Anon

Day 1 of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait:

The great Kuwaiti air assault turkey shoot.


Apparently, Kuwaiti air defenses claimed 14 Mi-8 and MI-25 kills, and the Kuwaiti Air Force fought a wild dogfight with the air assault remnants among the towers of Kuwait City: With the surprising appearance of numerous Kuwait fighters at low level, and their own fighter-cover being too far away and at a medium level, the Iraqi helicopter-pilots found themselves in a terrible situation: there was no natural cover, and their helicopters were heavily loaded with troops and equipment. The only place they could hide was low between the buildings of the Kuwait City. But, in the cold morning air, not even this offered good protection against the KAF Mirages armed with advanced Matra R.550 Mk.2 all-aspect missiles. Several Mi-8s managed to get their troops off before being attacked, but then a wild helicopter vs. jet fighters dogfight developed, in which the Mi-8s and Mi-25s simply stood no chance. The Skyhawks of the 9th and 25th Sqn KAF claimed five, and the Mirages of the 18th and 61st Sqn then claimed 13 additional helicopters, while the Hawks of the 12th Sqn claimed two or three kills more: the Skyhawks and Hawks shot down all their victims by 20mm or 30mm gunfire, respectively, while the Mirages scored most of their kills using the Matra R.550 Mk.2 all-aspect, short-range, air-to-air missiles.

Score:
Kuwait - 35
Iraq - 0

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_213.shtml

-{SpoonmaN}-

Never, ever use transport helos in contested airspace, they seem vulnerable enough to ground fire as it is.

Captain Drunk

I think they made the fatal mistake of not striking air bases / airports first using their Mig-23s, Mig-25s and Sukhoi 24 Fencers. You always wipe out airstrips of your foe first and then invade, not good military planning by the Iraqi Defence Forces. But maybe they just didn't see the puny, insignificant Kuwaiti Airforce with its obsolete Skyhawks and Mirage F1s as a threat against their numerically superior force of mighty Migs and Sukhoi fighters.

troung

Actually the Mirage F-1CKs were not out of date compared with MiG-23MLs, MiG-21bis, Su-22s and Mirage F-1EQs. And the Su-24MK is not a fighter so pray tell which mighty Sukhoi fighters was Iraq flying?

Captain Drunk

Iraq's MiG-23 Flogger Es with Atoll, Aphid and Magic missiles outclassed Kuwaiti Mirage F-1s at the time and Su-24s would fly F-111's airfield attack like missions scuttling the KAF from taking off. But at the break of dawn August 2, 1990, Iraqi troops and tanks crossed the border not their planes.