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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cosmicforce who wrote (95201)	11/11/2008 11:08:09 AM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541900

The Stingers that we haven't recovered are for the most part inoperable. Without maintenance, and parts, they can't be used reliably and probably not at all. "But the threat is real. Sort of. While there are thousands of these missiles out there on the blackmarket, nearly all of them are older models, and many are believed to be inoperable. For example, when the U.S. returned to Afghanistan in 2001, there was an effort to recover Stinger portable anti-aircraft missiles left behind in the 1980s. Some 2,000 of these missiles were given out in the 1980s, to Afghans fighting Russian invaders. Most of the missiles were not used, and most were stolen, instead of being returned to American control. More for political reasons, than practical ones, the effort to recover unused Stingers continues. The batteries died over a decade ago, and the rocket propellant has gone bad as well. Moreover, you cannot just get some geek to cobble together new batteries. The "Stinger battery" also contains cooling elements that make the missile seeker work (by allowing it to pick up the hot exhaust of a jet engine.) The rocket motor is only good for 15 years (after that it will start to degrade and give erratic performance.) Replacing the rocket motor is even more difficult that trying to rig replacement batteries. In other words, those 1980s era Stingers are useless unless you replace most of the components. All portable anti-aircraft missiles have similar problems. The real danger is from Russian SA-7 portable anti-aircraft missiles. Not as capable as the Stinger, there are still lots of Sa-7s available, many of recent manufacture and with good batteries. Several have been fired in Iraq recently, although without bringing down anything. In Afghanistan, there are lots of small aircraft and helicopters flying around that are very vulnerable to an old-tech missile like the Sa-7. " strategypage.com