Word: mig
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...highway. Supported by air attacks and artillery fire, Israeli tanks and infantry engaged the Syrians at close range in some of the most ferocious fighting of the three-week-old war. Damascus claimed to have destroyed 17 Israeli tanks and other armored vehicles, while losing two of its own MiG jets in dogfights over the combat zone. Jerusalem said that Syria had lost about 80 tanks and armored vehicles...
...were fired, traveling toward the Israeli plane at 2,000 m.p.h., the jet's ECM would have singled it out for intense electronic jamming, trying to overcome the SAM'S own antijamming system to send the missile veering off course. If one of the Syrian MiG-21s and MiG-23s had fired a Soviet Atoll missile at an Israeli attacker, the same ECM beaming might have "spoofed" the weapon and forced it harmlessly off course...
When stalking Syrian fighters, an F-16 pilot, again using the HUD windshield images, had only to position a computer-generated "tracerline" over the MiG and fire his machine-cannon for one second; 100 20-mm rounds would have streaked toward the enemy jet. However, many of the downed MiGs were apparently hit by the latest model of the Sidewinder missile, which is being used effectively by British Sea Harriers in the Falkland Islands. The weapon adjusts its aim in flight with an extremely sensitive infrared homing system that guides the warhead toward the enemy jet at 1,650 m.p.h...
Syria's MiG-21s, MiG-23s and MiG-25s, although relatively stripped-down export models, do have ECM gadgets, early-warning systems and air-to-air missiles. But their electronics are not as precise and powerful as the U.S.-Israeli counterparts. Israel also had available an even more powerful electronic back-up system: four U.S.-built E-2C Hawkeye surveillance planes, each able to track 250 enemy aircraft up to 300 miles away. In addition, Israel's pilots are among the best in the world. No fighter pilots have more intensive training-in ground practice with computerized simulators...
There is no ignoring Nicaragua's military buildup. The Sandinista arsenal now includes some 30 Soviet tanks, and the Reagan Administration suspects that MiG-21 aircraft may soon be shipped to Nicaragua, giving that country clear air superiority over its neighbors. On the ground, Nicaraguan military strength is already well established; the Sandinista army of 26,000 is at least twice the size of any other in Central America. In addition, Nicaragua has a "ready reserve" force...