I wasn't sure where to post this, could be good pics for Aircraft, dioramas, etc., if it's in the wrong spot feel free to move admins.

I got these pics from a friend with the following email, apologies if these pics are old news, I haven't seen them, they were sent by someone stationed in Iraq at the moment:

The Iraqi jet, an advanced Russian MiG-25 Foxbat, was found buried in the sand after an informant tipped off U.S. troops.

The MiG was dug out of a massive sand dune near the Al Taqqadum airfield by U.S. Air Force recovery teams. The MiG was reportedly one of over two dozen Iraqi jets buried in the sand, like hidden treasure, waiting to be recovered at a later date.

Contrary to what some in the major media have reported, not all the jets found were from the Gulf War era.

The Russian-made MiG-25 Foxbat being recovered by U.S. Air Force troops in the photos is an advanced reconnaissance version never before seen in the West and is equipped with sophisticated electronic warfare devices.

U.S. Air Force recovery teams had to use large earth-moving equipment to uncover the MiG, which is over 70 feet long and weighs nearly 25 tons.

The Foxbat is known to be one of Iraq's top jet fighters. The advanced electronic reconnaissance version found by the U.S. Air Force is currently in service with the Russian air force. The MiG is capable of flying at speeds of over 2,000 miles an hour, or three times the speed of sound, and at altitudes of over 75,000 feet.

The recovery of the advanced MiG fighter is considered to be an intelligence coup by the U.S. Air Force.. The Foxbat may also be equipped with advanced Russian- and French-made electronics that were sold to Iraq during the 1990s in violation of a U..N. ban on arms sales to Baghdad.

The buried aircraft at Al Taqqadum were covered in camouflage netting, sealed and, in many cases, had their wings removed before being buried more than 10 feet beneath the Iraqi desert.






If I have screwed up posting these pics, please feel free to jump in and bail me out.

Marty

I thank you
Havent heard a word about this interesting subject on the Tube

How cool

talk about strikeing gold.
thats really cool they found these planes,
i hread in the frist gulf war they buried all there planes aslo,
these are great pictures thanks

Get me an M1077 kit and I'll do this dio in 1/35 or (1/32)!!!

One question..........Wouldn't the sand kind of srew up the aircrafts avionics, engines and stuff?

I suppose it would but at least some of the planes were sealed in plastic. Talk about a big toy!

nice pictures and very interesting theme. Thanks

so what is going to happen to the aircraft? does anyone know? please tell them that if they don't know where to put it at my backyard is big enough( :-) ) and what was the purpose of buring them if they wouldn't use them when it was time? or did they forget where they had buried it?

did they stop digging? maybe there is an aircraft carrier here or there under the desert...
thanks for nice photos

A little more detailed info on the pictures. They are DoD (Department of Defense) pictures taken by a Master Sgt. T. Collins of the U.S. Air Force. It is pretty old news as they were uncovered on July 6, 2003 and released August 7th of that year. In addition to "several MiG-25s" found, some "Su-25 aircraft have been found buried at Al-Taqqadum airfield west of Baghdad". That is part of the caption on all three of the photos (DoD like to use the same sentences over and over on their captions). The images show the MiG-25R-B. The B designation shows it to be a reconnaissance bird (A - basic interceptor, C - two seater, D - reconnaissance with a modified radar and the E variant; the E variant were converted As giving them a look-down, shoot-down radar to give them an ability similar to the Flogger).

As for performance, it was designed to intercept the very high speed, high altitude but nonetheless cancelled XB-70 Valkrie, but the Soviets decided to build the Foxbat anyway (which led the US to build the F-15 to counter the -25). It is a Mustang (the car). It is meant for speed and altitude and not much else, hence the reason the Iraqis (even the Russians still I believe) use it for its recon value. At speed, it is sluggish, not maneuverable. The "coup" part was the newer electronics, as the thing is so old and obsolete.

I wonder how bad the sand has infected the interior of the aircraft. My opinion it was a good idea for Saddam to bury his aircraft rather than be destroyed, either way, it keeps them out of the hair of the Air Force commanders.

What a terrible thing to do to such wonderful pieces of hardware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good thing that someone was around to "save" them from their graves!!!!!!!!!!!

From memory the Iraqis buried them because they knew they wasnt much point in trying to fight the coallition. They buried the planes because they simply knew they would be shot down or destroyed by laser guided bombs.

Dont know about you guys but I wouldnt fancy being in the Iraqi AF when everything kicked off.

Why is there camo netting on the tail section? Seems a bit daft to use camo netting on a buried aircraft!

From the looks of it, I would say that it wansn't 100% buried. Probably how the Iraqi's knew exactly where it was buried - things can get lost pretty quickly there. It was also probably a safe bet to say that that is how coalition forces found them.

Also from further looking at the pictures, I believe I see another "mound". Look at the first image, in the upper right hand corner by the HMMWV and the white SUV. An elongated hill seems to be sticking out.

Why couldnt they have used a map then? :-)

Kind of reminds me about the way they sent some planes over to Iran for safe keeping in 1991. Only for the Iranians to pinch them

Ah well there loss!