First AMRAAM Score 27 Dec 1992

27 Dec 92 Sunday: 1 x MiG-25 (Foxbat E) Downed by F-16C with AMRAAM

- 4 x F-15E's (335th FS, 4th FW) on CAP were challanged but MiG's pulled back

- The F-16D kill was accomplished by Capt Gary North, from the 33rd Fighter

Squadron of the 363rd Fighter Wing flying Block 42 (Pratt 220 engines) utilizing

1 x AMRAAM missile that was fired in the forward quarter at about 3 nm. It more

than likely was active at launch. The 33rd FS is deployed to Dhahran AB in Saudi

from Shaw AFB.

- F-16D, # 90-0778, from 33rd Fighter Squadron (4440th Composite Wing)

v Call signs: Benji 41 and Benji 42

v North's jet had 456 hours on it

- At about 10:42 am local, 2 x MiG-25's entered the No-Fly Zone below the

32nd Parallel, and the weather was clear

- Configuration was: 2 x AIM-120's on 1 & 9, 2 x AIM-9M's on 2 & 8, an ECM Pod on the Centerline, and 2 x 370 gallon wing tanks on 3 & 7

- It was the first USAF F-16 air-to-air kill, the first ever F-16 BVR kill, the first

AMRAAM kill, 65 seconds after the MiG's crossed the Line

- 1/13/93 Aerospace Daily: Transcript of Close F-16/AWACS coordination

v Radar acqusition and lock-on of the lead MiG was almost immediately

at around 20 nm as the MiG's "turned to confront" the F-16's

v The MiG-25's were reported to have fired at least one missile

v AWACS: "Benji 41, Lock Leader, Leader Past the Line, now 18 miles, Angels 29".

Benji 41: "Roger, they're south of the line."

AWACS: "Benji 41, status trailer"

Benji 42: "I have a lock, it's tracking"

AWACS: "OK, I show 'em well south of the line, 14 miles.

Toot Sweet, try to get the trailer"

Benji 41: "Benji Burners"

AWACS: "12 miles, 12 miles"

Benji 41: "Bogey Dope"

AWACS: "Benji, I show them 8 miles"

Benji 41: "Benji, I am looking for a Clearance to Fire"

AWACS: "Benji 41, Cleared Kill, Cleared Kill"

Benji 41: "Benji, understand Cleared Kill?"

[sound of lock-on tone]

AWACS: "Cleared to Kill, Cleared to Kill, you've got .....Bandits"

[sound of launch tone]

Benji 41: "Benji Fox"

AWACS: "Benji let's come hard left"

Benji 41: "Splash" [missile running time around 8 seconds]

Benji 41: "Benji, burners, let's take it down. Go Low."

[F-16's dive from 29,000 ft to 17,000 ft, new lock]

Benji 41: "Benji, Splash One, Splash One"

AWACS: "Copy, Splash One."

v U.S. Guns Down Iraqi Fighter Jet In 'No-Fly' Zone Confrontation

WASHINGTON - The U.S. shot down an Iraqi fighter aircraft Sunday when two Iraqi warplanes ''turned to confront'' U.S. F-16 jets in U.N.-restricted airspace over southern Iraq, the Pentagon said. The U.S. pilots and F-16s were unharmed. But the fate of the Iraqi pilot wasn't known, said Lt. Col. Marc Martens, a U.S. Air Force spokesman. The second Iraqi aircraft escaped, Martens said. It was the first Iraqi aircraft destroyed in a confrontation with U.S. forces since Aug. 27 when the U.N. declared a ''no-fly'' zone for Iraqi warplanes south of the 32nd parallel. ''I don't know what he's (Saddam Hussein) doing, but he's made a big mistake,'' said a vacationing President Bush in Texas. ''We are not threatening anybody. But we must enforce those resolutions. He must comply with the U.N. resolutions.''

In Little Rock, Ark., President-elect Clinton supported ''efforts to bring Iraq into compliance'' with the prohibition on its planes flying south of the 32nd parallel. ''This is part of a series of tests of international resolve to bring Iraq into compliance with the United Nations resolutions,'' Clinton said. ''Saddam Hussein is mistaken if he believes the United States or the United Nations lacks that resolve,'' said the president-elect.

