| Operation Model 5 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofYom Kippur War | |||||||
 Syrian "Kub" Air Defense System, 1973. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Israel |  Syria | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Benny Peled | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown aircraft | Unknown missile batteries | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 9 killed 15 captured 24 aircraft destroyed 24 aircraft damaged | 1 missile battery SA-3 destroyed 1 missile battery SA-2 damaged | ||||||
Operation Model 5 (Hebrew: דוגמן 5,Doogman 5) is the name of anIsraeli Air Force operation, and the common name for the ensuinganti-aircraft battle, which took place over theGolan Heights on the October 7, 1973, the second day of theYom Kippur War.
Model 5 was preplanned as a sweeping operation to destroy all of the Syriansurface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries on the Golan front, by using unguided, general-use bombs dropped from a medium altitude near the targets. The attacking aircraft were to approach the targets at a very low altitude, in order to avoid being detected by Syrian radars (especiallyfire control and target acquisition radars such as theFlat Face andLong Track).
Due to a lack of updatedintelligence and reliance on outdatedIMINT, while suffering from an underdevelopedELINT–ESM capability, the Israeli aircraft did not find their targets, as these SAM batteries had already moved to other locations.
The outcome ofModel 5 was catastrophic for the attacking force: sixF-4 Phantom aircraft were lost over Syria and several others were damaged but returned toRamat David. Most of the damaged aircraft were hit byZSU-23-4air defense artillery guns, which were especially deadly due to the sorties' very low altitude. Two crewmen were killed and nine captured by the Syrians, for the destruction of but a single Syrian SAM battery.
Stunned by their difficulties in suppressing enemy air defenses in both fronts of the Yom Kippur War and the resulting degradation in the effectiveness of the Israeli Air Force, the Israelis spent the years following the war developing a comprehensive strategy to deal with thesuppression of enemy air defenses. These efforts culminated in their engagement of the Syrians 9 years later inOperation Mole Cricket 19, where they were able to, for the first time in history, destroy an entire Soviet-made SAM network in a matter of hours.
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