Iraqi official says private U.S. security helicopter shot down over Baghdad

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.tampabays10.com/news/national/article.aspx?storyid=47900


BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — An Iraqi defense official says a private helicopter for a US security company has been shot down over central Baghdad.

A US military official in the Middle East confirms the downing, but had no information on just what happened, or how many were on board.

The Iraqi official says a person firing a machine gun downed the small helicopter.

[speedoo]

1. You know, if the insurgents have a new way to down our helicopters..

Months where we lost 100 soldiers may look like a picnic soon.

Shit.

[leftchick]

2. Russian SA-14?

Juan Cole suggested as much today....

http://juancole.com/


That blackhawk helicopter that crashed, killing 13 Americans on Saturday was probably shot down with a shoulder-held missile launcher. If the guerrillas ever get hold of a big supply of those, we'd be in big trouble. The Soviet-made SA-14s and SA-17s, with good guidance systems, are available on the international arms market and have occasionally shown up in Iraq. The more common SA-7s, mostly from a big batch made by the Soviet Union in 1971, are by now a hit or miss sort of thing.



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.

[coco77]

3. Has this been on the main stream media...

or are they waiting till after the chimps speech...

[Nite Owl]

4. I heard it on MSNBC

a few minutes ago.