Operation Model 5 (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: דוגמן 5, ''Doogman 5'') is the name of an

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

operation, and the common name for the ensuing anti-aircraft battle, which took place over the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

on the October 7, 1973, the second day of the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

. ''Model 5'' was preplanned as a sweeping operation to destroy all of the Syrian

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

(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 (especially

fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and control ...

and target acquisition radars such as the Flat Face and Long Track). Due to a lack of updated

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

and reliance on outdated

IMINT Imagery intelligence (IMINT), pronounced as either as ''Im-Int'' or ''I-Mint'', is an intelligence gathering discipline wherein imagery is analyzed (or "exploited") to identify information of intelligence value. Imagery used for defense intelli ...

, while suffering from an underdeveloped

ELINT Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ( ...

– ESM capability, the Israeli aircraft did not find their targets, as these SAM batteries had already moved to other locations. The outcome of ''Model 5'' was catastrophic for the attacking force: six

F-4 Phantom The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter-bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.Swanborough and Bow ...

aircraft were lost over Syria and several others were damaged but returned to

Ramat David Ramat David ( he, רָמַת דָּוִד, ''lit.'' David Heights) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Jezreel Valley near Ramat David Airbase, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population ...

. Most of the damaged aircraft were hit by

ZSU-23-4 The ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" is a lightly armored Soviet self-propelled, radar-guided anti-aircraft weapon system (SPAAG). Etymology The acronym "ZSU" stands for ''Zenitnaya Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' (russian: Зенитная Самоходная Ус� ...

air defense artillery The Air Defense Artillery Branch is the branch of the United States Army that specializes in anti-aircraft weapons (such as surface to air missiles). In the U.S. Army, these groups are composed of mainly air defense systems such as the Patriot ...

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 the suppression of enemy air defenses. These efforts culminated in their engagement of the Syrians 9 years later in

Operation Mole Cricket 19 Operation Mole Cricket 19 ( he , מבצע ערצב-19, ''Mivtza ʻArtzav Tsha-Esreh'') was a suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) campaign launched by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) against Syrian targets on June 9, 1982, at the outset of the 1 ...

, where they were able to, for the first time in history, destroy an entire Soviet-made SAM network in a matter of hours.

External links

פרדוקס ה-7 באוקטובר (Hebrew)
Battles of the Yom Kippur War Aerial operations and battles involving Israel {{Battle-stub

See also

External links