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| Afghanistan |
| Taliban Chopper Trap Snags Brit Chinook |
| 2009-08-22 |
| Five years ago, Iraqi insurgents figured out that the easiest way to kill a lot of Americans, fast, was to shoot down their helicopters — especially the lumbering Chinook transports than can carry an entire platoon of 40 people. The Taliban quickly caught on. Since at least April, Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan have been trying to shoot down a British Chinook. On Wednesday, they succeeded. Luckily, no one was killed. “The incident happened after two helicopters dropped off cargo and passengers a few miles north of Sangin,” the British Ministry of Defense reported. One Chinook caught fire and made an emergency landing. The accompanying Chinook plucked the downed chopper’s crew and sped away. Later, a NATO jet bombed the Chinook’s wreckage, to prevent it falling into Taliban hands. After some investigation, the MoD attributed the shoot-down to “RPG and small-arms fire.” For years, the Brits have been short of helicopters in Afghanistan. The shortages have gotten so bad that the MoD is using unprotected, chartered civilian choppers in dangerous areas. Some of these have been shot down, and their crews killed. When the Taliban destroyed a civilian Mi-26 in southern Afghanistan in July, they issued a press release mistakenly claiming they’d killed a Chinook. While U.S. forces in Afghanistan rely more and more on aircraft for resupply, the Brits don’t have the same huge air fleets to call upon. There’s a tension in the MoD between using vulnerable choppers or sending ground convoys along Afghanistan’s IED-infested roads. Last week, British forces sortied a near-record ground convoy: 100 vehicles in a line five miles long. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #3 My understanding of the incident is that they were dropping off some SAS . They called in an airstrike to stop the technology falling into enemy hands (new model chinooks only rly available for SF's) Credit to SFSG pilots tbh . And yes , years of underfunding by successive incompetent governments looking to chop off easy money have lead to severe shortage of quality equipment across the board , under the disguise of making a 'more streamline adaptable force' . Glad I left the armed forces in the early 80's . |
| Posted by: Spolung 2009-08-22 17:10 |
| #2 Can't jam a volley of RPGs. They only need to hit once in a while to be successful for the Taliban. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-08-22 04:49 |
| #1 "For years, the Brits have been short of helicopters in Afghanistan" S.H.: "Looks like they are a bit shorter on choppers now, eh, Watson?" Dr. W.: "Holmes, how DO you do it?" |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2009-08-22 03:32 |