Strella

It's the Russian word for "arrow." It's also what they call the SA-14 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile. This is the missile that likely brought down the Chinook helicopter earlier this week and may have been what downed the Blackhawk this morning (it may have been and RPG; the final details have not been released).

Regardless. This is a devastatingly effective weapon, similar in size, shape and capability to the U.S. made "Stinger." If you're not familiar with this type of weapon, they are basically self contained missiles sealed in a tube. A grip-stock and sight with a battery are snapped onto this tube to create a complete system. When it's powered up, a soldier points the weapon at an aircraft, preferably just as it has gone by so the seeker head can "see" the infra-red signature from the engine. He then waits for the appropriate "tone" that lets him know the seeker is locked on and pulls the trigger. A small booster charge kicks the missile out of the tube to a safe distance in front of the soldier so that the rocket engine can ignite without injuring him. The missile is fast - supersonic - and agile; there is not pilot so it can maneuver at high g-loadings. The seekers on the newer missiles like the SA-14 and Stinger are very effective and can "see" through some jamming efforts.

A high-flying fighter has some chance of evading this kind of missile - if the pilot sees the launch and exhaust trail. A helicopter flying just a couple of hundred feet or less from the ground has almost no hope of evading one. Even though most combat helicopters have at minimum a "disco ball" IR jammer, they are so low to the ground, so close to the launch point of the missile that they don't help a whole lot.

The warhead on these weapons is small, but surrounded by a scored, metal canister that, along with the missile body, fragments into very sharp, very hot fragments upon detonation. If you've ever actually come in close contact with any kind of aircraft, you know that they are incredibly light and flimsy. Even though critical systems in combat aircraft are somewhat armored, the explosion and fragmentation products of a ground-to-air missile will very effectively cut through every part of the aircraft and the explosion will ignite fuel and high-pressure hydraulic fluids. I don't think I need to say much about what kind of violence this does to a human body.

So. Why all the details? Because there were so many of these weapons in Iraq; both U.S. and Soviet. And we have made some very bad enemies by our actions in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. And the borders in Iraq are so porous as to barely deserve the name. Our military didn't have the manpower when it drove through the country to secure all the ammunition depots it came upon. And it hasn't likely found all the depots there were. And, unbelievably, even all the depots that are known are not currently guarded. There just aren't enough soldiers on the ground to do so.

More importantly is this: where have all these weapons gone? Are they all still in Iraq? Still in the ME? Have any made their way into the U.S.? Are they on the way?

Despite what you may hear from our fearless leaders, you cannot protect civilian airliners from these weapons. The protective systems are expensive and heavy and require lots of training to operate. To be fully effective, the systems require that the pilot be free to VIOLENTLY maneuver the aircraft to evade the missile - assuming he has the altitude and the airspeed to do so. On a standard, civilian approach to landing, i.e. "low and slow," there just isn't that kind of latitude. And airliners are not built to withstand the stress of the kinds of combat approach to landing that you'd see C-17s and C-130s make in Baghdad.

Two words: Sitting Duck.