~ Lonewolf ~
I think I would be about as inclined to believe a claim from the Taliban involving triumphs over their enemy as I might a seasoned poker player boasting his hand but, this is what is being reported.
Stinger shelf life? I haven't a clue; slightly longer than cheese I would have thought - please educate me!
Earl
South Asian News Agency:
Delhi, 25 Oct 2010
Afghanistan: The threat from SAMs
Abhijit Bhattacharyya
The death of nine US/NATO soldiers in a helicopter crash in Daychopan district of Zabul province, Afghanistan, last month once again raised the plight of Western troops facing the lurking danger from the man-portable surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
The recently leaked WikiLeaks documents had it that on May 30, 2007, Afghan insurgents shot down a twin rotor Chinook helicopter over Helmand with a portable SAM. The documents also maintain that the “most insurgent usages of portable SAM/anti-aircraft operations were unsuccessful”. The use of the word “most”, however, implies a confession of success of the insurgents. But the Americans need not be surprised that Afghans use those missiles. After all, the earlier generation of Afghans too got a huge quantity of US-made Stinger missiles to hit the Soviet choppers in the 1980s through the Pakistani, Saudi and US intelligence services. Reportedly, lots of those weapons are still available.
A lot more can be had in future also owing to the fact that at least half a million portable SAMs have already been produced worldwide and will continue to be produced in the future. And at least two dozen non-state actor organisations (including Al-Qaida) are believed to be in possession of various types of weapons. Thus, from the Soviet SA-7 missiles to American Stingers, different kinds of such weapons are available in the black market, and it seems that militants are still using their fathers’ and uncles’ missile technology.
It is, however, common knowledge that insurgents so far have fired only early versions of MANPADS against the US in Afghanistan. Although their exact number is not known, it is believed that that most of these were Redeyes of the General Dynamics origin of the 1960s. Understandably, therefore, all these MANPADS have become obsolete and do not necessarily have the modern-day tracking technology. Still, it is quite scary that so many of these obsolete MANPADS are still working.
Full article here:
Afghanistan: Threats from SAMs