Operation Diamond

Munir Redfa's MiG-21, the subject of Operation Diamond, at the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatzerim

Operation Diamond[1] (Hebrew: מִבְצָע יַהֲלוֹם, Mivtza Yahalom) was an operation undertaken by Mossad. Its goal was the acquisition of a Soviet-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, the most advanced Soviet fighter plane at that time. The operation began in mid-1963 and ended on August 16, 1966, when an Iraqi Air Force MiG-21, flown by the Iraqi Assyrian defector Munir Redfa, landed at an air base in Israel. Israel and the United States were able to study the design of the plane.

  1. ^ עמוס גלבוע ואפרים לפיד (עורכים), מלאכת מחשבת: 60 שנות מודיעין ישראלי - מבט מבפנים (עמוד 246), הוצאת ידיעות ספרים והמרכז למורשת המודיעין, 2008