Afghanistan Watch: Reports of first surface-to-air missile attack in Afghanistan

July 30, 2007

Reports of first surface-to-air missile attack in Afghanistan

One of the nightmares that keep Western planners up at night is the possibility that insurgents might get a hold of some MANPADS (Man-portable air defense systems). The most prominently discussed is the Stinger missile -- after all, many of the missiles the US provided to mujahideen for use against the Soviets have never been accounted for -- but there are plenty of Russian built surface-to-air missiles floating around that could prove disastrous in the wrong hands. Until this week, the threat of shoulder-launched missiles was the dog that hasn't barked.

Then on Sunday a C-130 transport plane was reportedly attacked in Nimroz province with a surface-to-air missile. NATO will neither confirm nor deny the incident, but the London Telegraph (by way of the Washington Times) reports that "The crew reported that a missile system locked on to their aircraft and that a missile was fired. It closed in on the large C-130, pursuing it as the pilots made a series of violent evasive maneuvers and jettisoned flares to confuse the heat sensors in the nose of the surface-to-air missile, or SAM." The article continues: "The C-130 attacked in Nimroz was flying at 11,000 feet at the time of the attack, which is within the 1.5- to 3.4-mile range of a shoulder-launched missile system such as the SAM-7."

The million dollar question is whether this will prove an isolated incident, or the start of a trend. Speculation has begun as to where these weapons are coming from; apparently there was a SAM-7 among the arms that was intercepted along the Iran border in April.

Taliban's failed first use of SAM still worrisome KABUL, July 29 (Washington Post/LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH): Taliban militants used a heat-seeking, surface-to-air missile to attack a Western aircraft over Afghanistan for the first time last week, coalition military sources say. The attack with a weapon thought to have been smuggled across the border with Iran represents a worrisome increase in the capability of the militants that Western commanders had long feared.

Photo: DOD: An Afghan Mujahideen demonstrates positioning of a hand-held surface-to-air missile. 26 Aug 1988

Posted by Carl Robichaud on July 30, 2007 at 12:29 PM in Iran, ISAF / NATO, Pakistan, Security, Taliban, U.S. Policy | Permalink