buglerbilly
13-01-10, 02:47 PM
Ares
A Defense Technology Blog
More Advanced SAMs Emerging in Combat Zones
Posted by David A. Fulghum at 1/13/2010 6:36 AM CST
The U.S. hasn’t lost a helicopter to infrared missile fire from man-portable launchers since 2007 in Iraq or Afghanistan, the result of new tactics and advanced technology. But more advanced missiles – including the long dreaded SA-18 – are now in action in East Africa and could make their way through the insurgent pipeline to Southwest Asia.
If fact, there was a recent close call. A U.S. army CH-47D helicopter survived a multi-missile ambush because it had just been re-equipped with a new, laser defense system. Army officials would not say where the attack occurred nor exactly when (within the last 90 days), but a government analyst said the attack occurred in Iraq.
About 15-20 CH-47D/Fs have been equipped with the new Advanced Threat Infra Red Counter Measures (ATIRCM) system. It will soon be on all of the approximately 90 deployed heavy-lift helicopters.
“We had a success in a complex situation where a Chinook was engaged by multiple IR manpads [infrared man-portable anti-aircraft missiles] during an engagement.,” says U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ray Pickering, product manager for infrared countermeasures (IRCM).
“We have a missile warning system that can identify missiles by type; we have flares to deflect IR missiles, and we have a laser-equipped ATIRCM [Advanced Threat Infrared Counter Measures] that can defeat any missile in current use,” Pickering says. However, “We know there are bigger and better missiles that could show up.”
Those bigger and better missiles include the SA-18 Grouse and the even newer SA-24 Grinch. The latter has been recently exported to Venezuela and could make its way into the black market as well. The Russian designed SA-16 missile has already been responsible for shooting down U.S. helicopters in Iraq and is currently available on the black market for about $40,000 each, U.S. Defense officials tell Aviation Week.
The United Nations now have evidence that a shipment of the more lethal SA-18s, from a lot made in 1995, was shipped to Eritrea and at least six were turned over to an insurgent group in Somalia. That is part of the reason the UN has now imposed an arms embargo on the government of Eritrea.
A spokesman for the Somali terrorist organization al-Shabaab, a recipient of those Eritrean arms, threatened to come to the aid of insurgents in Yemen – including the al Qaeda affiliate that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas airliner bombing attempt near Detroit, says Matt Schroeder, manager of the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists. Schroeder has been researching manpads proliferation for several years.
“An SA-18 [Grouse] missile found in Somalia…was later traced back to a shipment of Russian arms to Eritrea,” Schroeder says. “In 2007, al-Shabaab used an SA-18 to shoot down a Belarusian [Il-76] cargo plan departing from Mogadishu Airport killing all eleven people on board.”
Using the serial number from the found SA-18, UN investigators traced the missile to a consignment of Russian missiles manufactured in 1995 and shipped to Eritrea through the state trade company Rosvooruzhenie, according to a letter from Russia’s UN mission to the UN Monitoring Group.
A Defense Technology Blog
More Advanced SAMs Emerging in Combat Zones
Posted by David A. Fulghum at 1/13/2010 6:36 AM CST
The U.S. hasn’t lost a helicopter to infrared missile fire from man-portable launchers since 2007 in Iraq or Afghanistan, the result of new tactics and advanced technology. But more advanced missiles – including the long dreaded SA-18 – are now in action in East Africa and could make their way through the insurgent pipeline to Southwest Asia.
If fact, there was a recent close call. A U.S. army CH-47D helicopter survived a multi-missile ambush because it had just been re-equipped with a new, laser defense system. Army officials would not say where the attack occurred nor exactly when (within the last 90 days), but a government analyst said the attack occurred in Iraq.
About 15-20 CH-47D/Fs have been equipped with the new Advanced Threat Infra Red Counter Measures (ATIRCM) system. It will soon be on all of the approximately 90 deployed heavy-lift helicopters.
“We had a success in a complex situation where a Chinook was engaged by multiple IR manpads [infrared man-portable anti-aircraft missiles] during an engagement.,” says U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ray Pickering, product manager for infrared countermeasures (IRCM).
“We have a missile warning system that can identify missiles by type; we have flares to deflect IR missiles, and we have a laser-equipped ATIRCM [Advanced Threat Infrared Counter Measures] that can defeat any missile in current use,” Pickering says. However, “We know there are bigger and better missiles that could show up.”
Those bigger and better missiles include the SA-18 Grouse and the even newer SA-24 Grinch. The latter has been recently exported to Venezuela and could make its way into the black market as well. The Russian designed SA-16 missile has already been responsible for shooting down U.S. helicopters in Iraq and is currently available on the black market for about $40,000 each, U.S. Defense officials tell Aviation Week.
The United Nations now have evidence that a shipment of the more lethal SA-18s, from a lot made in 1995, was shipped to Eritrea and at least six were turned over to an insurgent group in Somalia. That is part of the reason the UN has now imposed an arms embargo on the government of Eritrea.
A spokesman for the Somali terrorist organization al-Shabaab, a recipient of those Eritrean arms, threatened to come to the aid of insurgents in Yemen – including the al Qaeda affiliate that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas airliner bombing attempt near Detroit, says Matt Schroeder, manager of the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists. Schroeder has been researching manpads proliferation for several years.
“An SA-18 [Grouse] missile found in Somalia…was later traced back to a shipment of Russian arms to Eritrea,” Schroeder says. “In 2007, al-Shabaab used an SA-18 to shoot down a Belarusian [Il-76] cargo plan departing from Mogadishu Airport killing all eleven people on board.”
Using the serial number from the found SA-18, UN investigators traced the missile to a consignment of Russian missiles manufactured in 1995 and shipped to Eritrea through the state trade company Rosvooruzhenie, according to a letter from Russia’s UN mission to the UN Monitoring Group.