Botched Soviet raid in Afghanistan (1982)

[evb58362]

Found these interesting photos and their account recently.

In 1982, the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan set up a mission to raid and interdict a large Mujahadeen camp and heroin warehouse in the Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan border area. See the recon photo with package assignments below.

The LZ was to be marked by illumination flares. But a miscalculation led to these drifting well (~10km?) inside the Iranian border as they parachuted down. Consequently, the entire assault force in Mi-8 helicopters proceeded to land inside Iran and raid a nearby cement production factory, which they figured was the heroin warehouse.

A pair of Iranian F-4s were quickly sent to intercept the intruders. In the second photo below, you can see one of them firing a Sidewinder into the choppers. Two missiles were fired, one of which missed and the second impacted before fusing. A follow-up cannon strafe left two of the helicopters burning. You can see the strafing pass in the third photo and the unfused 'winder memorabilia in the fourth.

The remaining choppers quickly took off and hurried back into Afghanistan. :) Eventually (1985?), they returned, this time with MiG-23 escorts and more precise execution.

P.S. The Soviets used illumination flares to mark targets for the remainder of the war, but AFAIK they began to remove the parachutes. ;)

P.P.S. Images taken from the 136th Fighter-Bomber Regiment library (http://apib136.jino-net.ru/) and Balu109 at the airforce.ru forums (http://forums.airforce.ru/showthread.php?t=1055) (http://forums.airforce.ru/showthread.php?t=1055%29).

[Calanen]

Consequently, the entire assault force in Mi-8 helicopters proceeded to land inside Iran and raided a nearby cement production factory, which they figured was the heroin warehouse.

That's comedy gold right there. It's like the scene from 1942 when the Japanese submarine believes the waterside amusement park is an important military installation.

[evb58362]

Fog of war, man.

:D

[TwoFistedFlava]

What are those huge wings for on a couple of the Mi-8s?

[Ronguild]

What are those huge wings for on a couple of the Mi-8s?

on the pics we can see also Mi-6 choppers (with their common stub wings) in the back-ground.

[HS2000]

Photos 2 and 3 are unbelivable!

[Dark Avenger]

on the pics we can see also Mi-6 choppers (with their common stub wings) in the back-ground.
Their function is to offload the main rotor during high speed flight, but they can be removed when the helicopter is used to transport externally hooked cargo.

[oldsoak]

Heroin warehouse ? One might well wish the Russians succeeded.

[KillerBD]

Heroid warehouse ? One might well wish the Russians succeeded.

Considering the fact that the enemy we are fighting in Afghanistan now is the same enemy that the Soviets were fighting back in the '80s. The U.S. should have just let the Soviets do their business in Afghanistan and not aided our future enemy...
But then again we didn't know they would become our enemy.

[NewsMan]

Considering the fact that the enemy we are fighting in Afghanistan now is the same enemy that the Soviets were fighting back in the '80s. The U.S. should have just let the Soviets do their business in Afghanistan and not aided our future enemy...
But then again we didn't know they would become our enemy.


Actually, to be factual, the "enemy" in Astan is barely comprised of those that fought the Soviets. MANY, MANY muj from that era are in the government and the army.

[zvezdah]

Here's a neat item I've had in my collection for years. It's a 4 album series done in leningrad in mthe mid 80s 33 1/3 lps. All made up of songs sung by afghan war veterans about the war, some really incredible stuff.

The pic on the cover is great, a team of desantniks taking a break.

Chris

[desantnik85]

Actually, to be factual, the "enemy" in Astan is barely comprised of those that fought the Soviets. MANY, MANY muj from that era are in the government and the army.

Apart from Bin Laden, obviously....

[Ngati Tumatauenga]

Considering the fact that the enemy we are fighting in Afghanistan now is the same enemy that the Soviets were fighting back in the '80s.

Er, no.

Or from another perspective, the Northern Alliance which Russia supported with arms, etc, was only a few short years before an enemy of the Soviet Union.

