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Remember that Russia Jet that Turkey shot down?......
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Re: Remember that Russia Jet that Turkey shot down?......
That is likely a Russian made IGLA MANPAD system.
Although it it is possible it could be a Chinese or other(several countries manufacture licensed or not) copy, it's likely Russian manufacture.
But where did it come from?
Directly from Russia? Or via some circuitous route by intent or by coincidence?
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Re: Remember that Russia Jet that Turkey shot down?......
Originally posted by lakedaemonian View PostThat is likely a Russian made IGLA MANPAD system.
Although it it is possible it could be a Chinese or other(several countries manufacture licensed or not) copy, it's likely Russian manufacture.
But where did it come from?
Directly from Russia? Or via some circuitous route by intent or by coincidence?
Russia delivers first weapons supplies to Iraqi Kurds
The Russian Federation has supplied the first batch of five anti-aircraft guns to Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. According to Russian analysts, by announcing it officially for the first time, Moscow has decided to change its Middle East policy and to underline the importance of the Kurds in the region.
The first batch of Russian weapons for the fighters of the Kurdish paramilitary Peshmerga militia, who are fighting Islamic State (ISIS) forces in the region, has arrived in Iraq.
Senior Russian diplomats passed five 23mm ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft autoguns to resistance forces.
"The first batch of weapons came on March 14 and was intended for the Peshmerga militias of Iraqi Kurdistan," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Artyom Grigoryan, attaché of the Russian Consulate General in the Iraqi town of Erbil, as saying.
"The weapons were handed over in the presence of the ambassador [of Russia in Iraq – RBTH] and the Consul General [of Russia – RBTH] as well as the Deputy Chief of the Peshmerga Staff."
According to Grigoryan, the parties discussed further arms supplies.
"After the transfer of the arms shipment, the Russian ambassador said that this is not the last batch of weapons," he said.
"He said that Russia hopes that, with this weapon, Peshmerga and Iraqi forces will defeat ISIS."
As he noted, weapons are being supplied to the Iraqi Kurdistan armed forces in coordination with Baghdad.
For the first time officially
"Russia has decided to change its Middle East policy and state it openly," Fyodor Lukyanov, chief editor of the Russia in Global Affairs magazine, told RBTH, commenting on the developments in Iraq.
"In terms of the content of cooperation, intelligence services in Europe and the Middle East knew about our interaction with the Kurds long before the official announcement. There is nothing wrong in cooperation with the forces fighting against Islamic State."
[more at the link]
this was definitely aimed at defeating the powerful isis airforce. note the anti-aircraft guns mentioned in this article are NOT the type of weapon seen in the video above. the article above is dated 3/18/16, so almost 2 mos ago. maybe the weapon in the video was part of the second batch of weapons.Last edited by jk; May 15, 2016, 04:57 PM.
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Re: Remember that Russia Jet that Turkey shot down?......
The weapons oficially supplied are to the peshmergas, Iraki Kurds. These are not (I understand) fighting against the Turks. The video of the shooting down of the heli is of supposedly a Turkish vehicle by the PKK. These are antagonistic (AFAIK) of the peshmergas. But then, they are all Kurds after all.
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Re: Remember that Russia Jet that Turkey shot down?......
Actually the ZU23 is far more often used in the ground to ground direct fire support role.
When you see an autocannon with a person seated, rather than standing, behind a weapon system mounted in the back of a Japanese flatbed truck("technical" of Somalia and now Libya/Syria fame) it's typically a ZU23
I've been hands on with legacy ZU23 weapons mount locations in Afghanistan.
They were used during the Soviet and post Soviet era to guard high altitude/narrow passed to interdict vehicle traffic as well as provide some limited anti aircraft capability.
The poor bastards that had to hump the mounting system, weapon, and ammunition up to the heights in the Hindu Kush would have been hating that.
A ZU23 that attempted to interdict a Turkish gunship, unless it was a perfect ambush which is hard due to lack of portability, would only get one crack at it before getting burned by gunship counter fire from outside the ZU23 engagement envelope.
Basically, the ZU23 is a poor anti-aircraft ambush weapon due to limited portability and effective range compared to far more portable, fire and forget MANPADs.
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The Russians are being quite cunning with their public announcement of support/supply with the ZU23 as they can make the same claim. THAT particular weapon system is really more useful as a direct fire weapon system to support Kurd ground fighting effort than shooting down rotary wing aircraft.
And state that Russian MANPADs in the hands of Kurds may not have come directly from Russia...who's to know for sure?
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When the US started supplying Muj in Afghanistan in the early 80's they started with light anti-aircraft cannons, which proved largely ineffective, before switching to Egyptian, Israeli(captured), and Chinese sourced early generation Russian made or copied SA7 MANPADs.
When these proved ineffective as well, they switched to supplying US all-aspect Stinger missiles with some control measures in place although the Soviets did interdict and capture a few Stingers as use and distribution increased.
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