Wall Street Journal: Iraq’s Vital Weapon Against ISIS in Mosul
$250,000 Kornet missiles target toughest Islamic State truck bombs
AL-DAHLA, Iraq—Islamic State fighters under siege by Iraqi forces have increasingly sent explosive-packed cars and trucks barreling toward the front lines. The Iraqi military’s answer to armored vehicle bombs is a Russian-made antitank missile mounted atop an American-made Humvee.
The successful use of the Kornet missiles—price tag $250,000 apiece—helped clear the way for the Iraqi army’s advance on Mosul, the extremist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq.
Many weapons can disable vehicle bombs, but only the Kornet, which can penetrate 3 feet of metal, can stop an armored vehicle bomb, Iraqi military commanders said.
The laser-guided missiles, introduced by Russia in 1994 as an antitank weapon, can be launched from more than 3 miles away.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: Since the start of the Mosul campaign this WSJ report is claiming that over 100 truck bombs have been stopped by this missile system. With suicide bombers now being the weapon of choice for the Islamic State .... The Islamic State Has Launched Over 100 Suicide Bombers To Defend Mosul Against Advancing Iraqi Forces .... I will not be surprised if this number will only increase in time.
4 comments:
Good grief, it was only a matter of time before they figured this out. The ISIS vehicles aren't all that tough. The Abrams hit was impressive, but the shooter may have got a lucky hit between the turret and hull.
The Iraqi's didn't get the Kornet until fairly recently.
Saddam only had a few, and the Iraqi Army only received the system and training on it in 2014, first deploying it in combat in 2014.
The proliferation of LOS ATGM's in Syria and Iraq has lead over time, to "evolutionary" uses of the missiles. In the ISIS/al Quida/Jihadi offensive in Ildib Province in 2014, US TOW missiles were so common in the jihadi ranks that they were used as LOS artillary against SAA fortifications.
By 2015 they were being used to try to snipe helicopters by the jihadi's, while the SAA had an influx of Kornet's and training, and were used to "off slope snipe" clusters of jihadi fighters in the open or under cover.
The numbers of LOS ATGM's has gone from being a few thousand in Iraq and Syria in 2013, to tens of thousands in 2016.
Jay,
I like your knowledge, that's always interesting. But, please, be more understandable for uneducated people as me. Your abbreviation's are Greek....at best.
LOS= line of sight,
ATGM= anti tank guided missile
Post a Comment