Even if it’s not clear whether the targeted Mi-8/17 Hip chopper was able to survive the hit (in the last year some Syrian helicopters have proved their ability to withstand ground fire by Surface to Air Missiles), the following video shows how lethal some shoulder mounted surface to air missile systems can be.
While the chopper flies at medium altitude, the rebel can target it with an SA-16 and wait the right moment to fire.
David Cenciotti is a freelance journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.
A video, filmed in central Syria today allegedly shows the first ISIS jet in flight. In the last few days, several media outlets reported the news that the Islamic State has started combat operations using […]
Since it made its first appearance on-line in the night of Jul. 24, I’ve been asked to identify the “mysterious” aircraft spotted over Aleppo earlier on the same day. Depicted in a BBC report as […]
Although still unconfirmed, it looks like Israeli planes have conducted raids against Hezbollah targets. Several media outlets in both Lebanon and Israel are reporting about a series of air strikes conducted by Israeli warplanes in […]
I’d say its IR flares saved the chopper!
Interesting. Looks a lot like these SA-24
http://youtu.be/OLw57GUblKc
God is Great is not about war. It is also stated when their favorite football team scores a goal, or a child is born.