Thursday, July 7th, 2005
Bruce Duffy: TO THOSE WHO KNOW HER, her name is Stinger. Not, you will note, the Stinger, but simply Stinger, hellfire divinity with her own proper name. Stinger, equal to the swiftest, armored jet or helicopter, to say nothing of those winged bombs, commercial jets. Stinger the singer: Smelling heat, her infrared seeker hits the high note, dreeeeeeeee. Lock on. Pull the trigger and behold a 500-story rush, a slithering white star, packing — at near Mach 2 — all the kinetic energy of a hurtling automobile, followed by the fireball of a half kilo of pure C4 explosive.
The Central Intelligence Agency gave 1,000 Stinger missiles to the mujahideen to fight the Soviets in the 1980’s. As E Rob points out, it is much more likely that the Taliban used one of these US supplied Stinger missiles to shoot down the US military helicopter in Afghanistan last week rather than a rocket powered grenade (RPG).
The RPG is used primarily to defeat armored vehicles and reinforced firing positions. The weapon has rudimentary targeting capabilities and limited accuracy. Weeks of proper training is needed to use RPG effectively against moving vehicles or against distant targets. The RPG was never intended as an anti-aircraft weapon. Shooting down a helicopter with RPG requires a direct hit and calls for considerable skill and experience.
