Washington Post warns Stinger missiles for Ukraine could "slip into the possession of terrorist groups"

twitter ^ | May 15 | ggreenwald

[RandFan]

@ggreenwald

WashPost: "Flood of weapons to Ukraine raises fear of arms smuggling"

"Shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, capable of downing commercial airliners, are just one of the weapon systems experts worry could slip into the possession of terrorist groups."

[where's_the_Outrage?]

“Just curious how many Stingers you all shot in this thread..”

You’re 1 up on me. However I have handled live stingers, been in situations overseeing live missiles tracking live aircraft waiting for authority to fire. I was part of the command and control for the systems.

[jospehm20]

I have suspected all along that a country as thoroughly corrupt as Ukraine is selling off a big chunk of the stuff we’re sending them and telling us it was destroyed. Between Ukraine and the stuff that we left in Afghanistan, I wonder how long it will be before our military faces our equipment/weapons somewhere else?

[ammodotcom]

Arming terrorists stimulates the economy because it means we have to manufacture additional weapons to arm the terrorists’ enemies so they can become the next well-armed terrorists.

[logi_cal869]

Even when reports of such are labeled imaginary, especially when debunked with animations. /s

[SPDSHDW]

They’re going to blame it on “white terrorists” at home

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Be a shame if one of the hem was used to take outLenardo DeCaprio’s private climate change jet with him m in his t.

[Captain Rhino]

This is the WaPo coda to the liberal claim that “no one can own/have a gun because someone somewhere sometime might possibly do something wrong with their piece.”

[Rdct29]

Oh no not again. Joe Biden and the democrats are arming the terrorists again. Obama/Biden created and armed ISIS. Biden left the Taliban so much Military equipment they have a huge air force. Now Joe The Disaster Biden is arming terrorists across the world with stingers, javelins and other weapons. I know Biden is an incompetent buffoon but can he be this incompetent?

[familyop]

That’s no surprise. Greenwald has long been an anti-defense, anti-Israel, antisemitic journalist and lawyer on the radical left. He’s defended one of Ilhan Omar’s antisemitic statements. He’s a vegetarian and animal worshiper.

[A Formerly Proud Canadian]

Ukraine, like Russia, is a kleptocracy, run by a dictator. The West has no business getting involved in a fight between siblings. XiJinBiden should not be funding the military of Ukraine to the tune of 40 BILLION, when his (mis)administration is NOT supplying his own military.

Understanding XiJinBiden is like understanding Prime Mistake True-dolt, up here in PRC (Politically Repressive Canada ). Once you realize that he hates his country and his countrymen, EVERYTHING he does, makes sense. It goes for both of them.

[DarthVader]

No kidding!! They sure will!

[joma89]

The washington compost is a lying leftist rag. There are other websites banned drom being posted on FR, the wasington compost should be banned as well.

[Jewbacca]

Your info is about 20 years old.

The stingers going to Ukraine were export models with tweaks to their software. Specifically originally sent to Lithuania and Latvia in the dual mount system.

Certain of the export models will not fire if the are not hooked to the IFF and, more specifically, won’t fire if they get either a Mark IV or later ping back. These are them. In fact they won’t fire if they aren’t/weren’t (depending) if they are either inside or outside a certain geofence. (So they work in Eastern Europe for example but not Kansas.)

They also have some tech stripped, notably UV block tracking is modified or missing.

The counter battery radar the USA sent them has similar protections. It won’t give firing solutions within Russian boundaries.

Now it is true they’ve run out of export models and are having to use unrestricted domestic models, but they are literally unscrewing some sensors and doing post-production modifications to the software prior to shipping (allegedly).

[Jewbacca]

The battery pack is more than a battery.

It looks like a soup can and screws in. It contains (in addition the the battery) an argon gas cylinder (like an industrial BB gun CO2 cylinder) that supplied gas to cool the missile as it spins up for launch.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Yeah, but the missile has a computer that won’t let it fire without input.

I suppose someone could spoof it.

[FtrPilot]

Your info is very informative...thanks.

...but they are literally unscrewing some sensors and doing post-production modifications to the software prior to shipping (allegedly).

I have experience with ITAR and export of restricted items. Here's what I would guess:

The government would not grant a waver to allow export of "unrestricted domestic models".

The engineering analysis (hardware and software) on how to modify "unrestricted domestic models" to make them compliant with the export specifications was completed long ago.

The process to convert the "unrestricted domestic models" is rigid and tightly controlled.

[Lurker]

“Last I checked stingers have an IFF that prevents them from firing at a NATO or western target.”

Do commercial airliners squawk IFF?

L

[AppyPappy]

They could have gotten them from the Afghans

[Jewbacca]

“All” is a big word, but, in general, yes, for domestic western aircraft over a certain size. Certainly anything operated by a major airline.

It’s typically the lower standard, Mark/Mode IV or 3A, but those would get a “no go” signal from a typical export model.

Note the IFF on a Stinger does not identify “foe”. It identifies “friend” and “don’t know”. So if the plane turns it off or it’s broken, the missile (again, assuming there is no geofence issue) would launch.

It’s not a foolproof or unspoofable/unbypassable system, but it would take a lot of know how to get around it.

I’m deeply familiar with this entire set up, as I am an engineer and pilot and work for a (non-USA) military contractor.

Israel, btw, supplies our own software for all of this. Because we want to be able to pick our targets and not trust Obama/Biden to tell us who we can shoot and when/where. This is why we did our own software for our fighters and missiles.

[sergeantdave]

According to the last US Customs report I read, small arms are smuggled from Eastern Europe and Germany to Venezuela. From there, small arms are moved into Central America and then shipped to Mexico.

Will we soon see Mexican drug cartels armed with Stingers? You betcha! And from Mexico, it’s a short hop over the porous US southern border.

The noodle-arm, CIA-paid weenies at the WP are scared that they might get shot down taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Thus, the reason for this article. They’re publicly begging their 50 IQ deep state buddies to keep close eyes on the lethal goodies they’re dumping into Ukraine.

They won’t, of course, because there’s money to be made. And if a few propagandists get blown out of the sky, too bad. There’s more liars waiting for positions at the WP to open up.

Cha-ching! The cash register will keep ringing, regardless of the consequences.