Tactics of The Iraqi Insurgency - Attacks On Aircraft

Attacks On Aircraft

Since the beginning of November 2003 military helicopters have also been increasingly targeted. The insurgents, often concealed in palm groves, lie in wait for the helicopters and then attack the helicopter, usually from the rear. The weapons used include rocket-propelled grenades and heat-seeking shoulder fired missiles such as the SA-7, SA-14, and in one case the SA-16. Countermeasures taken by helicopter pilots, such as flying very low at a high speed, have considerably reduced the number of helicopters shot down, by reducing the time of target acquisition. Recently, the tactic of flying low has increased the vulnerability of these vehicles to .50 caliber machine gun fire. Helicopters, including Apache gunships, have been severely damaged or destroyed when multiple machine gunners have engaged helicopters at close ranges of 50-400 meters. At this range, the kinetic energy of these bullets is sufficient to penetrate the helicopter's armor.

Another new tactic used by the insurgents to bring down helicopters is the so-called "aerial IED". Basically an explosive charge designed in a way to force the blast straight up into a flight path, this new type of IED may have been responsible for the downing of several helicopters. Such tactics resemble the Vietcong tactic of placing claymore mines, remote-detonated shaped charge explosives, in jungle canopy to fire upwards as helicopters passed overhead.