Bragging
Iraqi insurgents have been bragging on the internet that they have new weapons to down US helicopters. US forces have suffered four helicopters downed in the past two weeks. American officials are acknowledging that it does, inded, look like the helicopters were shot down. So, one needs to ask a simple question here:
Who sent in the new weapons?
Caldwell said the helicopters had been shot down in four separate incidents in which 21 U.S. servicemen and private security contractors were killed, confirming earlier witness reports and leaks from within the U.S. military.
Dozens of U.S. helicopters have come down, some hit by missiles or gunfire, in four years of fighting. But the unusually high number lost in such a short time raised questions about whether militants had changed tactics or were using more sophisticated weapons.
"There has been an ongoing effort to target our helicopters," Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad. "We have had four helicopters shot down … it appears they were all the result of some kind of ground fire."
He said the incidents were still under investigation, but in the meantime U.S. helicopters were changing the way they flew in support of Iraqi and American troops.
"Based on what we've seen, we are already adjusting our tactics and procedures in how we deploy our helicopters," Caldwell said.
An al Qaeda-backed group — the Islamic State in Iraq — on Sunday issued a video which it said showed its fighters downing a U.S. helicopter northwest of Baghdad. The crash on Friday, the latest such incident, killed the helicopter's two crew.
The video, posted on a Web site used by insurgents, showed masked militants firing on a low-flying helicopter before firing what appeared to be a missile at it.
The craft, trailing smoke, flew away as militants chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), then disappeared behind a hill. The video, which could not be authenticated, later showed billowing smoke apparently caused by the crash.
This is actually pretty straightforward. Please look at the map below:
By Quilly Mammoth, Monday, 5 February , 2007 @ 6:33 am
I addressed the same issue earlier. I have a quote from an AFP article published by Spacewar where the Iranians are bragging on their TV about a new anti-helicopter missile during a recent wargame.