The 1973 Yom Kippur War was one of the highest intensity conflicts of the Cold War era. Israel and the Egyptian-led Arab alliance threw everything in their arsenals at each other, with the fortunate omission of Israel’s nuclear stockpile. Support from the US on one side and the Soviet Union on the other allowed the conflict to carry on long past the exhaustion of the pre-war stocks of vehicles and weapons on either side.
Over a thousand tactical fighters took part and many hundreds were shot down. 50 years on, the proportion of those that were the victims in an air-to-air fight remains the source of some debate and conjecture.
In this video I try to make sense of the statistics and come to a more accurate view on the kill ratio achieved by the IDF/AF. I also take a look at the lessons learned by the US Air Force and Soviet Union and how that shaped their air superiority strategy over the 1970s and early '80s.
I hope you enjoy this one. I've had fun researching this conflict and period of history. I've also enjoyed the comments. Recognising that this is still a contentious war 50 years on, please do remember that this is an aviation, not a geopolitics channel. If I have said something about the various actors that you believe to be factually incorrect then its unintentional. Polite, constructive comments are always well received.
Major sources:
- Arab MiGs Volumes 5 and 6 by Tom Cooper, David Nicolle et al was a great source of pilot interviews
- [ Ссылка ] details the Israeli kill claims
- The declassified Weapons Systems Evaluation Group report titled 'Assessment of the weapons and tactics used in the October 1973 Middle East War' provided some data on weapon effectiveness and employment
- 'The Air Superiority Battle in The Middle East, 1967-1973' by Major Clarence E. Olschaner was useful
in summarising contemporary data and US beliefs about the relative statistical performance of the air arms
- Drew Paper #31 from the Air University, titled 'The Yom Kippur War and the Shaping of the United States Air Force' helped me understand lessons learned and provided some statistics
- 'Battlefield Air Interdiction in the 1973 Middle East War and its Significance to NATO Air Operations' by Major Bruce A. Brant was also helpful in understanding tactical implications
- K.V. Sukhov's Operations of Air Forces Over The Syrian Front provided loss data for that theatre
