"I shot down two tornadoes"
In a dispute over the 1991 war of the year, we can put up a valuable witness - a Russian officer of the C-200 complex. He did not obey the Gorbachev order and did not leave Iraq, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Arabs to defend his sky. This air defense major has several victories in his account, still hiding his name. Here is what he said:
"... In my technique, I was sure. Until the beginning of the nineties, the two hundred was probably the most advanced. A good station that can work with any interference, a good firing range is almost two hundred kilometers ... It was a pity that the complexes these were obviously not enough - just a few pieces for the whole of Iraq ...
For a whole month, on cloudy days and nights, when the earth was closed to air and space reconnaissance, we were engaged in equipping the positions of the division. Launchers, stations have long been "packed" in the most powerful concrete, which was applied a special coating, completely merged with sand. The units themselves moved on rails through the whole system of tunnels and each had several combat positions. The stations were also retractable. Within a few seconds, the plate on which the radar was located was moved by tens of meters with the help of electric motors. In addition, the Iraqi construction battalions erected three false division positions. In general, in engineering, one of our divisions was pulling for a whole regiment ... But how did it pay off then!
Then I was just surprised by the number of layouts and dummies deployed by Iraqis. In the Union, they were practically not used, and here, for each system or installation, there were three or four models. Layouts were mainly of Italian and French origin. Perfectly made of durable rubber coated with metallic paint. The compressor was turned on - and after a minute, a radar station with a missile or tank was in position. Moreover, their characteristics in size, radiation spectrum and many others fully corresponded to real samples. weapons. At dummies tanks in the engine area there was even a special heating unit that imitated the operation of the motor ...
On the false positions of our division, for complete illusion, several outdated radar stations and several imitators of radar were deployed. Of course, false positions
just as carefully camouflaged, just a bit "negligent." The pseudo-divisions had their own calculations, which strenuously portrayed vigorous combat work.
... Coalition reconnaissance aircraft constantly circled over areas where Iraqi forces were stationed. Almost continuously over us hung reconnaissance satellites.
Of course, the Americans did everything to open our defenses. I can not say that they did not succeed ... But still the war did not start at all in the way that the Americans had expected.
Eight hours before the first raid, the coalition began electronic jamming. The newest NATO systems almost completely clogged the air and cut off the frequencies of the transmitting and receiving frequencies of the radar. Everything is “blind” and “deaf”. Frankly speaking - it was scary. Except wire communication, no other functioned. It was terrible and very sad to feel their dependence on the enemy, his power and initiative. And at half past two in the night of January 17 the raid began.
... Our positions were bombed four times that day. First, we were attacked at extreme low altitude by combat helicopters, then by English and Italian Tornadoes. Then the American F-16 struck a rocket-bombing attack, then again Tornado. At low altitudes, the A-10 attack aircraft "ironed" us last. By the time the 18 raid stopped, and a reconnaissance aircraft hung over our area.
I do not know how many bombs were dropped that day, but none of them caused us any harm. All got two false positions. Almost all night fires were burning there ...
The first three days we did not give signs of life. After supplementary exploration, we were still bombed four times by the same Tornado and F-16. Tornado hit the target at extremely low altitudes and worked mostly in two groups with an interval of 2-3 minutes. They delivered strikes with guided missiles and, after the attack, carried out an anti-aircraft maneuver. F-16 more often practiced "star" raid from different directions and threw bombs with a combat reversal. They were also controlled, and every day they increasingly compared false positions with the earth.
During these three days, we got used to the situation and conducted the first analysis. He was ineffective - the coalition had complete superiority in the forces and means of air attack, and there was no way to organize a full-fledged opposition. That would be suicide. Only ambush actions remained.
We shot down the first coalition plane on the fourth day. Having decided that the division was destroyed, the Allies completely switched to the attack of an airfield a few kilometers from us. It was covered by "seventy-fifth" missile systems and several anti-aircraft artillery batteries. ... For three days, all the anti-aircraft missile units were completely suppressed there, they had hit all the radar, but the gunners stubbornly kept. On their account there were already two downed aircraft. The resistance of the gunners was all the more surprising because the airfield itself became empty. A day before the first raid, all the planes flew somewhere at night, and a coalition with the persistence of elephants carried the same dummies for four days ...
... At seven in the morning the observers reported on the appearance of a group of aircraft. These were the English "Tornado", heading for the next attack ground of the airfield. We decided to open fire. The group went in the usual manner. The jammer was located above and behind, another covered the group from the left hemisphere - from the side of the airfield.
The Tornadoes themselves marched in three combat units in a close order of battle at a height of seventy meters. The distance to the targets was eighteen kilometers.
By pushing the equipment of the division to the “loopholes” (as we called the battlegrounds), we prepared for firing. The radar came on, and goals appeared on the screens immediately. The main direction of jamming was in the direction of the airfield, and therefore our indicators remained almost clear. It took only a few seconds for the operators to process the targets and take them into “capture” mode. And now report on the readiness to fire. The goal - the lead of the third link. Start! Two rockets with a crash fall from the guides and rushed to the victim.
Tornado, of course, discovered our exposure and rocket launch. In our direction hurriedly turn the jammers. Sami "Tornado" began to rapidly disperse, trying to get out from under the blow. But too late. The lead link had no room to maneuver either in speed or in height. The pilot managed only to leave for a turn, when the rocket turned the plane into a pile of burning debris.
