| Tango01 | 24 Nov 2015 2:56 p.m. PST |
"Syrian fighters destroyed a Russian helicopter with a missile, shortly after they forced it to make an emergency landing in a nearby government-held area in Syria's Latakia province on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A Syrian insurgent group, recipient of U.S. Tow missiles, said its fighters hit the helicopter with an anti-tank missile while it was in the air and put out a video showing the helicopter being blown up after one of its fighters struck it with another missile. Rami Abdulrahman from the Observatory, which tracks the conflict in Syria though a wide network of sources, said at least ten people were on the helicopter when it was hit by the insurgents but they were all evacuated when it landed and before the missile destroyed it…"
Full article here
link YouTube link Amicalement
Armand |
 Legion 4  | 24 Nov 2015 3:48 p.m. PST |
Well though not designed for AA work, if a chopper hovers low enough it could be a target. As we see … if this is true. |
| Mako11 | 24 Nov 2015 4:18 p.m. PST |
Doesn't appear to me from the video that it was knocked or forced down while in the air, though perhaps there is other footage of that. If that is the case, it doesn't look like it was heavily damaged, though a little nick in the right place on a rotor can cause major problems. Could have just landed, and sent out a team, or teams to search for the downed pilot(s). A TOW can certainly do a lot of damage to a chopper, whether hovering, landed, or flying slowly about at low altitude. |
| tbeard1999 | 24 Nov 2015 4:22 p.m. PST |
The US Army has planned to use TOW and later ATGMs against helicopters since the 1980s. The Somali insurgents used RPGs (fired in volleys as I recall) against UH-60s in Mogadishu. However, there's little hard data on how Effcetive they really are. In A Fistful of TOWs, we assumed significant degradation of accuracy. However, they can still represent a danger to helicopters, particularly en masse. |
| cwlinsj | 24 Nov 2015 4:45 p.m. PST |
What I found interesting from this event is that Tass reported the fatality was to a Russian "contract" marine. This was news to me that the Russians use Marines for S&R, and that they are defining these combattants as contract signatories rather than standard active servicemen. |
| Mako11 | 24 Nov 2015 5:09 p.m. PST |
My understanding is that's why a lot of Russian tanks have guided missile capabilities as well, in addition to enhancing their range vs. ground targets. |
| dwight shrute | 25 Nov 2015 3:13 a.m. PST |
Anything that comes from Rami or the Syrian Oobservatory should be dismissed at least never taken as a reliable factual objective source of news .. link |
| Legion 4 | 25 Nov 2015 8:27 a.m. PST |
The US Army has planned to use TOW and later ATGMs against helicopters since the 1980s. Sure as I said if the chopper is low enough, and they present a viable target, etc. … I never remembering my M901 Crews talking about. But like many weapons it can be repurposed. Need on the battlefield is the bottom line. In GWII TOWs from the 101, took out Saddam's sons holding up in a fortified house. Again, like any AT weapon it can be used on a variety of targets. Or like the German WWII '88, was designed for AA. But many an allied AFV were KO'd by it. Somali insurgents used RPGs (fired in volleys as I recall) against UH-60s So did the VC/NVA … an number of UH-1s, etc. were downed by RPGs/B-40s. |
| Dn Jackson | 25 Nov 2015 10:32 a.m. PST |
"Anything that comes from Rami or the Syrian Oobservatory should be dismissed at least never taken as a reliable factual objective source of news .. link" You link to Russian Times and think that they nullify Syrian Observatory. that's pointing at one propaganda outlet to discredit another. :) |
| 14Bore | 25 Nov 2015 3:53 p.m. PST |
I bet the link is the same I saw on another video web. The helo was running but on the ground as much as I can see. |
| Mako11 | 26 Nov 2015 3:00 p.m. PST |
Yea, I'd give RPGs about a 5% – 10% chance of downing a helo, depending upon how close they are to the target, and how low it is flying. There've been quite a few reports of them being downed with those, including even in Afghanistan (and possibly Iraq). I think the big CH-46s and CH-47s are probably easier targets, given their large size. |
| Legion 4 | 26 Nov 2015 8:03 p.m. PST |
Yes, they present a much larger target. But again, the RPG would have to be fairly close. Like hiding in the jungle or in a village, etc. … |
worries about not losing his rules stuff.
