The Intense Dogfight Between a U.S. Pilot and an Iraqi MiG

NARRATOR: January 1991, Operation Desert Storm. Colonel César Rodríguez tries to avoid being shot down by an Iraqi MiG-29. COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: We figured this guy was the biggest, baddest guy on the block, and we had to be on our number one A game to beat them. NARRATOR: The incoming MiG is just seconds away from blowing Rodriguez out of the sky. COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: The MiG's radar can see me, so I go into strictly defensive mode. NARRATOR: Rodríguez leans to the left and lunges quickly. If he can confuse the MiG's radar, he might have a fighting chance.

COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: The MiG-29 radar is designed to look toward a blue sky where there is very little clutter. So I want to force its radar to look toward the Earth's environment, and now the radar has to recalculate the math for launching a weapon. NARRATOR: Rodriguez must escape the deadly clutches of the Iraqi MiG or risk losing everything. I'm in 100% survival mode because the enemy is trapped in my plane. That's the most vulnerable you become at the end of air-to-air combat. NARRATOR: Unless his partner acts quickly, Rodriguez has no chance. COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: At that moment I am in purely defensive mode and now I pass it to my partner, who is about three miles behind me.

He sees the same thing as me. He locks on the lead MiG and then fires with his AIM-7. NARRATOR: Seconds later, Rodriguez's wingman's heat-seeking AIM-7 missile reaches the MiG. The end result was that we had a downed MiG. The first splash is the radio call I made. COLUMN. CESAR RODRÍGUEZ: Splash! Splash leaving westbound. And now we're trying to figure out what's next. NARRATOR: What follows is more trouble. The E-3 AWACS alerts Rodriguez about another MiG-29 just 10 miles away. This time, Rodríguez and his partner will not be taken by surprise. COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: We have two options.

We can turn south and run away, or we can turn north and fight our way through that MiG. And the option I selected was to fight our way through that MiG. NARRATOR: Rodríguez and the MiG engage in an

intense

aerial spiral, chasing each other. Suddenly, the MiG-29 flies toward the desert floor, attempting to overtake the F-15's radar. COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: At that moment, I suspect that the MiG sensed that I might be approaching to fire or I might be preparing to hit it with a missile. NARRATOR: Rodriguez watches as the MiG makes a sharp turn upward, but it's too late to escape the downward momentum.

COLUMN. CESAR RODRIGUEZ: You could see that their afterburners were cooking. He's trying to do everything he can to get the nose of his plane over the horizon, but it's not happening. He was put into a dead end solution, which eventually resulted in a fireball on the ground. It wasn't until after the final engagement that I began to reflect: Wow, what just happened? Because I knew I was seconds away from being a victim.