| Encyclopedia of the Persian Gulf War

Page 153

Jaguar–JP-233

Jaguar

See Sepecat Jaguar.

Japan

See Coalition Nations, Contributions of.

Jianjiji-6 (J-6)

This Chinese fighter aircraft, also known as Fighter Aircraft 6, was one of the staples of the Iraqi air force. It is assumed that those that were not destroyed fled to Iran.

A duplicate of the Mikoyan Gureyan (MiG-19) Soviet fighter, the J-6 is also classified the Farmer-C (MiG-19SF variant) and Farmer-D (MiG-19PF variant) by NATO. Originally built in the Soviet Union, the craft was copied after relations between the Soviets and Chinese broke down in the 1960s. This single-seat fighter is considered an important tool in fighter attack and tactical reconnaisance missions. Powered by two Shenyang Wopen-6 turbojets, the J-6 has a wingspan of 20 feet 2.25 inches (6.15 m), can travel at a maximum ceiling of 58,725 feet (17,900 m), and has a maximum unrefueled range of 863 miles (685 km) without external fuel tanks.

Jianjiji-7 (J-7)

A single-seat Chinese version of the MiG-21F Fishbed (NATO gives this fighter the same designation), the Jianjiji-7, or Fighter Aircraft 7, was part of the Iraqi air force’s squadron of close air support and air superiority fighters. Because so few Iraqi aircraft were shot down, it is impossible to know whether Iraq’s J-7s were destroyed on the ground or simply fled to Iran.

According to Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, the variant supplied to Iraq (as well as to Egypt when it was a client of Soviet and Chinese armaments) was the J-7B, an export version of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army force craft J-7 I, which had a limited run because of an inadequate escape system. Armed with two 30 mm belt-fed cannons (with pods to carry various types of Soviet-type missiles, including the PL-2, PL-5B, or a Matra R.550), the J-7 is powered by a single Chengdu WP7B(BM) turbojet. It has a wingspan of 23 feet 5.625 inches (7.154 m), a maximum speed of Mach 2.05 (1,350 mph; 2,172 km/h), a service ceiling of 59,710 feet (18,200 m), and an unrefueled range (with three external drop tanks) of 1,081 miles (1,740 km).

Jihad

When terrorist Abu Abbas, mastermind of the Achille Lauro affair in 1985, called for a “jihad” against the coalition for their attack against Iraq, he was using a well-known and highly successful technique little understood outside the Muslim world. Described by one authority on Islam as “striving on behalf of the faith; known also as the ‘holy war,’ ” jihad has been used effectively against enemies of Islam. Islamic authority Fazlur Rahman, in his Islam, writes, “The Qur’an ă [Koran] calls upon believers to undertake jihad . . . , which is to surrender ‘your properties and yourselves in the path of Allah . . .’; the purpose of which in turn is to ‘establish prayer, give zakată [a rate of lending to avoid usury], command good and forbid evil’—i.e, to establish the Islamic socio-moral order.” Simply put, they are armed attacks, using terroristic methods, undertaken in the name of the believer’s faith. Such jihads were conducted against American forces in Lebanon