Canada is leasing Russian helicopters for Afghanistan.
This is a good thing (Canadian Forces have long been hampered by inadequate resources and it will take a long time to get them up to snuff -- new helicopters ordered today will arrive 2012/13) but ... Russian helicopters in Afghanistan? (in fairness, there really isn't much option -- and the feds were prudent to take leased Russian machines and used American ones to save Canadian lives -- but ... Russian helicopters in Afghanistan?)
Didn't Russian helicopters previously have some issue with Stinger missiles? And weren't those missiles supplied by Western allies, mainly the United States, to Afghan rebels who used them to shoot down Russian helicopters? And didn't America try to buy back those missiles with mixed results?
Now I support the mission in Afghanistan -- but I note the irony here. Or maybe the blowback.
Maybe, in hindsight, it wasn't so smart to arm Afghan rebels with easily hidden rockets that can shoot down nearly anything flying below 11,000 feet; leastways not if anyone was to go to war against those rebels later.
Am I the only person who watched Charlie Wilson's War and wondered if the message was somewhat mixed? Didn't that Russian pilot who got blown out of the sky sound a bit like Lt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Tom Cruise) in Topgun? Was that intentional by the director/writer?
I work with people who have served in the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan and, oddly, with a Russian whose family served there too -- they speak of the same place names and the same dangers.
Interesting Stinger article here:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/stinger.htm
HERE'S THE CTV STORY:
Canada's military will soon be getting new medium-lift helicopters and unmanned surveillance drones, Defence Minister Peter MacKay announced on Thursday.
At a press conference in Longueuil, Que., MacKay said Ottawa will lease up to six Russian-made choppers and later buy six used U.S.-made Chinook helicopters. Those choppers, manufactured by Boeing, will have the ability to transport both troops and equipment.
The short-term lease of the Russian helicopters through the Toronto-based Skylink includes a contract for civilian pilots for the choppers.
But the government did not say much about who will be piloting the helicopters that will be carrying Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, which worries the opposition.
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/abc/home/contentposting.aspx?isfa=1&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20080807%2fmckay_choppers_080807
4 comments:
The battery packs in any Stinger missle launchers the Taliban happen to have will be long dead with no replacements available. Have you seen the Taliban launch a Stinger at anything in the last few years?
Maybe do a little thing called research before posting such dribble.
oh i suspect batteries might be available to these guys
"oh i suspect batteries might be available to these guys"
Then you would be wrong. Besides, the US bought most of them back after the Russians left.
Again, that thing called research...
Here is an interesting fact that not many people know about:
Michael Pillsbury participated in President Reagan's decision in 1986 to order the CIA to arm the Afghan resistance with Stinger missiles. According to the UN Undersecretary General who negotiated the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, "Initially, the Stinger campaign was spearheaded by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Fred Ikle and his aggressive Coordinator for Afghan Affairs, Michael Pillsbury… The Stinger proponents won their victory in the face of overwhelming bureaucratic resistance that persisted until the very end of the struggle." Mann wrote, "For Michael Pillsbury, the covert operations in Afghanistan represented the fulfillment of the decade-old dream of American military cooperation with China… To help him win the argument, Pillsbury made use of his China connections." George Crile stated in Charlie Wilson's War that, "Ironically, neither [Gust] Avrakotos nor [Charlie] Wilson was directly involved in the decision and claims any credit."
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