Short Descriptor: Pilotless MiG-21 drop tank tests

Details:

Iraq's development concept was to produce a MiG-21 aircraft that could take off and fly on a pre-set flight path without a pilot on board. The plane would carry a drop-tank containing BW agent. After a preset time, the valves on the tank would open and disseminate the agent. The aircraft would continue to fly until it ran out of fuel. One experiment was undertaken on 10 January 1991 at the Rasheed Airbase. The reason given for dropping the project was intervention of the 1991 war.

No clear evidence of the termination of the program. It is known that such work continues, although for a different stated purpose (targets for anti-aircraft artillery). The attempts to dissociate the MiG-21 project from the development of aircraft spray tanks has not been convincingly explained.

Other Information:
n/a

	Updated February 2006