A group of Su-25 Frogfoot aircraft fly in close formation over Odintsovo, Russia, in May 2009. The Su-25 and other Soviet aircraft played a crucial role in the Iran-Iraq War, fighting Iran’s advanced American aircraft to a standstill. (Wikimedia Commons/Dmitry Terekhov)

The Iran-Iraq War Had a Vicious Air Component

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As Iran and Iraq fought each other to a stalemate on the ground, the greatest Western and Soviet aircraft of the 1970s fought for dominance in the skies above.

On September 22, 1980, Iraq launched surprise air attacks against Iranian airfields, kicking off the eight-year Iran-Iraq War.

Much of the conflict was reminiscent of World War I, with trench warfare, human wave attacks, and the use of poison gas on both sides. However, unlike the primitive flying machines of the early 20th century, both Iran and Iraq were armed with a capable airfleet of modern fighter jets. Iran entered the conflict with some of America’s most sophisticated export fighters, purchased under the government of the Shah and inherited by the clerical government after it won power in 1979. Iraq, for its part, entered the conflict primarily with Soviet-built aircraft, and as the conflict wore on and it incurred losses, it bought new ones from France. The result was a practical real-world demonstration of US, European, and Soviet aircraft—albeit using tactics and weapons that neither side had........

© The National Interest