Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!news.cs.indiana.edu!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Iraqi planes to Iran: Any informed opinions? Message-ID: <1991Feb5.041601.4985@cbnews.att.com> Date: 5 Feb 91 04:16:01 GMT References: <1991Feb4.054941.16979@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 23 Approved: military@att.att.com From: dreece@ius1.cs.cmu.edu (Douglas Reece) In article <1991Feb4.054941.16979@cbnews.att.com>, YZKCU@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (Yaakov Kayman) writes: > > > From: Yaakov Kayman > Would anyone with some knowledge, military or political, please comment > on the ability of the cream of Iraq's air force (Foxbats, Fulcrums, > Sukhoi bombers) to escape to Iran even though "the coalition" has AWACS > planes aloft 24 hours a day? Surely, even if our supersonic fighters > ... >From a practical standpoint, note that northern Iraq extends over 500 miles north of the Persian Gulf, and is even farther from Saudi Arabia. There are airbases in northern Iraq probably 100 miles or less from Iranian across the border. Unless the U.S. maintained CAP all over Iraq, there is no way our planes or missiles could catch a group of Iraqi planes hopping across the border. Doug