car377@ihuxb.UUCP (09/09/83)
Soviet warplane was NOT MIG. It was SU-15. I believe "Friend or Foe" reference on Japanese tapes refers not to verbal communication between aircraft, but to IFF (Identification Friend/Foe) electronic ID transponder carried by all military aircraft. It is unlikely that KAL flight carried Soviet transponder and even more unlikely that they would know which reply code the warplane expected from a "friend" (i.e., another Soviet aircraft.) Puzzling thing to me is that news reports (TV,papers) claim Soviets had difficulty locating the KAL plane despite sophisticated ground and air radar tracking systems. I suppose I might be embarrassed (executed) if, as a Soviet Commander, I could not visually contact an intruder aircraft until it had been over my territory for some time, and, in fact, was almost back over international waters.