In a very sophisticated operation, 4 SAAF Mirage F-1AZ fighter aircraft launch a dummy attack on the airfield at Cuito Cuanavale. Knowing they are no match for the MIG-23 fighters, their task is to bluff them that they were about to attack. As they overfly the base, they break off their attack and drop below radar level and return to base. As they do this, SADF SF launch balloons designed to confuse radar and convince the MIG-23’s to scramble.
As they taxi onto the runway out of their reinforced hangars, they are mercilessly pounded by accurate G5 artillery barrages, destroying one and damaging the rest. This effectively factors the MIG-23’s out of the combat equation in the short-term. The G5 barrage continues sporadically until 28/10/87, under the forward control of SADF SF in an OP over the airfield, by which time it is totally destroyed.
