Re: Migs

Message posted by quellish on March 13, 2011 at 18:08:23 PST:

There were two classified MiG programs in the US during the 80s, running in parallel. Davies' book details the RED EAGLES unit, which was the CONSTANT PEG program. CONSTANT PEG was a squadron of MiGs based at TTR which allowed US aircrews to fly against actual MiGs in exercises. Rather than fly against US aircraft mimicking USSR aircraft, this allowed US fighter pilots exposure to the real thing.
Davies mentions the other program briefly in his book. RED HATS was a test and evaluation squadron based at Groom which focused on flight test of foreign equipment. That program is still active under different names. This effort is still funded under PE code 0603801F.
During the mid-90s the program acquired several MiG-29s. When the 1997 Modovan sale occurred, that did provide spare parts for some of these aircraft, but probably not whole, flying aircraft. In the late 1990s the program began flying Flankers purchased from Belorussia, which have been photographed several times.

As far as I know, this program is still hangared at the north end of the Groom flightline near the chase F-16s and CSAR helicopters, and still has a storage area at Edwards North Base (?).