Emerged on Sept. 15, new footage allegedly shows a helicopter being shot down over Nubbol (a small town in northern Aleppo province) Jun. 30, 2013 by rebels using an FN-6 MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System).
Developed in China, the FN-6 is a third generation passive IR (Infrared) surface-to-air missile with a range of 6 km and a maximum altitude of 3.5 km.
Several MANPADS are in the hands of the Free Syrian Army that is using them to shoot down Assad’s planes and helicopters.
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.
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5 Comments
Can you share why it’s claimed as a helicopter, vice a fixed wing? Judging from the speed and the size of the fireball, I’d have thought it was a jet that crashed.
Agreed, looks like a fixed wing to me as we’ll.
Can any suppose as to the source of these FN-6? Supplied by eastern groups (AL) or western governments?
Awful video. I never saw a target get hit, only a burning streak hitting in the distance.
A REAL SHAME, that the supply of MANPADS has apparently dried up to the hero patriots of the FSA. no scuzzball terrorists there.
Later in 2013, Assad’s helicopters were pushed to the limit, with maximum payloads at every sortee, venturing over utterly defenseless residential areas to
roll out 55 gallon drum bombs, some with fins welded on, each now weighing 2,000 lbs.
From photos of the wreckage, it seems these can knock down a section of the typical 5 story apt building in Syria before even exploding. Dropped from about 600 feet for terminal velocity.
2,000 civilians killed by these things just in May 2014.
“Terrorists” that are typically families buried under collapsed buildings, or incinerated in the street.
Can you share why it’s claimed as a helicopter, vice a fixed wing? Judging from the speed and the size of the fireball, I’d have thought it was a jet that crashed.
Agreed, looks like a fixed wing to me as we’ll.
Can any suppose as to the source of these FN-6? Supplied by eastern groups (AL) or western governments?
Awful video. I never saw a target get hit, only a burning streak hitting in the distance.
A REAL SHAME, that the supply of MANPADS has apparently dried up to the hero patriots of the FSA. no scuzzball terrorists there.
Later in 2013, Assad’s helicopters were pushed to the limit, with maximum payloads at every sortee, venturing over utterly defenseless residential areas to
roll out 55 gallon drum bombs, some with fins welded on, each now weighing 2,000 lbs.
From photos of the wreckage, it seems these can knock down a section of the typical 5 story apt building in Syria before even exploding. Dropped from about 600 feet for terminal velocity.
2,000 civilians killed by these things just in May 2014.
“Terrorists” that are typically families buried under collapsed buildings, or incinerated in the street.