Combat History
In Soviet service, the R-40 was never fired in anger. Standard PVO procedure was to fire a 2-missile salvo at a target; 1 heat-seeking R-40T missile followed by a SARH R-40R, in order to avoid the possibility of the heat-seeking missile locking-on to the radar-guided missile.
As the MiG-25 has been exported to various states in the Middle East, the R-40 has been used in combat by Iraq and probably by Syria and Libya too.
A declassified document of the CIA reports that in the first day of Desert Storm, on 17 January 1991, Scott Speicher's F/A-18C was shot down by an R-40 fired from an Iraqi MiG-25. It is the only confirmed air-to-air kill of the Iraqi Air Force during Operation Desert Storm.
On 23 December 2002, an Iraqi MiG-25 shot down a USAF MQ-1 Predator drone with an R-40. The MQ-1 fired an AIM-92 Stinger in return, but the MiG successfully evaded it.
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