No matter how many times you try to dress it up SU was wrong to invade AF.

Revisionism makes no difference.

[oldsoak]

I wonder whether our view of wrong was coloured by the fact it was the SU in Afghanistan, considering the shenanigans we got up to in various parts of the world and conveniently overlook.
With good old hindsight, it could be argued that had we allowed the Soviets to succeed, the collapse of the SU would have left us with a stable Afghanistan with a secular government looking westwards rather than the nutcases that took over.

[kaizan]

Casualties? Aftermath?

[evb58362]

I only know of one fatality as a result of the cannon strafe, but that is limited information.

Couple corrections: The Mi-6 choppers carried fuel. There were 4 interceptors and not 2. The first pair fired the missiles, the second pair strafed. The regiment returned to bomb the site twice more, in 1987 and ?, with much better results.

[desantnik85]

No matter how many times you try to dress it up SU was wrong to invade AF.

Revisionism makes no difference.

What trying to secure its Southern borders against the spread of Islamic Fundamentalism? To protect its vulnerable Islamic Southern Republics from the spread of such revolution?

Sorry, you can dress up a counter argument however you like but unless you are Islamic pretty much everyone else would suggest this is a good idea.

[Holycrusader]

Very interesting story and nice pics... Thank you...

[Grach]

Revisionism makes no difference.

True, true...only who's doing the revisions?

[F-14A]

Thanks "evb58362" for post and great pictures.

There were several such clashes with Soviet Helicopters on Iran \ Afghan border. Is there anywhere a mention of exact date for incident (apart from year) ?

[evb58362]

Yes, April 5th.

[JackTheRipper]

what about MIG-23 vs pakistani F-16 dogfights?

i've heard about 1 F-16 downed and almost 10 afghani and soviet su-22/su-25 shot down

[hist2004]

what about MIG-23 vs pakistani F-16 dogfights?

i've heard about 1 F-16 downed and almost 10 afghani and soviet su-22/su-25 shot down

Between May 1986 and November 1988, PAF F-16s have shot down at least eight intruders from Afghanistan. Four of the kills were Afghan Su-22s bombers, three were Afghan transports (two An-26s and one An-24), and one was a Soviet Su-25 bomber. Most of these kills were achieved using the AIM-9 Sidewinder, but a Su-22 was destroyed by cannon fire and the one An-24 crash landed after being forced to land upon interception. At least one F-16 was lost in these battles, in the encounter between F-16s and Soviet MiG-23s on 29 April 1987. PAF claims that it was shot down by friendly fire. Other sources suggest that it might have been hit by a bomb dropped by a MiG or that one of the MiG pilots downed it by cannon fire (the MiGs were not armed with missiles) but did not claim it since there was no permission given to fire.

Hist2004

[JackTheRipper]

Between May 1986 and November 1988, PAF F-16s have shot down at least eight intruders from Afghanistan. Four of the kills were Afghan Su-22s bombers, three were Afghan transports (two An-26s and one An-24), and one was a Soviet Su-25 bomber. Most of these kills were achieved using the AIM-9 Sidewinder, but a Su-22 was destroyed by cannon fire and the one An-24 crash landed after being forced to land upon interception. At least one F-16 was lost in these battles, in the encounter between F-16s and Soviet MiG-23s on 29 April 1987. PAF claims that it was shot down by friendly fire. Other sources suggest that it might have been hit by a bomb dropped by a MiG or that one of the MiG pilots downed it by cannon fire (the MiGs were not armed with missiles) but did not claim it since there was no permission given to fire.

Hist2004

thank you :)

i've also heard that a MIG-23 shot down an iranian AH-1 cobra...

[hist2004]

thank you :)

i've also heard that a MIG-23 shot down an iranian AH-1 cobra...

In 1988, two MiG-23' s shot down two Iranian AH-1Js that strayed into western Afgan airspace after a prolonged aerial engagement.

Hist2004