Project Dark Gene

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Project Dark Gene
Part of Cold War
Date 1960s-1970s Location Pahlavi Iran, Soviet Union Result Assumed discovery of usable intelligence, then superseded and made redundant by the Iranian Revolution.
Belligerents
United States  Pahlavi Iran	Soviet Union
Commanders and leaders
Richard Secord[citation needed] Mohammad Reza Pahlavi	Nikita Khrushchev Leonid Brezhnev Pavel S. Kutakhov
Strength
Imperial Iranian Air Force	Soviet Air Forces
Casualties and losses
USA & Iran IIAF Major Shokouhnia and USAF Colonel John Saunders captured and later released 1 RF-4C, 1 RF-5B, 2 CH-47 confirmed In total, 6 aircraft possibly lost[1][2]	USSR Captain Gennadii N. Eliseev killed 1 MiG-21[3]

Project Dark Gene was an aerial reconnaissance program run by the Central Intelligence Agency and Imperial Iranian Air Force from bases inside Pahlavi Iran against the Soviet Union. The program was run in conjunction with Project Ibex, which was a more traditional ELINT mission. The first operations were during the 1960s with support of Iran's former Shah. Dedicated aircraft, air-bases, and U.S. personnel were stationed at numerous sites in Iran and would regularly fly across the border into the USSR through potential holes in their radar coverage. The intention of the program was to test the effectiveness of Soviet air defence and interception and resulted in one confirmed and possibly more combat losses in engagements with Soviet aircraft.^[1]