Arab MiGs Volume 6 continues Harpia Publishing's renowned coverage of air actions by Arab air forces during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War. After researching in the Middle East for more than 40 years, interviewing and discussing the fighting in detail with pilots, participants and eyewitnesses from almost every unit involved, the authors provide the first ever coherent narrative of this air war. While it has often been argued that air power did not play a dominant role in the conflict, it eventually proved critical to its outcome. Moreover, thousands of combat experiences that were learned during this war -- and paid for in blood by both sides -- proved extremely influential for the development of new aircraft types and new weapons systems. The October 1973 conflict was one of the best examples of the ever increasing importance of electronic warfare and unmanned aircraft upon the modern-day battlefield, and therefore prompted fundamental changes in the tactics and strategy of the dominant air powers across the globe during the late 20th century. As well as enabling the reader to gain a clear insight into the nature of the air operations by all involved air powers - and the Arab air forces in particular - and the weaponry deployed, this book contains a detailed cross-examination of claims from both sides, analyses aircraft losses on both sides and lays bare the over-claims, regardless of whether officially confirmed. Descriptions based on the reminiscences of veteran aircrews provide an unprecedented insider's view of key aircraft and operations, illustrating how developments in technology and information warfare added a new dimension to the history of air warfare. Supported by a plethora of background information, more than 300 photographs, color profiles, maps and diagrams depicting the action, aircraft, camouflage patterns, markings, and weaponry deployed, Arab MiGs Volume 6 is set to become the standard reference work on the subject.

The MiG-21 provided the backbone of frontline Arab air combat strength for many years and remained the Arabs' only real hope of challenging Israeli air supremacy. This book provides a detailed history of the MiG-21 in Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi service. It includes numerous photographs, most of which have not been seen outside the Arab world and a large proportion of which have never previously been published anywhere. The material is drawn from official sources and from the private collections and recollections of men who flew, or met, these aircraft in combat.

Egypt and Czechoslovakia signed the so-called 'Czechoslovak Arms Deal', thus initiating a unique era of close cooperation between major Arab military powers, the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies. During the first decade of this period, the air force of Egypt, followed by those of (in chronological order) Syria, Iraq, Morocco and Algeria, were all equipped with dozens and then hundreds of Soviet-made fighters designed by the Mikoyan I Gurevich Design Bureau - the same swept-wing jets that took the Western powers by surprise during the Korean War. While the first generation of MiG jet fighter - the MiG-15 - saw only a relatively brief service in Egypt, its more efficient and uprated successor, the MiG-17F, entered service in bigger numbers, and then formed the backbone of additional air forces around the Middle East. The MiG-17PF became the first radar-equipped combat aircraft while the MiG-19 became the first supersonic fighter flown by the air forces of Egypt and Iraq, in the period 1958-1963. In Morocco and Algeria, the MiG-17 was the first and the only jet fighter in service during the first half of the 1960s.Unsurprisingly, MiG-15s, MiG-17s and MiG-19s thus served with many different units and - especially in Egypt and Algeria, and also in Syria - wore a wide range of very different, and often very colourful unit insignia and other markings. They were also flown by many pilots who subsequently played crucial roles in the future of their nations. Based on original documentation and extensive interviews with veterans, and richly illustrated, MiGs in the Middle East, Volume 1 is a unique source of reference on the operational history of MiG-15, MiG-17, and MiG-19 fighter jets in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, and Syria from 1955 until 1956. This is the first volume in a mini-series.

From acclaimed aviation historian Michael Napier, this is a highly illustrated survey of the aerial fighting in the flashpoints of the Cold War. The Cold War years were a period of unprecedented peace in Europe, yet they also saw a number of localised but nonetheless very intense wars throughout the wider world in which air power played a vital role. Flashpoints describes eight of these Cold War conflicts: the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Congo Crisis of 1960–65, the Indo-Pakistan Wars of 1965 and 1971, the Arab-Israeli Wars of 1967 and 1973, the Falklands War of 1982 and the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–88. In all of them both sides had a credible air force equipped with modern types, and air power shaped the final outcome. Acclaimed aviation historian Michael Napier details the wide range of aircraft types used and the development of tactics over the period. The postwar years saw a revolution in aviation technology and design, particularly in the fields of missile development and electronic warfare, and these conflicts saw some of the most modern technology that the NATO and Warsaw Pact forces deployed, alongside some relatively obscure aircraft types such as the Westland Wyvern and the Folland Gnat. Highly illustrated, with over 240 images and maps, Flashpoints is an authoritative account of the most important air wars of the Cold War.

This entry in the MiddleEast@War series is illustrated with abundant photographs from previously unused, or very rarely used, private and official sources. Air Power and the Arab World, 1909–1955 Volume 10 continues the story of the men and machines of the first half-century of military aviation in the Arab world. It tells the story of the first two weeks of the first of the Arab-Israeli Wars – also known as the Palestine War – in May 1948. Whilst part of an ongoing series, this volume stands alone as a history of the period covered. By that time, in Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, newly-independent Syria, Lebanon, and, to a lesser extent, Saudi Arabia, significant efforts had already been made to strengthen these countries’ armed forces. Where Egypt, Iraq and Syria were concerned, these efforts included a determination to improve or, in the case of Syria, to establish their air forces. All three air forces were thrown into the First Phase of the Palestine War and, in the view of most subsequent commentators or historians, they had failed to perform as well as their government and populations had expected. However, closer investigation and the removal of layers of propaganda which have obscured the realities of this first Arab-Israeli War show that the Arab air forces performed better than is generally realized. Arguably, they had their limitations and weaknesses, and these had also become apparent as the fighting intensified and losses began to mount. All this was always clearly pointed out in Arabic sources, both official and unofficial, unpublished, or published only with limited circulation. Volume 10 of Air Power and the Arab World focuses on day-to-day events on the ground, in the air and at sea during this hard-fought phase. It does so in remarkable detail because the authors have accessed previously unpublished Arab official military documents supplemented by translations from Arabic books and articles containing official and personal accounts by those involved. Perhaps the most remarkable such source is the Operational Diary of the Royal Egyptian Air Force’s Tactical Air Force based at al-Arish in north-eastern Sinai. Air Power and the Arab World, 1909–1955 Volume 10 is illustrated by abundant photographs from previously unused, or very rarely used, private and official sources, and includes specially commissioned color artworks.

This is a detailed history of the operational service of this Soviet-manufactured interceptor and its fighter-bomber variants in service with Algerian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Libyan, and Syrian air forces, since 1974.