Thursday 22 November 2012

Videos Show Complete SA-7 MANPADS Reportedly Looted From The 46th Regiment Base

As I noted in my recent article about the weapons and equipment captured from the 46th Regiment base outside of Aleppo it appears as at least 10 crates of the type used to store a variety of SA series surface to air missile systems were looted from the base by the Syrian opposition.  The ten crates in question can be seen in this video


The only crate that has been opened has a SA-16 missile tube and battery, but no visible grip-stock, a type part of the system that's required for it to be fired.  The best view of the crates they are stored in is here


And another example of this type of crate can be seen in this earlier video showing a number of SA-24 missile tubes, this specific examples showing a SA-24 Maket (mock-up) training model

Although the first picture isn't too clear you can see the have roughly the same sort of design, and this is the type of crate these surface to air missiles are transported in.  In a later video from the 46th Regiment raid we also see a truck loaded with crates, and we briefly see the end of crates that match the ones seen above


At this point I'm sure at this point you are wondering why I'm going on about the shape and design of crates.  What I want to establish is this design of crate is used to transport SA series missile system parts, as we now have this new video from the 313 Brigade featuring one of the same type of crates that contains a complete SA-7 missile system, which they claim was looted from the 46th Regiment


Here we get a good view of the contents of the crate, two missile tubes, two batteries, one on the bottom left corner and the 2nd in the middle of the bottom of the picture, and most importantly the grip-stock, absent in so many examples of these captured weapons



The Syrian opposition member in the video demonstrates how the system is put together, and shows the completed system ready to fire


Here we not only have a demonstration of how to put together a SA-7 MANPADS for other members of the Syrian opposition who might have looted SA-7s elsewhere, but evidence that at least one pair of SA-7 MANPADS that they cliam to have looted from the 46th Regiment base, and with 10 crates in those stacks, minus one containing the SA-16 system, that could mean up to 18 complete SA-7 MANPADS.

The most important thing here is the presence of the grip-stock.  Usually shipped separately they are often the key missing component from looted surface to air missile systems, but unlike the batteries they can be reused, so only one is needed to make all the missiles and batteries usable.

Related Articles
Heavy Weapons And Surface To Air Missiles Captured From The 46th Regiment Base
Video Shows Captured SA-16 And SA-24 Surface To Air Missiles
Unexploded Cluster Bomblets Repurposed As DIY Rocket Warheads
Unexploded Bombs Used In A Truck Bomb By Jabhat al-Nusra
Clear Evidence Of DIY Barrel Bombs Being Used By The Syrian Air Force
Cluster Bomb Usage Rises Significantly Across Syria


You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com


3 comments:

  1. Good work, friend. As Chivers points out, we might have seen the first confirmed and documented use of these weapons against helos today [http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/videos-from-syria-appear-to-show-first-confirmed-hit-of-aircraft-by-surface-to-air-missile/]. I tend to agree with the assessment that this (air-to-ground vs. ground-to-air war) is the wave of the future. The regime has been increasingly limited to air power (where it is being kept afloat thanks in large part to Russia) while the rebels either capture more surface-to-air weapons or are armed with them by outside factions. In an ironic twist, the MANPADS now in rebel hands in your second to last picture appear to be Russian in origin, based on the Cyrillic script printed on the case.

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    Replies
    1. I think the Cyrillic is:
      ПРИ УКЛАДКЕ
      УБЕДИТЬСЯ ЧТО СТОЙКИ

      which according to Google Translate means:
      POSE
      MAKE SURE THAT THE RACK

      So my guess is that the text is explaining how the launchers are supposed to be placed in the box.

      Delete
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