Spoetnik
07-02-05, 11:54
Clue on RAF crash missile
07feb05
THE RAF Hercules transport plane that crashed in Iraq killing Australian Paul Pardoel was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile that insurgents obtained from Iran.
Military accident investigators believe the Special Forces plane was hit when at least six heatseeking SA-18 missiles were fired at it.
The multiple firing of the one metre long missiles that travel twice the speed of sound would have confused the plane's defences.
The defences would normally have been able to fire hundreds of small
flares to confuse incoming missiles, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Britain's Ministry of Defence last night was unwilling to talk about what caused the deaths of nine RAF men and a specialist army signaller when the Hercules was shot down on Sunday last week near the town of Taki, 30km northwest of Baghdad.
But first indications from investigators suggest that a new variant of the Russian-made SA-18, a shoulder-launched missile with a range of 6km, was used.
A suggestion that a faulty anti-tank shell exploded on board was being discounted by military sources last night.
A spokesman said: "A board of inquiry has started into the full circumstances of the crash."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12169265%5E663,00.html
Het geef-Iran-overal-de-schuld-van spelletje is nu in alle hevigheid begonnen.
07feb05
THE RAF Hercules transport plane that crashed in Iraq killing Australian Paul Pardoel was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile that insurgents obtained from Iran.
Military accident investigators believe the Special Forces plane was hit when at least six heatseeking SA-18 missiles were fired at it.
The multiple firing of the one metre long missiles that travel twice the speed of sound would have confused the plane's defences.
The defences would normally have been able to fire hundreds of small
flares to confuse incoming missiles, according to the Mail on Sunday.
Britain's Ministry of Defence last night was unwilling to talk about what caused the deaths of nine RAF men and a specialist army signaller when the Hercules was shot down on Sunday last week near the town of Taki, 30km northwest of Baghdad.
But first indications from investigators suggest that a new variant of the Russian-made SA-18, a shoulder-launched missile with a range of 6km, was used.
A suggestion that a faulty anti-tank shell exploded on board was being discounted by military sources last night.
A spokesman said: "A board of inquiry has started into the full circumstances of the crash."
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12169265%5E663,00.html
Het geef-Iran-overal-de-schuld-van spelletje is nu in alle hevigheid begonnen.