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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Are U.S. Missiles Taking Out High-Ranking Russian Military Officials? |
| 2016-02-05 |
| [Daily Beast] A CIA-backed anti-Assad militia reportedly killed at least one senior Russian military official this week with an American TOW anti-tank missile. Is this a Soviet-Afghan replay? Evidence has emerged strongly suggesting that U.S.-armed rebels have used an American-supplied weapons system to kill a handful of senior Russian military officials in Syria. Video footage, circulated by a known CIA-backed Free Syrian Army militia, shows a laser-guided BGM-71 TOWs anti-tank missile fired at a rooftop where unidentified uniformed personnel had gathered. The location of the building under attack is likely Latakia province, where the rebels have lately suffered setbacks as a result of intensified Russian airstrikes and artillery shelling aiding forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad's regime. Everything is based on open-source intelligence and reporting from Syrian opposition, Turkish and Russian sources, all of which agree that at least one high-ranking Russian was killed in action in Syria. As of Thursday evening, U.S. officials would neither confirm nor deny to The Daily Beast whether an increase in resupplies to U.S.-backed rebel militias was in the offing as a result of the complete and utter breakdown of Syrian peace negotiations in Geneva. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #10 Good ole trusty TOW. Love + miss also the DRAGON ATGM. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-02-05 19:53 |
| #9 Assuming the story is true and they really are CIA-backed anti-Assad militia doing it, why? Why would the CIA provoke the Russians now? Over Assad's removal? That's bat$hit crazy. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2016-02-05 15:01 |
| #8 Shaped charge technology is awesome, and critical to things outside the military - like perforating oil wells. We run perforating 'guns' down inside 2" ID tubing and fire a stack of a few dozen charges which make narrow conical holes through the steel tubing, a few inches of cement, steel casing, a bit more cement, and about 6 inches into the rock; the effective hole diameters through which the oil flows back to us are about 1/4 inch. I have been told the technical origin of shaped charges was for making the conventional explosive shell around the plutonium core of the atomic bombs. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2016-02-05 14:07 |
| #7 Huh. The TOW now has 'wireless' versions. Plus: "From FY 2012 to FY 2016, the U.S. military will only be purchasing the BGM-71F TOW 2B Aero variant and the BGM-71H TOW 2A bunker buster. The BGM-71F TOW 2B Aero is an extended range version of the TOW 2B anti-tank missile. This missile is used agains enemy armor and has a range of 2.8 miles (4.5 km). Compared to earlier TOW versions, the TOW 2B is designed to fly over enemy tanks and armored vehicles and hit them from above, where the armor is thinner. The BGM-71H (TOW 2A bunker buster) is used against buildings and field fortifications and has a range of 2.3 miles (3.75 km)." ty Aeroweb. Nice range. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2016-02-05 13:16 |
| #6 A TOW missile with fricken laser beams on it's head would be awesome. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2016-02-05 12:44 |
| #5 As a former platoon leader, and later company XO of a TOW company (E Co., 325th Inf (Abn)). I can confidently state that a TOW missile (with stand-off warhead) is great for penetrating armor, or putting a small hole in a wall. The warhead is a shaped charge, designed to project a small stream of highly destructive energy through a hole no bigger than your wrist. It would be possible for collateral debris to injure or kill someone, and a direct hit on a human being would end his/her happy days - but using a TOW for an anti-personnel shot is pretty much ridiculous. Hollywood makes "big booms" - the funniest being to watch some character fire a M72A2 LAW at some target - and see a huge explosion. The real rocket creates a hole about the diameter of a Mont Blac pen - and creates almost no visible display on the entry side of the shaped charge. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2016-02-05 12:28 |
| #4 shows a laser-guided BGM-71 TOWs anti-tank missile Journalists. They never ever get anything right. This story gets lumped in with all the other non-sense put out by these hysterical ignoramuses |
| Posted by: Nguard 2016-02-05 10:25 |
| #3 Perhaps the weapons used were among those allegedly behind the Benghazi debacle? Those were MAPADS; likely a SA-7 variant. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-02-05 08:44 |
| #2 Perhaps the weapons used were among those allegedly behind the Benghazi debacle? And perhaps the very well placed mortar rounds at Benghazi were dropped by..... In any event, the U.S. activities and sites in Benghazi appear to have been discontinued, with no plan for re-establishment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-02-05 08:22 |
| #1 Perhaps the weapons used were among those allegedly behind the Benghazi debacle? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2016-02-05 08:15 |