance maneuver, it was hit.
Abdullah then nursed the badly damaged Mirage for about 150 km to Dhahran…
Now, the Iraqi conclusion about what hit the 4569 is particularly interesting: according to them, it was a ‘Strela’ MANPAD, fired by the IRGC.
…I would just love to see one MANPAD that can hit a low-flying aircraft underway at a speed of 920-1000 km/h, pulling 4gs, and over a range of 4-5,000 m…
There was no MANPAD: it was an AIM-7E fired by an F-14A, scrambled from Bushehr.
The Remora pod (visible under the right outboard underwing pylon) deflected the Sparrow sufficiently for this to proxy-fuze instead of scoring a direct hit (like on Aug. 29, 1987, when another Mirage was shot down ‘by a MANPADs’ in the same area).
Iraqi Mirages The Dassault Mirage Family in service with the Iraqi Air Force, 1981-1988 is published by Helion & Company Limited and is available to order here.
