There may not have been any WMDs found in Iraq but there were still some UN Banned equipment found.

A MIG-25 was found buried or hidden with other russian aircraft.

http://battle.netgate.net/mig-25/MIG-25.htm
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 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. The discovery of the buried Iraqi jet fighters illustrates the problem faced by U.S. inspection teams searching Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. Iraq is larger in size than California, and the massive deserts south and west of Baghdad were used by Saddam Hussein to hide weapons during the first Gulf war.

Photo of hidden MIG.


http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n268/ph...pg?t=1192931826

I would think that the sand, would get into areas of this equipment and cause damage.

Well a couple of things,

1. They might have been in a hurry just to hide them and did not care too much about the sand or,

2. They were probably hoping they would not have to keep the buried for long.

Also as from the post, "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".

u1...at least it was a 40 year old aircraft....and the good thing is it is newer than the chinese aircraft

Well the MIG-25 was not the only aircraft, some were newer. Also the problem was more about what the aircraft were carrying.

"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".

Oh, by the way the Chinese have a new aircraft they are producing.

u1....the iraqis were using the mig-29 and su-24 in the 1990s....the mig-25 was outdated by then......there was no new technology going into a 30 year old weapons system

I remember when I was in china they were still using mig-17s.....lol....at least they were still older than I am

1. Yes the MIG-25 is outdated but that does not mean they cannot carry or have newer equipment installed.

http://battle.netgate.net/mig-25/MIG-25.htm
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.

2. Also i guess you have not heard of or seen the J-10, China's newest fighter. You really should try to keep up with what going on in the world.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/china/j-10.htm
The first test flight of the J-10 came in 1996 with the help of a Russian made AI-31FN turbofan engine. It would take two years, however, before the J-10 had a successful test flight. By 1999 China had six prototypes: four of them used for flight testing and two for static tests. By late 2000 there were nine J-10 prototypes accumulating over 140 flight hours. The first flight of the pre-production model took place on June 28, 2002. In early 2003 ten J-10s were deployed to Nanjing Military Region for training and operational evaluation.

Development would not stop, however, as China also began to construct two-seat versions of the J-10 for training and air-to-ground roles. This two-seat J-10B fighter-trainer aircraft successfully flew in 2003. Preliminary designs for two new versions of the J-10 featuring single and twin engines and LO geometry were also completed.

Low-rate initial production of the J-10 was authorised in 2002, with the initial run of fifty aircraft to be fitted with Russian AL-31F engines. The J-10 is expected to achieve initial operating capability in the 2005 to 2006 timeframe, initially entering service with the 44th Aviation Division based in Sichuan Province. The PLAAF initially was estimated to have a total requirement of 300 aircraft, but this may be reduced to less than 100 as a result of the introduction of the more capable Su-30MK multirole fighter.

The design of the B-52 is more than 60 years old and it has been flying for well over 50. It is still in use and is expected to be in use for many decades to come. They were saying a few years ago at least that it may be another five decades in service. That would make it a century in service. It has had lots of avionic improvements in its service life, as you may well imagine. It is often more cost effective to improve the avionics of a military plane than to develop an entirely new one.

Yes, that was true with the F-117, it is not really a new plane but some parts from different planes combined to make a new one.

Having a MiG-25 was not illegal.. only the electronics people are guessing it might have had.

And those electronics would not be an intelligence coup.. we have access to Russian and French weapons through allies..

The plane itself hasnt held any secrets since a pilot defected in one in 1976, landing in Japan. The US and Japan sent it back to the USSR in tiny crates.

But the point was made that if they have this and are hiding it what else are they hiding or moved.

And yes i know about the MIG-25 pilot who defected to Japan. I have seen the videos and most of the information on it.

It was funny how the MIG-25 out ran everything that was sent up to catch it.

Vet posts: The US and Japan sent it back to the USSR in tiny crates.

I can imagine the USSR demanding their aircraft back and Japan/US said, “Sure, no problem” and broke the thing down to ‘parade rest’ (Navy ‘tech term’ [slang] for tiny pieces…lol) and sending the MiG back to the USSR with a letter, “We are happy to comply”…:rofl: ~rore

That was only after we had to break the MIG down for a "safety inspection"

But we did not find anything too impresive.. It was just a interceptor built for speed, it just had some big engines and was 80% steel and 20% titanium.

I think the recon version still holds a speed record but it burnt out the engines in the process.

It was originally built to intercept the XB-70, but since that was not produced it was used to intercept the SR-71 (or try to anyway)

Some atomic weapons are over 60 years old. If iraqi insurgence got their hands on these and flew low enough, no one would have ever saw them coming. of course it would have been their only battle. But these guys are willing to die for their cause. So they could have done all kinds of damage on Americans.

In short, I wouldn't be surprized if they found chemicals and weapons in the desert. I don't want us to be in Iraq anymore but at the same time, We didn't need any real reason to go in because Iraq signed a peace treaty and violated it some dozen or more times over 13 years. Clinton never did crap about it except one raid on baghdad.

But this has nothing to do with Bush's decission on being in Iraq. we know the real motives. Other countries are far more of a threat to us and we're doing nothing to stop that threat.

right after I read this post, I had turned on CNN and they talked about finding rockets or missiles pointing at American Troops and base camps. But these were not burried. They were abandoned. And guess where they were made. Iran. Some people might think the US is fabricating this information to find reason to go to war on Iran. but there have been reports for over a year now that Iran is secretly arming Iraqi insurgence to hit the coalition forces. Bottom line, the US is saying they're just going to boycott iran and maybe put an embargo on their country to stop trades. But we know this always leads to war. We did the same thing to Iraq.

Well the MIG fighters are Russian made, and the GPS jammers they have are Russian made.

There are even reports of Russians helping them move WMDs and material.