Joyful cries filled the cockpit guidance station. Forgetting the danger, we all embraced. I was nearly strangled in the embrace of the division commander Mustafa. Battle account is open!
Suddenly, we all sharply throws aside. The electric motors came on, and the platform with the cabin slides toward the shelter. Operators hastily disconnect the station. At the same moment, the radar simulator is switched on in a false position, diverting enemy aircraft to itself. Here, according to the scenario, the trap is also turned off. But the Americans had enough time to detect it.
The next day we are almost continuously bombed.
In total, we counted twelve raids. Impressive. The launch of the rocket apparently detected the satellite. Because the Americans struck several blows on the place where the real launcher was located. Fortunately, their bombs did not “feel” the concrete. And so we were not found again.
Covers some strange excitement. The game of cat and mouse is fascinating. On the Americans side, full numerical and qualitative superiority. In our - calculation, cunning, speed.
We shot down the second Tornado a week later. All this time, the "allies" continually smashed all the false positions they found. At the same time, other groups diligently flew around our region. Though small, but a victory. The defenders of the airfield are now calm for the fact that now there are no attacks from our direction. The airfield is disabled, but the anti-aircraft batteries continue to snap. In the ranks, however, less than half of the people and installations remained. I was fascinated by the Iraqis!
If it were not for the treachery of Gorbachev, how could we "wash" these "Yankee and Company" here! Throw here the heels of the regiments of the C-300 and our "two-hundred" - and there would be nothing to catch the whole coalition. They would stuff all this NATO iron like ducks in August. For a long time to remember. I can not understand what was happening then with the Union. We betrayed all who could be betrayed. And for what? For the fact that Reagan approvingly patted bald Misha on the cheek?
We got the second Tornado almost at the maximum range. Just ended another "preventive" raid on our position. All around in smoke and clouds of dust. And by communication we were told that there was an attack on a neighboring city. The British are spreading a pharmaceutical factory.
In general, in this war, I reconsidered my attitude towards NATO and America. We are inspired that they are de "civilized", "cultural" and "decent" people. But in fact there were jackals jackals. Just like the Germans in the Patriotic. The week of the bombing of military sites did not give the coalition a special result. The Iraqi military machine, buried in the ground, withstood the blows of the "allies" and now, having dazzled, they simply demolished the entire Iraqi infrastructure. For a week now they have been bombing bridges, factories, and factories.
In Baghdad, a baby food plant, a dairy factory, and a pharmaceutical factory were bombed under the guise of "military targets". Now the same factory is being trashed next to us. Tomorrow it will be declared a "tank factory".
Taking advantage of the darkness (and it was about midnight), clouds of dust and smoke, turn around in the positions and turn on. Screens jammed with noise. But the "dvuhsotki" has a regime that allows them to fight. The station begins to work "beam", reliably blocking a certain sector. We see the outgoing "Tornado" coalition. Guidance operators "cling" him, and now the guides are in sync. Start! Rockets are fired by arrows of fire into the night sky. The seconds are painfully long. Mark targets and rockets come together. But how slowly ...!
At the last moment, the plane, apparently, the warning of the approach of the rocket. He tried to maneuver, but late. Undermining - and the radar indicator is empty.
Now we are stormed several times a day. But there is a good one news - aviation Allies no longer falls below six thousand meters. Of course, this is not only the result of our strikes. But it is a victory. The "antediluvian", "outdated", "ineffective" air defense of Iraq after a week of war forced the Allies to abandon low-altitude bombing. Too sensitive losses.
The advertised miracle plane "Tornado", in my observation, turned out to be a machine unsuccessful. The plane is not enough tenacious, too heavy and poorly maneuverable. They have already been pinned a whole bunch ...
As this hulk has brought to us, it remains only to guess. They say the Americans have created a killer aircraft tank.
On the heavy C-5A, the Galaxy was equipped with a hundred-millimeter cannon for firing at the ground. A sort of neo- "flying fortress."
And such a large object weighing under two hundred tons turned out to be in the area of our shooting. Maybe the pilots got lost, and maybe they lost their vigilance after twenty days of bombing, but only when this “flare” about the size of a manfly appeared on the screen of the indicator did we just gasp.
To miss it would be complete nonsense. Knowing that on such ships to hell with all sorts of radio-electronic traps, we shot in television mode. Rockets were guided on television. Visually. There are two hundred, and such a regime.
The Americans did not even have time to understand what happened to them when two rockets "silently", without turning on the radar guidance heads, got into the carcass of the Galaxy. It was an indescribable spectacle. Sunset sky And a huge cloud of fire tilting into the desert.
After this, the area of our division became forbidden for flights of Western aviation. We began to fall asleep ship "tomahawks." There were losses, there was destruction. But the whole area was spared from the bombing. Allied airplanes did not appear in our sky until the very end of the war ... "
("I shot down two Tornadoes. Recorded by V. Smolentsev." Day of the Warrior ", 1, 1997)
This testimony of our missile says a lot. The Americans boasted that with the help of the French reconnaissance satellite "Spot" (with "eyes" in the form of a huge panel of thousands of silicon photodiodes) were able to detect the carefully camouflaged underground bunker of the Iraqi command east of Baghdad. And they sent a plane with a two-ton laser-induced bomb on it. Even earlier, they say, Spot helped set targets for the bombing of Libya in the 1986 year. But no "Spot" was able to detect the underground fortress from which this C-200 installation operated.