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US TESTED SOVIET MIG FIGHTERS AT MYSTERIOUS AREA 51
A Soviet-made MiG-21 fighter jet flies over Afghanistan.
© RIA Novosti. A. Solomonov 23:37 30/10/2013
http://en.ria.ru/world/20131030/184443185/US-Tested-Soviet-MiG-Fighters-at-Mysterious-Area-51.html
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WASHINGTON, October 30 (RIA Novosti) - The United States covertly
tested Soviet MiG fighter planes at the mysterious Area 51 site in the
Nevada desert in the 1960s, including one plane secretly obtained by
Israel, according to declassified US government documents published
this week.
The first of the Soviet fighters, a MiG-21, was loaned to the
United States after Israeli secret intelligence services obtained
the aircraft from an Iraqi air force captain who defected in 1966,
according to George Washington University's National Security Archive,
which published the declassified documents on its website Tuesday.
The US Air Force held onto the MiG-21 for more than three months in
1968 at Area 51, where specialists tested and examined the fighter
to evaluate it against US fighter planes in air-to-air combat and
to develop new tactics to defeat the Soviet jet, according to the
documents.
The operation to study the MiG-21 was designated "Fishbed-E"
and concluded that the Soviet fighter has "excellent operational
capability in all flight regimes," according to one of the declassified
US Department of Defense documents.
US specialists noted, however, some deficiencies, including poor
forward and rearward visibility and "limited" performance when flying
below 15,000 feet (4,572 meters).
The aircraft was subsequently returned to the Israelis in April 1968.
Area 51 was also home to two efforts to evaluate the MiG-17 in the
1960s, according to the documents. Those operations, designated "Have
Drill" and "Have Ferry," including flying the MiGs on a combined
total of 224 sorties.
For decades Area 51 has been the subject of countless conspiracy
theories, including the existence of extraterrestrials, alien autopsies
and whether the site even existed at all.
But US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents declassified in
August acknowledged that Area 51 did indeed exist and revealed that
it was used as a base to test U-2 and other spy planes.
Those documents were also published by George Washington University's
National Security Archive after it obtained the report in response
to a Freedom of Information request filed in 2005.
A Soviet-made MiG-21 fighter jet flies over Afghanistan.
© RIA Novosti. A. Solomonov 23:37 30/10/2013
http://en.ria.ru/world/20131030/184443185/US-Tested-Soviet-MiG-Fighters-at-Mysterious-Area-51.html
Related News
MiG Begins Testing New Russian Navy Fighter Jets India Signs $55M
in Deals With Russia's MiG Fighter Jet Maker Panama Finds Soviet MiG
Fighters on Seized N. Korea Ship MiG Signs Attack Drone R&D Contract
Kazakhstan Grounds MiG Jets After Crash
WASHINGTON, October 30 (RIA Novosti) - The United States covertly
tested Soviet MiG fighter planes at the mysterious Area 51 site in the
Nevada desert in the 1960s, including one plane secretly obtained by
Israel, according to declassified US government documents published
this week.
The first of the Soviet fighters, a MiG-21, was loaned to the
United States after Israeli secret intelligence services obtained
the aircraft from an Iraqi air force captain who defected in 1966,
according to George Washington University's National Security Archive,
which published the declassified documents on its website Tuesday.
The US Air Force held onto the MiG-21 for more than three months in
1968 at Area 51, where specialists tested and examined the fighter
to evaluate it against US fighter planes in air-to-air combat and
to develop new tactics to defeat the Soviet jet, according to the
documents.
The operation to study the MiG-21 was designated "Fishbed-E"
and concluded that the Soviet fighter has "excellent operational
capability in all flight regimes," according to one of the declassified
US Department of Defense documents.
US specialists noted, however, some deficiencies, including poor
forward and rearward visibility and "limited" performance when flying
below 15,000 feet (4,572 meters).
The aircraft was subsequently returned to the Israelis in April 1968.
Area 51 was also home to two efforts to evaluate the MiG-17 in the
1960s, according to the documents. Those operations, designated "Have
Drill" and "Have Ferry," including flying the MiGs on a combined
total of 224 sorties.
For decades Area 51 has been the subject of countless conspiracy
theories, including the existence of extraterrestrials, alien autopsies
and whether the site even existed at all.
But US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents declassified in
August acknowledged that Area 51 did indeed exist and revealed that
it was used as a base to test U-2 and other spy planes.
Those documents were also published by George Washington University's
National Security Archive after it obtained the report in response
to a Freedom of Information request filed in 2005.