In a Baghdad radio broadcast, Iraq said it reserved the right to respond to the downing of the plane ''in the appropriate manner and at theappropriate time.'' An

Iraqi military spokesman said the Iraqi warplane was shot down while carrying out routine patrol duties over Iraqi soil and within Iraqi boundaries. The incident began at approximately 2:40 a.m. EST when ''a flight of two Iraqi aircraft crossed the no-

fly line,'' Martens read from a Pentagon statement. U.S. forces tried to get the

Iraqi pilots to identify themselves, but the Iraqi planes flew back north out of the

''no-fly'' area, Martens said. ''Twenty minutes later, coalition forces identified another flight of aircraft approximately 20 miles inside the no-fly zone,'' Martens said. Two U.S. F-16s assigned to Joint Task Force Southwest Asia flew toward the

Iraqi planes and a verbal warning was issued to the pilots. The Iraqi pilots ignored

warnings and ''turned to confront the U.S. aircraft.'' The U.S. pilots fired on the

Iraqi, aircraft, destroying one but ''the other escaped back north out of the no-fly

zone,'' the Pentagon said. The incident occurred approximately 20 miles south of

the 32nd degree north parallel, the Pentagon said. The zone was established in accordance

with a U.N. Security Council resolution to provide protection for Shiite Muslims in southern

Iraq from Hussein's minority Sunni government.

v "U.S. SHOOTS DOWN AN IRAQI WARPLANE IN NO-FLIGHT ZONE"

NEW YORK TIMES (28Dec92)....dateline 27Dec92 by Micheal R. Gordon

A United States F-16 shot down an Iraqi warplane today after Iraqi jets breached a

zone in southern Iraq in an apparent test of American resolve in the region. It was the first time that an Iraqi plane had been downed since the United States banned Iraqi

flights south of the 32nd parallel in August to protect Shiite Muslims there from air

attacks by President Saddam Hussein's forces. The United States allowed the Iraqis to send a rescue helicopter to the crash site, 20 miles south of the 32nd parallel. But no parachute was observed, and the pilot of the Iraqi jet is not believed to have survived.

Signs of Iraqi Impatience. The downing of the Iraqi plane, which officials believe was a MiG-25 (Foxbat) came amid signs that Iraq is chafing under restrictions imposed after the Persian Gulf War ended in March 1991, and is seeing if the United States and its allies are still determined to enforce them. .......edited...continued.....American officials said the incident began at 10:20 am, local time when two Iraqi planes flew south of the 32nd parallel, which marks the northern boundry of the air exclusion zone. Two American F-15C planes approached and asked the Iraqi's to identify themselves, and the Iraqi planes turned around and flew north. Twenty minutes later, another pair of MiG's flew south of the 32nd parallel. An American official said those two planes were believed to have taken off from the Iraqi Airfield at Al Kut, just north of the 32nd parallel. This time, the Iraqi planes were approached by a pair of American F-16's, which warned them by radio to leave the area. But when the Iraqi planes turned toward the American planes instead of flying away, the F-16's asked an AWACS battle-management plane flying over Saudi Arabia for permission to fire, in accordance with classified rules of engagement, American military officials said.

One of the F-16 planes then fired an AMRAAM air-to-air missile, which struck the Iraqi plane. It is the first tume that the radar-guided missile has been used in combat.

The AMRAAM's cost more than $500,000 each and have a long and difficult engineering

history. After the plane was shot down, the other Iraqi plane headed north. Military

officials said initial intelligence reports indicated that one of the Iraqi planes involved in the confrontation with the American jets had fled to Iran, which was a haven for the Iraqi combat planes during the Gulf War.

FIRST AMRAAM FIRED IN COMBAT DOWNS IRAQI MIG IN NO-FLY ZONE

(AW&ST, 4Jan93, pg 26) The first AIM-120A AMRAAM fired in combat downed an Iraqi fighter 20 miles inside the no-fly zone. It also represents the 1st USAF air-to-air kill by an F-16. It was around 11:00 am local (3:00 am EST) when 2 x F-16C Blk 42's from either the 19th of 33rd Fighter Squadron from the 363rd Fighter Wing based at Shaw AFB, S.C. The F-16 pilots flew to within visual contact with the MiG-25's but were unable to ID them at the time. Verbal warnings were passed over radio f frequencies but the MiG's turned into the F-16's. The Lead F-16 fired 1 x AMRAAM in an active mode at around 3 nm. It instantly guided to an impact.

Gulf War 1991 Chronology

First AMRAAM Score 27 Dec 1992