[Video] Syrian helicopter destroyed by Anti-Tank Guided Missile

Syrian militants fire a Kornet ATGM (Anti-Tank Guided Missile) to a Syrian helicopter

The following video shows a Syrian Mil Mi-8 Hip helicopter being destroyed by a Kornet ATGM reportedly fired by Sham Legion’ brigade militants at an airbase near Idlib.

From a spot located just outside the airbase perimeter fence, the militants wait until the chopper is standing still on the ground to fire the ATGM and destroy it: as lethal as a SAM (Surface to Air Missile)/MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System).

H/T to Matt Fanning for the link

 

About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a 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.

2 Comments

  1. I think the missile just used a part of its characteristics, it was clearly a kinetic kill, not an explosive one, you can see flames but those apparently are from the impact, the projectile passing thru all kinds of metals, not from the activation of a warhead.

    If you have had the opportunity to see the use of one Kornet or any ATGM in any other video, even an RPG agains a tank, you can see that the size of the warhead is usually very big, but in the Kornet is one of the heaviest 7 kilograms as much as 7 antitank grenades, and the explosion should be massive, I think one warhead with that size would split any helicopter in two. Worst of all Kornet warhead is thermobaric, which would detonate with a very characteristic “vacuum” effect, witch tends to be like an air bubble.

    Even if the video has been done from a very far location, you can see that actually still has the energy and integrity to lift, turn around a bit and slam the floor.

    The missile probably passed thru and ended up in other part of the base or in a less likely scenario, it stayed inside the helicopter after the initial penetration.

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