Simultaneous data were obtained between the SAFARI HF coherent radars and the EISCAT incoherent scatter experiment in December 1983. The SAFARI experiment (Scandinavian And French Auroral Radar Investigation) is a set of two HF coherent radars located at Lycksele (Sweden) and Oulu (Finland). These radars are able to detect &lgr;=10 m F region ionospheric irregularities in the polar and auroral zone. The phase velocity of the irregularities is deduced from the Doppler spectra. During the joint measurements, EISCAT was operated in a meridian scan mode. In this mode, the ion drift velocity is measured at 325-km altitude for each different position of the radar beam, and after completion of the scan, a two-dimensional altitude-latitude map of electron density is obtained. This electron density map is used together with a ray tracing program to accurately localize the HF radar echoes. Then, the phase velocity of small-scale F region irregularities is compared with plasma drift velocity from simultaneous observations of the same volume of the ionosphere. For the set of measurements these drifts are found to be approximately equal. Implications in the existing theories for the generation of F region plasma irregularities at high-latitude are presented, as well as the potentialities of HF radars to measure the plasma convection at very high latitude.