higher altitude flight. In 1996, Mentyukov claimed that contact with his aircraft's slipstream downed Gary Powers; however, Sergei Khrushchev asserted in 2000 that Mentyukov failed even to gain visual contact. On 7 September 1965, during the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War, a Pakistani Lockheed F-104A Starfighter (Serial No. 56-877) from the No. 9 Squadron "Griffins" which was piloted by Flight Lieutenant Amjad Hussain Khan intercepted 6 Indian Mystere IVs which were attacking the Sargodha Airbase. In the ensuing dogfight, a Mystere flown by Squadron Leader Devaiah forced Amjad's F-104 into low-speed dogfighting (something which the F-104 performs badly in due to its poor manuveribility in reduced speeds). Though Amjad scored several hits on Devaiah's Mystere with his M-61 Vulcan and even fired a GAR-8 at it (which missed), the Mystere was still flying after which Amjad ultimately made the first jet to jet ramming attack against the Indian warplane. This led to both pilots losing control of their aircraft over Kot Nakka, while the Indian pilot perished with his warplane, Amjad managed to eject safely & got rescued by Pakistani villagers who were spectating the intense dogfight. On 28 November 1973, during the CIA's Project Dark Gene, Captain Gennadii N. Eliseev, flying a MiG-21, made a ramming attack against an RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft piloted by IIAF Major Shokouhnia and backseater USAF Colonel John Saunders over Soviet airspace. After both his K-13 air to air missiles failed to down the RF-4C and his gun jammed, he struck the RF-4C's tail assembly with his wing. While the MiG pilot died, the RF-4C crew ejected successfully. On 18 July 1981 Captain V.A. Kulyapin reportedly used his Su-15 to ram a chartered Argentine CL-44 during the 1981 Armenia mid-air collision, although Western experts believed this likely to have been a self-serving interpretation of an accidental collision. A 1986 RAND Corporation study concluded that the ramming attack was still a viable option for modern jets defending their airspace from long-range bombers if those bombers were carrying atomic weapons. The study posited that defending fighters might expend their weapons without downing the enemy bomber, and the pilots would then be faced with the final choice of ramming—almost certainly trading their lives to save the thousands who might be killed by a successful nuclear attack. After 1990 During the 9/11 attacks in 2001, fighter jets were dispatched to intercept the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, believed to be heading