33 years ago, Operation Desert Storm came to an end. EurAsian Times recalls a rare dogfight during the conflict when an Iraqi MiG-25 Foxbat shot down a US Navy F/A-18 Hornet—one of the few recorded aerial kills of the war.
On January 17, 1991, the skies over Iraq crackled with tension as Operation Desert Storm, the U.S.-led coalition’s campaign to liberate Kuwait, roared into action.
It was the first night of the war, and coalition aircraft streaked northward, tasked with dismantling Saddam Hussein’s military machine.
Amid the chaos, a rare and dramatic encounter unfolded—one that would mark the conflict’s first American combat loss and highlight the tenacity of Iraq’s outmatched air force.
An Iraqi MiG-25 Foxbat, a Soviet-designed interceptor renowned for its blistering speed, brought down a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Michael Scott “Spike” Speicher.
This fleeting clash remains one of the Gulf War’s most poignant and debated air-to-air engagements.
Aerial Onslaught
The coalition’s opening salvo was a meticulously planned aerial onslaught. At approx 0300 hours, waves of aircraft crossed into Iraqi airspace, targeting airfields, radar sites, and command centers.
Among them were ten F/A-18C Hornets from the USS Saratoga, assigned to an “alpha strike” against Tammuz Air Base, a key Iraqi stronghold west of Baghdad. Flying in a wide right echelon formation between 25,000 and 29,000 feet, the Hornets—each stacked 1,000 feet above the jet ahead—carried AGM-88 HARM anti-radiation missiles and bombs to suppress enemy defenses and pave the way for deeper strikes.
Meanwhile, at Qadessiya Air Base (Al Asad), Iraqi Lieutenant Zuhair Dawoud, a pilot with the 84th Fighter Squadron, sat on standby in a hardened shelter. The Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) was already reeling from the coalition’s dominance, but it hadn’t surrendered the skies entirely.
At approximately 0238 hours, the air defense hotline jolted Dawoud into action. “MiG-25 IMMEDIATE TAKEOFF!” screamed the voice on the line. His orders were clear: intercept the incoming American strike package. Climbing into his MiG-25PD—a hulking interceptor capable of exceeding Mach 2.8—Dawoud ignited the afterburners and rocketed south toward the encroaching enemy.
A Dance In The Dark
As Dawoud climbed to 26,000 feet at Mach 1.4, his Smerch-A2 radar was still warming up, leaving him reliant on ground control intercept (GCI) vectors. Ninety kilometers from the Hornets, he barreled toward the heart of their formation.
On the American side, Commander Michael T. “Spock” Anderson, leading the F/A-18s in aircraft “AA401,” picked up a radar contact climbing from an airfield ahead.
Anderson’s electronic identification (EID) gear confirmed it was hostile, and he spotted the telltale “extremely long yellow flame” of a MiG-25’s afterburners piercing the night. Locking his radar onto the target, he watched as the Iraqi jet responded with a sharp defensive turn.
What followed was a brief, high-stakes ballet. Anderson and Dawoud circled each other counterclockwise, afterburners blazing, each probing for an edge. Anderson requested firing clearance from the AWACS (callsign “Cougar”), but the Sentry’s operators hesitated. Dawoud’s radar wasn’t yet transmitting, leaving no electronic signature to confirm his hostility. Without that green light, Anderson held his fire. Dawoud, sensing the lock, executed a hard maneuver to break it, then rolled out, cut his afterburners, and veered east—vanishing from Anderson’s sight into the darkness.
The Fatal Strike
Dawoud’s escape was a feint. As his radar finally activated, GCI directed him toward the trailing Hornets. At 0350 hours, 48 miles south of Qadessiya, he locked onto “AA403,” flown by Lt. Cmdr. Scott Speicher, the last jet in the formation.
From 29 kilometers away, Dawoud fired a single R-40RD missile—a massive Soviet air-to-air weapon with a 154-pound warhead. The missile streaked through the night and detonated beneath Speicher’s cockpit.
The blast unleashed 6G side-forces, shredding the Hornet’s external fuel tanks and one HARM missile, and slewing the aircraft 50-60 degrees right. Speicher ejected into the frigid desert night, but his fate would remain a mystery for years. His jet crashed 100 miles west of Baghdad, the first coalition aircraft lost to enemy action in the war.
Dawoud didn’t linger. Ground control warned of a second wave—three A-6E Intruders led by Cmdr. Robert Besal, about 48 miles behind Speicher. Dawoud turned south again, his afterburners flaring as he dove toward Besal’s flight. This time, AWACS spotted him early, issuing a “possible Foxbat” alert.
Besal saw the Iraqi jet’s twin flames high at his 1:30 position but evaded engagement. Dawoud, perhaps low on fuel or wary of escalating odds, broke off and returned to base.
Aftermath & Legacy
Speicher’s shootdown sent shockwaves through the coalition. Initially listed as killed in action, his status shifted to missing in action (MIA) amid rumors he’d survived and been captured—a hope fueled by the lack of immediate evidence.
The Navy first attributed the loss to a surface-to-air missile, reluctant to admit an Iraqi air-to-air victory. But pilots from the mission, including Anderson, insisted a MiG-25 was responsible.
In 1995, a recovered flight recorder confirmed a missile hit from the left, aligning with Dawoud’s account. The CIA acknowledged his death in 2001, and in 2009, U.S. Marines found his remains in Anbar Province, buried by Bedouins who’d discovered him after the crash.
Speicher was laid to rest in Florida, closing an 18-year chapter of uncertainty.
For Iraq, the kill was a fleeting triumph. The MiG-25, designed to counter high-altitude bombers like the XB-70, was a Cold War relic facing a modern foe.
Dawoud’s success showcased its speed and the R-40’s punch, but it was the IrAF’s only confirmed air-to-air kill of the war. Coalition F-15s soon exacted revenge, downing two MiG-25s on January 19. By mid-February, Iraq’s air force was grounded or buried in the sand, preserving what remained for a future that never came.
Reflections
The January 17 dogfight was less about technological superiority than timing and circumstance. Dawoud exploited a gap in AWACS coordination with Navy jets, striking before the coalition’s overwhelming advantage could fully assert itself.
Speicher’s loss underscored the chaos of war’s opening moments, where even a juggernaut can stumble. The MiG-25 Foxbat, a symbol of Soviet might, claimed its lone American scalp—a bittersweet footnote in a conflict defined by coalition dominance.
For those who flew that night, it remains a stark reminder: in the skies, speed and surprise can still turn the hunter into the hunted.
- Written using AI.
- Original story penned by Ritu Sharma for EurAsian Times and can be read here.
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- Write to us at: editor (at) eurasiantimes.com
