ISIS Guide Explains How To Shoot Down US Apache Helicopters

IBT ^ | 10/8/14 | Christopher Harress

[Kartographer]

Just days after the United States began using Apache helicopters against the Islamic State group in Iraq, ISIS has responded by producing a guide to shooting down the iconic aircraft. The guide, which has been circulating on social media, explains in minute detail how to use portable surface-to-air missiles, such as the Russian-made SA-16 and SA-18 and the American FIM-92 Stinger, against the attack helicopter.

The Stinger was heavily used during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, when the shoulder-fired missiles provided by the U.S. to mujahideen fighters proved very effective at shooting down Soviet helicopters. They also saw use against Russian aircraft during the first and second Chechen wars, which took place from 1994 to 1996 and 1999 to 2009, respectively. The guide will serve as a reminder for the ISIS fighters who took part in those conflicts before joining the ranks of the Sunni extremist group in Iraq and Syria. For new recruits, the guide is a detailed primer on how to target successfully the Apaches by defeating their countermeasures.

[Steely Tom]

I suppose it also explains - to various interested parties - how to improve Apache countermeasures, including those involving software.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

If you have a shoulder-fired SAM, it's not that difficult.

Getting the SAM is the hard part.

[IronJack]

The best way, as I recall from one of the Rambo movies, is to stand right out in the open and shoot at the helicopter with a bow and arrow. By all means, ragheads, give it a try.

Allahu akhbar!

[BBell]

We should have never armed the mujahideen. By doing so we inadvertently created the mess we are in now.

BTW, I was all for arming the mujahideen in the 80's. I was young and ignorant. Now I look at arming the Syrian rebels in the same light as arming the mujahideen.

[BBell]

Getting the SAM is the hard part.

Thanks to our idiots in the white house it is not that difficult anymore. Thousands were looted in Libya.

[plain talk]

I agree. It was a different world back in the cold war days but with hindsight it wss a mistake.

I also believe Colin Powell’s “if you break it you must fix it” was a mistake. Don’t arm anyone. Just break things occasionally when they threaten us. It wont be long and we will be able to wipe out an area without a human being on the battlefield. Drones and robots. Scary but that is where this is headed

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I wonder when we will finally get the evidence that Benghazi was all about 400 SAMs being transferred to al Qaeda?

[freeandfreezing]

I would hope that anyone operating helicopters against ISIS elements has more aggressive ROEs than what were apparently in use previously. Trying to do anything except hide against night operating Apaches using aggressive ROEs is a quick way to get killed. A concealed sniper gets maybe one shot, and then he gets to see if his cover can withstand 30mm rounds.

[MileHi]

I wonder when we will finally get the evidence that Benghazi was all about 400 SAMs being transferred to al Qaeda?

These will end up turning US "boots in the air" into "boots on the ground".

[freeandfreezing]

If you have a shoulder-fired SAM, it's not that difficult.

Not too hard to fire the SAM, except you have to be ready for a lot of 30mm rounds which will arrive where you are standing within moments if the Apache team is on their toes and are operating under aggressive ROEs.

And sometimes those 30mm rounds arrive before you even fire from the ground, or can see the helicopter.

[KeyLargo]

ISIS Shoots Down Iraqi Military Helicopter, Killing 2

By KIRK SEMPLE and OMAR AL-JAWOSHY OCT. 8, 2014

BAGHDAD — Insurgents from the Islamic State militant group shot down an Iraqi military helicopter on Wednesday near the refinery town of Baiji, killing two onboard, Iraqi military officials said.

It was the second time in less than a week that the militants had shot down an Iraqi military helicopter, raising the stakes for the Iraqi military and the United States-led coalition fighting the group, which have dominated the sky during a campaign of airstrikes.

The American military command began deploying attack helicopters in recent days in its missions against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, putting its pilots at greater risk from ground fire.

Islamic State fighters apparently used a shoulder-fired missile on Wednesday morning to bring down the helicopter, which was on a surveillance mission northeast of Baiji, a town about 120 miles north of Baghdad and the site of the country’s largest oil refinery, officials said. The Associated Press reported that the aircraft was a Bell 407, which are primarily used for surveillance.

The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the attack, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the record. By early afternoon, rescue teams had still not been able to reach the crash site to recover the bodies, officials said.

On Friday, also using a shoulder-fired missile, militants shot down another Iraqi military helicopter near Baiji, killing the pilot and co-pilot.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/world/middleeast/isis-iraq-violence.html?_r=0

[fso301]

MANPADS aren’t like a 1903A3. They can’t be stored and ignored indefinitely and still be expected to function when needed.

[NormsRevenge]

Just have em watch Duck Dynasty.. they’ll figure it out .. Or get 72 voigins real quick.

[KeyLargo]

HELICOPTER SHOOT DOWN VIDEO HERE:

FSA Shoot Down Syrian Army Helicopter With Shoulder Fire Surface To Air Missile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n2yfIhd1Ek

[rdcbn]

portable surface-to-air missiles, such as the Russian-made SA-16 and SA-18 and the American FIM-92 Stinger,

---

Strangely enough, these are the exact missiles that the Obama Administration, and Qatar transferred to ISIS via Benghazi through a Turkish intermediary.

[NormsRevenge]

Is the lifetime of a MANPAD classified? STingers had a Use IT BY Date or such..

[KeyLargo]

Smoke rises after a shell lands Monday in Kobani in Syria as fighting intensifies between Syrian Kurds and the militants of Islamic State group, as seen from the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border. Militants with Islamic State group on Wednesday shot down an Iraqi military attack helicopter, killing the two pilots on board in the second such incident in a week and raising concerns about the extremists' ability to attack aircraft amid ongoing U.S.-led airstrikes. (Lefteris Pitarakis / AP)

[KeyLargo]

video:

http://www.voafanti.com/gate/big5/www.voanews.com/content/saudi-arabia-offers-sophisticated-weapons-to-syrian-rebels/1861892.html

[NormsRevenge]

Boy! The EPA is realllly gonna go after that blast.. Look at all the stuff in the air..

The Clean AIR act should apply then no one could wage dirty dusty grimy war and Save the environment!

Oh Wait,, where was that blast?

Syria?

NVR mind.