Bekaa Valley Turkey Shoot

On 1982, at the outset of the Lebanon War, Israel launched Operation Mole Cricket 19 against Soviet built SAM network of the Syrian forces in Lebanon.

It became the biggest air battle in the middle east. Let me tell y’all a bit about it.

#longthread But first, a little bit of background.

In 1981, tensions were high between the Palestanian Arab militia groups operating in South Lebanon & Israel.

There were regular artillery duels & rocket strikes inside Israel followed by IAF conducting strikes inside Lebanon.

Almost 34 years before Operation Bandar, Soviets launched a similar strike deep inside Pakistan to destroy a major Mujahideen camp during the Soviet Afghan War.

The aircraft used for this operation was a Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot. Let me tell y’all a bit about it.

#Thread But first a little bit of background.

After more than seven years of fighting, Mujahideen resistance against the Soviet troops only grew more stronger, thanks to direct support from the USA & Pakistan.

Most of the training camps were operated across the border in Pakistan.

Frogfoots are being heavily employed by the air forces of both Russia & Ukraine for low level ground attacks runs in the ongoing conflict.

Footage released by Russian MoD shows RuAF Su-25 of 266 Assault Aviation Regiment (ShAP) carrying out strikes against Ukrainian positions. Generally you see the Su-25s firing their rockets in a slight climb for better range & to avoid MANPADs.

The mission computer on the aircraft factors in ballistics, wind etc & computes the range, height, & climb angle to deliver an accurate strike.

Almost 65 years ago, Sept. 24th 1958, F-86 Sabres of RoCAF shot down 10 PLAAF MiG-17 Frescos in a single day.

MiG-17 jets flying at higher altitude & speed, supposedly immune to attack, suddenly found itself at the mercy of Taiwanese Sabres. The reason was the AIM-9 sidewinder. A bit of background.

Around 1958, the PRC started building up its forces adjacent to Taiwan, while the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet patrolled the waters in the area.

In July, a ROCAF F-86 got shot down by a flight of PLAAF MiGs which forced ROCAF to step up patrols over the Strait.

Taiwanese Dragon Lady!

Most of you may know about CIA’s legendary spy plane, the U-2 Dragon Lady. First flown in 1954, it is one of the most important ISR asset of US till date.

But there was another country which operated this aircraft. Let me tell you about Taiwan’s U-2. From 1961 to 1974, ROCAF U-2s carried 220 missions under project RAZOR, among which about half of them were over PRC and rest over SEA and North Korea. RoCAF U-2s were operated by 35th Squadron who were famously known as the Black Cat Squadron.