Word: iraqis
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...knew that the gulf's serenity was often illusory. With mines concealed below, jet fighters screaming above and antiship missiles lurking onshore, sudden violence was an ever present danger. More than 200 vessels had been attacked in the gulf during the past three years. Earlier on this day, Iraqi jets had delivered missiles into a Cypriot tanker, leaving it dead in the water. The increasing threats to shipping in the vital region were precisely why the Stark was there, signaling U.S. determination to keep the oil lifelines open...
...other American military eyes were also watching the gulf. Earlier, an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance plane had taken off from its base in Saudi Arabia, which operated the electronics-laden Boeing 707 jointly with the U.S. On radar, the combined U.S.-Saudi crew detected a single Iraqi Mirage F-1 aircraft as it lifted off from the Shaibah military airport ten miles southwest of Basra at around 8 p.m. Heading southeast along Saudi Arabia's coast as Iraqi planes often do, the Mirage flew much closer to Bahrain than was normal. Suddenly, the fighter jerked into...
...picked up the jet when it was about 200 miles to the north and tracked its southward course until it was virtually due west, well off the frigate's port bow. At that point, no one on the American ship had particular reason for alarm. As Brindel said later, Iraqi warplanes "commonly come down the gulf and pass within close distances." None of them had ever attacked a U.S. vessel. Even the Iranians, whom the Americans considered a greater threat, often flew their jets within missile range of U.S. warships but would back off after receiving radio warnings...
...message was sent in English, the internationally recognized language for such communications, and on a radio frequency that military aircraft are expected to monitor. There was no response. The Iraqi fighter was still closing in on the Stark. The ship sent a more demanding message 36 seconds after the first: "Unknown aircraft. This is U.S. Navy warship on your 076 for eleven miles. Identify yourself and state your intentions. Over...
Twenty thousand feet overhead, the AWACS crew had noted the Iraqi jet's search radar sweeping the Stark. But the airborne observers too failed to detect any evidence that the frigate had been targeted. At 10:10 p.m., however, the AWACS crew was startled to see the fighter suddenly bank sharply to the south, then circle tightly and dart northward toward its home base...