FRAMING THE CROSS-CANAL GOALthe second half of 1968,” three Be-12 anti-submarine flying boats from the Black Sea
Fleet.^32 The latter were soon moved to Mersa Matruh and assigned to “special missions
for perfecting methods to detect US submarines.”^33 L. Zakharov states that “the aircraft
appeared in full Eg yptian air force markings ... but were staffed and operated by Soviet
Naval Aviation.” By November, the Sixth Fleet’s aviation chief listed the Eg yptian-based
Soviet aircraft, along with the Eskadra’s increased presence, as causing “certain concern”
to NATO—specifically as a threat to its Polaris submarines.^34
US sources specified that nine Tu-16Rs manned by Soviet Navy pilots and based
at Cairo-West took part (with other Soviet aircraft and nine warships) in unprece-
dentedly close surveillance of NATO naval maneuvers in late September. Although
NATO commanders claimed a benefit from the Soviet presence—enhanced verisi-
militude for the US war games—they were concerned that the Mediterranean could
no longer be classified as “secure” and that in the event of war in Europe large forces
would have to be allocated “to protect this soft underbelly.” Cairo-West—as was now
belatedly recognized—had become “the Soviet Union’s first permanent airbase in the
Middle East. ... The Soviets have already accomplished what they had desired for
generations.”^35 French reports added that Soviet Tu-16Rs operating out of Algerian
fields, where runways had been extended by Soviet personnel, also bore Eg yptian
marks; they were presumably Cairo-based planes refueling for missions over the
Western Mediterranean. Another Soviet air activity in Algeria was to transport
Algerian troops to Eg ypt, where they held a small part of the canal line.^36
The US sources also alluded intriguingly to a “possibility that the Soviets might
soon reinforce the ... squadron now based at Cairo-West with ... a number of excel-
lent high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that just entered service a short time ago.”^37
The Americans had cause for concern: Iran, which had just received its first F-4s, tried
unsuccessfully to use them for intercepting such Soviet planes that were overflying its
territory.^38 This is the first contemporary reference, in an Arab–Israeli context, to the
craft later known as the MiG-25 or Foxbat, which had first been shown to Western
observers at a Moscow air show in July 1967. Four of these planes would indeed be
stationed at Cairo-West—but only in 1971. It can only be speculated whether this
early suggestion reflects at least retrospective awareness of the Foxbat’s use over Israel
in May 1967.
Meanwhile, the Soviet pilot-advisers in Eg ypt suffered their first recorded casualty:
Aleksandr Voinov, who from November 1967 had been attached to an EAF “combat
preparation battalion” at Beni Suef airbase south of Cairo. His daughter Elena
recalled decades later: “we were with him in Cairo; everything was kept secret. Father
was sent ... to Eg ypt as an ‘agricultural worker.’” They were lodged in
an enormous hotel with servants almost at every door. Father would come ‘home’ once
every two weeks for the weekend. ... While taking part in the May Day celebrations, a few
days before Father fell, my mother overheard a talk between him and his commander. It
appears that not all of our planes were equipped with parachutes.