short range anti aircraft weapon?!

[pilatus]

does the army possess(can never spell that word ) a shortrange anti aircraft weapon?in the december/january issue of an cossantoir i was reading about the ops in liberia and this article lists the equipment used by the troops was listed and according to the article each 9man section carried 2sraaw(short range anti aircraft weapons)but they do not elaborate on what they are?what are these weapons?def not rbs70!so wat are they? '> '>

[pym]

Could you have made a mistake? SRAAW also stands for Short Range Anti Armour weapon, which I assume would be of more use in the Liberian area

[Frank]

Hi pilatus,

This is the range of anti-aircraft weapons the army posesses (in order of size / power):

GPMG (7.62mm) - Anti-aircraft mount
HMG (12.7mm / 0.5 inch) - Anti-aircraft mount
EL/70 (40mm) - Radar guided anti aircraft gun
RBS-70 - Radar targeted, laser guided surface to air missile

SRAAW is indeed an anti tank weapon.  As far as I know the army does not posess any disposable anti aircraft weapons like Stinger.


Regards,

Frank.

[Imshi-Yallah]

An Cosantors shockingly poor editing strikes again. The only time an aircraft needs to fear a Sraaw is when its parked on the ramp (ref: the Ivory Coast Airforce '> )

Stinger missiles have been actively considered in the recent past as an addition to the infantry battalion ORBAT, and would fit nicely on the PC-9 in the Anti helicopter role.

[P.Doff]

I've fired the SRAAW myself and Im sure that you could down low flying/slow moving/hovering Helis with it. It doesnt distinguish between Armour,buildings and in this case Aircraft(Heli's) as its just a point and shoot weapon.
Yes it stands for Short Range Anti Armour Weapon but in my opinion its a multi-purpose weapon. Grant it you'd have to desperate to use it as a SAM but it would get you out of a hole.

[Imshi-Yallah]

Its true that the Carl Gustav has been used to damage Helicopters in the past as has the Venerable RPG-7 series.

But the odds of a helicopter giving you a clear shot are minimal, plus most parts of most helis wouldn't be dense enough to detonate the HEAT round of a SRAAW, so it would pass straight through leaving a hole about the size of a €2 coin.
All in all unless you were up against Hinds or Apaches youve better odds with a GPMG than a SRAAW.

And at least the Carl Gustav is reloadable and more likely to be deployed far enough away to have a safe firing angle...the SRAAW is just about accurate at 300m on a good day.

[Silver]

Quote (Imshi-Yallah @ 02 May 2005,01:59)

.....and would fit nicely on the PC-9 in the Anti helicopter role.

Stinger missiles "on" the PC-9's ?

I thought Stinger missiles were only shoulder-launched '>

The Army should have Stinger missiles (or similar). They could be deployed much quick than any of their current AA guns and missile systems !

[P.Doff]

I thought Stinger missiles were only shoulder-launched .

Nope, They were and can be fitted to aircraft such as the AH-64 Apache.

[Fouga]

Lets not forget we also have or are recieving the Javelin Missile System when is anti Aircraft and Anti Tank

[Imshi-Yallah]

No more than the Milan was, it just means that if a slow target is in the air you can still aim at it and the warhead will definitely take it out but it should in no way be considered an air defence asset.

[Fouga]

well it is very advanced

[Imshi-Yallah]

Yeah as an anti tank weapon...

[Fouga]

and anti ac they would not give it 2 roles unless it was fit for them...enough said.

[FMolloy]

Good luck hitting a moving aircraft with a SRAAW.

[GoneToTheCanner]

Hi,Imshi et al,
I would venture to suggest that if an anti-armour weapon such as the SRAAW struck a helicopter, it would have no trouble finding solid enough material to detonate against.A typical helicopter has enough rigid aluminium or steel in it's structure, such as doors, fuel tanks, struts, control rods, rotors, masts,skids,pylons,etc to set off the sensitive fuses on such weapons.Helicopters don't really have a whole lot of dead space to absorb strikes from small arms rounds, let alone anything bigger.As for a hole the diameter of a 2-euro coin,I disagree. Whilst the copper core of a HEAT round might make a small-ish hole, the 3 to 4 inch diameter of a modern round would punch a considerable hole in any aircraft, even in the instant it takes for the round to detonate, not to mention the effect of blast and the kinetic energy expended.Helicopters, by their nature, are quite vulnerable to the effects of even light-weight fire.As Vietnam and Afghanistan showed,helicopters can be downed with low-tech weapons handled by poorly-trained footsoldiers.An example would be the loss of one of the Blackhawks in the Somalia conflict. It had it's tail-rotor shot off by a chance RPG shot and was doomed in an instant.Even such helicopters as the Mi24 and Apache are vulnerable, if less so than their predecessors.The US Army had many Apaches rendered unfit to fly by hits from 12.7 and 23mm rounds in the Gulf Wars.They were not written off because the rugged construction of the rotors and redundancy in the control systems enabled them to fly clear of the immediate battle area and be retrieved.They are not perfect helicopters, just better than what went before.
regards
GttC