Word: etzion
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...local time on June 7, the first of the F-15 support fighters that had been stored in underground bunkers lifted off from Israel's Etzion airbase in the eastern Sinai. The F-15s avoided using their afterburners to conserve fuel. Soon the F-16s joined them, and the jets headed east, flying low, the escorting F-15s above and on either side of the bombers...
...officials, the Sinai has above all been a strategic early-warning zone, affording precious time to react to any military moves against Israel's western border. Most of all, they are preparing to mourn the loss next year of two multibillion-dollar air force bases at Eitam and Etzion. The supersecret and formidably protected Etzion field is described by U.S. experts as "the finest tactical fighter base in the world." During the 1973 October War, Israeli Mirage interceptors scrambled from the field to win 42 aerial dogfights without a loss...
...typical day at Etzion, at 10-sec. intervals, a flight of pale blue Israeli-made Kfir jet fighters hurtled off the runway in follow-the-leader sequence toward the south. Looking up at the streaking planes, a senior officer mused, "We will take with us whatever is economical to take. The rest we will destroy...
...fill the strategic gap, the Israelis are building two new airfields, Ovda and Ramon, in the north and south of the Negev. Meantime, Israeli air force officials are looking at ways to keep Etzion operational until the very last minute before the transfer. Said one officer: "Some Americans say privately to us that they can't believe we can give it back." If the Israelis cannot retain the two Sinai bases, they would like the U.S. to have access to them -but that idea is strongly opposed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat...