Word: mig
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...from Anchorage over the Bering Sea in the early-morning darkness, came under the watchful eye of Soviet radar. For the next 2½ hr. the blip moved into and out of Soviet airspace. When it crossed over the eastern border of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Soviets scrambled four MiG-23s and Su-15s from the Petropavlovsk airbase on Kamchatka to search for the intruder. Just after 3 a.m., over the Soviet island of Sakhalin, where another six interceptors had given pursuit, the hunters found their quarry...
Whether he knew it or not, Captain Chun and the other 268 innocent travelers on his airliner soon were in trouble. Somehow, Flight 007 had passed those lines, invisible in the sky but so clearly etched on maps, that mark forbidden airspace. The Soviets scrambled MiG-23s, their widely deployed supersonic jet fighter, and Sukhoi-15s, a slightly older but nonetheless lethal interceptor, to follow the 747. Japanese and American intelligence sources later figured that at least eight of the single-seat fighters pursued the relatively slow-moving airliner...
Perhaps only the Soviets could display such gall, but other countries have also been guilty of firing on commercial flights. In 1955, two Bulgarian MiG-15s fitted with cannons attacked an off-course El Al Constellation airliner that was apparently flying into Bulgarian airspace. The plane, en route from London to Israel, crashed in Bulgaria, killing all 58 passengers and crew aboard. After an outraged protest from Israel, which accused Bulgaria of "shocking recklessness," the government issued a formal apology. It said the fighter pilots had been "too hasty," and agreed to pay compensation to the victims' families...
...more than a year, Gaddafi has been giving arms and money to the forces of former President Goukouni Oueddei, which number as many as 5,000. The fighting took on a new dimension two weeks ago, when Libyan MiG-21 jets strafed the northern Chad oasis of Faya-Largeau soon after government troops had recaptured the town from Goukouni's rebels. Gaddafi's jets continued their raids last week, reducing much of the brick-and-mud town to rubble...
...which Libya claims. Although the U.S. and most other nations-including the Soviet Union-do not honor any Libyan claim beyond the usual twelve-mile limit, the Eisenhower remained just outside the Gulf of Sidra. Nonetheless, two F-14 jets from the carrier drove off a pair of Libyan MiG-23 jets that they encountered on patrol. Neither side opened fire. In a similar incident two years ago, a pair of U.S. F-14s shot down two Libyan Su-22 planes that had opened fire on them...