U.S. helicopter shot down in Iraq

http://www.adn.com/front/story/8597228p-8490044c.html


A U.S. helicopter was shot down early Sunday afternoon near the provincial capital Najaf during a pitched battle with fighters described as religious fanatics.


A McClatchy Newspapers correspondent from Najaf observed the helicopter lose control and crash to the ground in flames after it appeared to have been struck by rocket fired from the ground. The correspondent had been observing the battle from a safe position about half a mile away from the fight in the village of al Zarga.

-snip-

No information on U.S. casualties was available. Military public affairs officials in Baghdad said Sunday afternoon they were unaware of the helicopter downing.

The correspondent observed the helicopter shot down about 1:35 p.m. Iraqi time Sunday (1:35 a.m. ADT).

-snip-

The battle began with U.S. aerial bombardments Saturday night. Iraqi forces ground forces sealed off the area around 3 a.m. Sunday and begin an assault, assisted by U.S. helicopters and F-16 fighter jets.

Maj. Hussain Muhammed of the Iraqi Army confimed the helicopter was down. "We do not know any other details yet, but there are flames raising," he said.
----------------------------

TWARF

The War Against Religious Fanatics

And awaaaay we go!

When we've got a preznit who God talks to . . . and tells him to bomb a country.

Good thing we've got god on OUR side, huh?

(I was playing/singing "Masters of War" last night, Tom. You ever play that one?)

But I do a killer (if I do say so myself) version of "With God on Our Side".

Did you ever see my "Driving Across America" thread?

(Nancy ain't too bad either.)

;)

And why are they shooting at US troops?

...the Blackhawk crash last week that killed 12, including lots of brass. Army has been mum regarding what brought it down - starting to sound like insurgents have aquired some shoulder-launched missiles.

Freedom might get "extra messy" in the upcoming months.

finding a tube that was similar to what a shoulder-launched missile launcher would use -

then they clamped down on info

the only word is that they "suspect strongly" it was shot down.

(referring to last weeks, not this one)

It is a good article. I like the fact that it stresses how much the fatalaties are out of the public eye. This incident and the large number of others on that day was big enough to get 12 pictures in Newsweek. But 24 more have died SINCE that day, and they are largely reported as "two more" or "three more" with no real coverage. The funerals in the home towns get attention, and the family and friends obviously are living the experience of losing someone. But the vast majority of the American public is pretty much shielded. We just go on about our lives and tsk tsk over the numbers, but don't know the faces and people, and the people left behind. There are a lot of war widows out there, many with small children, that deserve a lot of help from all Americans. One killed herself the other day.

I cropped pictures from the Newsweek article and added links to my website for the ones I had not already found. I also added a link to the Newsweek article.

since last nights news story about "seven additional fatalities", there have been two additional yesterday and one today. Stand by for news on this chopper. Probably won't be as many as the Blackhawk - probably a crew of four or five...

now we know what those "High grade" aluminum tubes from 2002 were really for.

This story is now on CNN's wire too although they say U.S. military is mum.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/01/28/sunday/index.html

Yeah, we don't have ANY of those over here.

It always struck me as odd why Public Affairs was lumped in with psychological warfare in Special Operations Command.

that it only took one "Black Hawk Down" incident to get the GOP foaming at the mouth for President Clinton to get our troops out of Somalia in 1993 but we have now have had several helicopters brought down by enemy attacks in Iraq and the Republicans from top down say we must not only continue our military involvement in Iraq but we must actually INCREASE it so that Iraq doesn't become a "breeding ground" for Al-Queda? It seems like the GOP didn't care much about the poor condition that we left Somalia in 1993 nor worried much about it possibly become a breeding ground for Al-Queda that we apparently now have to worry about (again). :shrug: Can the GOP possibly get any MORE hypocritical????

Regardless of what the US is admitting here I would bet SA-14s at the least...


http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1473394&C=america

A Russian-made surface-to-air missile launched by anti-American insurgents brought down a U.S. military helicopter that crashed in Iraq on Jan. 16, ABC News reported Jan. 17, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.
The network said the shootdown represented “a troubling new development” because there are hundreds and possibly thousands of SA-7 missiles that remain unaccounted for in Iraq.

The AH-64 Apache went down north of Baghdad, killing its two crew members and becoming the third U.S. helicopter to be shot down in 10 days. A little-known Islamist group, Salahu Din al-Ayubi (Saladin) Brigades, claimed in an Internet statement it used rockets to shoot down the Apache.

According to the ABC report, SA-7s had been part of Saddam Hussein’s arsenal, much of which was looted after the invasion.
But until now, insurgents had never successfully used them against an American aircraft.

”It could be just a lucky shot,” Gen. John Keane, the Army’s acting chief of staff, told ABC News. “Or it could be that they have invested in a training program and they now have some qualified operators and that’ll be more of a threat than it has been in the past.”

Apache helicopters are designed to be able to survive attacks by missiles like the SA-7, but the military is investigating why the chopper targeted in Monday’s attack did not, the report said.


...perhaps because it was something newer? :eyes:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/sa-14.htm

SA-14 GREMLIN 9K34 Strela-3
The Portable missile system "Strela 3" is equipped with small size solid propellant guided missile. The missile has an improved system of overcoming countermeasures, increased range and flight altitude. It is developed for destroying low flying aircraft and helicopters. The missile can hit the targets both in chasing and confronting headings.

The SA-14 GREMLIN (Strela-3 9K34) man-portable SAM is the successor to the SA-7/SA-7b (Strela-2 9K32 and Strela-2M 9K32M). The system consists of the 9P59 gripstock, 9P51 thermal battery/gas reservoir, and 9M36-1 missile. The external appearance of the SA-14 is very similar to the SA-7, and the gripstock, launch canister and aft missile body are almost identical. The most significant differences are the new seeker system and the substitution of a ball-shaped 9P51 thermal battery and gas reservoir for the SA-7's canister shaped battery.

The SA-14's new nitrogen-cooled lead sulfide seeker allows it to home in on the exhaust plume of jet engines, turboprop and helicopter gas turbine engines. The enhanced seeker allowed the SA-14 to be fired against targets from much broader angles, as well as defeating countermeasures such as exhaust shrouds. Optical filtration was added to the seeker to reduce vulnerability to typical IRCM flares. The warhead of the SA-14 was nearly doubled in weight over the small warhead of the SA-7. The guidance electronics were reduced in weight and a new solid-propellant motor was introduced, compensating for the heavier warhead and improving aerodynamic performance. The SA-14 has a maximum range of 4500 meters, and a maximum altitude of 3000 meters.