Samurra Air Battle

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Samurra Air Battle
Part of the air campaign of the Persian Gulf War
Date30 January 1991
Location
Khan Bani Saad, Iraq
Result

Iraqi victory

  • Continued evacuation of Iraqi air forces
Belligerents
 United States Iraq Iraq
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Col. Randy Bigum
Capt. Thomas Dietz
1st Lt. Robert Hehemann
1st Lt. Lynn Broome
Capt. Mohammed Jassim as-Sammarai
Strength
"Xerex 31": 2
F-15C
 No. 96 Sqn: 1
MiG-25
Casualties and losses
2 F-15s shot down
(Iraqi claim)[1]
at least 1 F-15 damaged
(US claim)[2]		 None

Operation Samurra was an operation by the

McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle fighters from the United States Air Force (USAF) using Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 interceptors, and break the "wall" of F-15s that the Coalition had established along Iraq's border with Iran. It demonstrated the last true offensive operation of the IQAF before grounding their air assets in an attempt to preserve them for future use. Through careful planning and coordination, two MiG-25 jets successfully caught two USAF F-15 fighters, of the 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Al Kharj Air Base
, off guard and engaged them in a beyond-visual range air-to-air engagement.

Prelude

By January 19, 1991 it had become apparent to Iraqi leadership that they could not engage Coalition air forces openly. President of Iraq Saddam Hussein had ordered most of his air assets to be conserved inside of bunkers in an attempt to save them for future use against the Coalition. Consequently, Coalition sorties began targeting aircraft hangars and shelters to destroy the Iraqi Air Force on the ground. Between 17 and 27 January, 117 Iraqi aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Saddam ordered his air force to evacuate their aircraft to neighbouring Iran temporarily, to be used in future sorties (Iran instead interned the aircraft).

Flying in flights of four, Iraqi military aircraft retreated east across the country, routed through Baghdad airspace due to its heavy air defenses. To counter this, the USAF established a "wall" of F-15s along the Iranian border to shoot down any aircraft attempting to flee. In order to facilitate the retreat of its air force, Iraq sought to shoot down these patrolling F-15s.[3]

Plan

Planning for Operation Samurra had begun as early as 18 January, when the IQAF was bolstered by a successful operation[

F-15E Strike Eagle
fighters.

The plan involved having two MiG-25 aircraft from different directions vectored onto an isolated group of F-15s. If the F-15s tried to attack one of the MiGs, the other would be in a flanking position which would enable it to down the F-15s more easily. Iraq didn't evacuate their MiG-25 "Foxbats" in order to retain them for this mission. Monitoring Coalition AWACS and F-15 radio frequencies, Iraqi forces waited for the proper situation to begin the operation.[3]

Battle

Finally on January 30, an Iraqi intelligence unit intercepted communications that one of the patrols, "Xerex 31" was approaching "bingo fuel" which necessitated an hour and a half round trip to an

Qadessiya Air Base, while Capt. Mohammed Jassi as-Sammarai took off from Tammuz Air Base. After engaging a false target,[citation needed
] both pilots were directed to Dietz and Hehemann by Iraqi air traffic control.

The two flights immediately engaged one another, with Hehemann firing two missiles, one of which was a dud. At the same time, as-Sammarai achieved

R-40 missile, which went ballistic after as-Sammarai was forced into evasive maneuvers to avoid Hehemann's missile. As-Sammarai's missile damaged Hehemann's left engine, but his F-15 remained flyable. Meanwhile, Dietz engaged Awad, attempting to fire several missiles at him. After Dietz's missiles failed to fire three times, Awad managed to get radar lock on Dietz's F-15, putting him onto the defensive. Dietz attempted to disengage, heading east. Hehemann, still engaged with as-Sammarai, fired another missile, and then found himself under lock-on by the now unoccupied Awad. Hehemann avoided Awad's missile with the use of chaff and flares. As-Sammarai and Awad then disengaged to the west in full afterburner, back towards Tammuz Air Base
.

At the same time, "Xerex 31" was returning from the aerial tanker and had been monitoring the air battle. Pilots Lt. Col. Randy Bigum and 1st Lt. Lynn Broome decided to direct their F-15s in an attempt to intercept the two MiG-25s. However, a high altitude crosswind forced them over Baghdad, which was the most heavily defended airspace in Iraq. The two were subsequently locked-on by Iraqi gunners. Bigum would later admit he didn't notice the drift because he and his wing-man were determined to score a MiG kill.[4] Despite this, they still managed to achieve radar lock up on both as-Sammarai and Awad, and each fired a missile at them. Both missed. Bigum fired a second missile at Awad, but Awad landed his aircraft before the missile arrived. Bigum fired again at as-Sammarai as he was on his final landing approach, but Bigum lost the radar lock as as-Sammarai landed and the missile impacted the ground about 10 ft (3 m) from as-Sammarai's left wingtip. Bigum and Broome egressed the area before they could be shot down by surface-to-air missiles, which were still targeting them.[3][5] AF.Mil shows LtC Randy Bigum as commander 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron Bitburg Germany during this time frame.[6] deployed to Al Kharj [7]

Result

The Iraqi Air Force first credited as-Sammarai with a possible victory which was later upgraded to confirmed after a

better source needed
]

Operation Samurra was the last offensive operation of the Iraqi Air Force during the Gulf War. By mid-February all IQAF activity had effectively ceased as the Coalition completed their dominance over the skies, and not a single offensive sortie was even attempted during the ground phase of the war.

2003 invasion of Iraq
when they were buried, by which time they remained in various states of airworthiness.

Dietz and Hehemann would go on to be the highest scoring fighter pilots of the Gulf War, with three air-to-air kills apiece by the war's end. Bigum and Broome finished the war with no kills.[citation needed]


See also

References

  1. ^ a b "A 1991 Dossier on the Role of the Iraqi Air Force in the Gulf War" (PDF). Iraqi Air Force. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  2. ^ Cooper, Tom. "Exhumating the Dead Iraqi Air Force". ACIG. Air Combat Information Group. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9781472812704
    .
  4. ISBN 0395602904
    . randy bigum gulf war.
  5. ^ "The MiG-25 and MiG-31 in Combat". F-16 Net. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  6. ^ https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107739/randall-k-bigum/
  7. ^ http://usafunithistory.com/PDF/50-74/53%20FIGHTER%20SQ.pdf
  8. ^ "Coalition Fixed-Wing Combat Aircraft Attrition in Desert Storm". Estimate Error Probable. RJLee.

Sources

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