Wow...

Yeah and if you thought being hassled by a gormless PCSO was bad... the Amerikans will respond with SWAT every time...

Meh
 
I don't really know quite what it is that they perceive these "terrorist recon troops" are actually going to achieve.

You don't need photos, you just (theoretically) need a flight list, perhaps an airband radio and to know that as long as you are within 3700m (perhaps a slightly raised vantage point would be best, clear of any obstructions like trees or powerlines) and the target hasn't achieve 1500m of altitude, your Strela-2 will do the job thanks to the Kolomna Machine-Building Design Bureau.

Notice how none of the above, theoretical, equipment list includes any kind of photography equipment at all.
 
I don't really know quite what it is that they perceive these "terrorist recon troops" are actually going to achieve.

You don't need photos, you just (theoretically) need a flight list, perhaps an airband radio and to know that as long as you are within 3700m (perhaps a slightly raised vantage point would be best, clear of any obstructions like trees or powerlines) and the target hasn't achieve 1500m of altitude, your Strela-2 will do the job thanks to the Kolomna Machine-Building Design Bureau.

Notice how none of the above, theoretical, equipment list includes any kind of photography equipment at all.

I once had a fun chat with some RAF Regiment chappies who said that the easiest way to knock down an aircraft was on take-off as it's massively heavy due to all the fuel... Anywhere within about 5km of the end of the runway will do if you have access to late Soviet-era MANPAD equipment.
If you draw an expanding triangle off the end of Heathrow's runways at about 30 degrees, you'll immediately see there are literally hundreds of potential firing-points, almost none of which can be monitored all the time.

Failing that, take it down as it's coming in on final approach - the low speed and low altitude makes emergency maneouvere extremely difficult if the aircraft experiences sudden power-loss - as it would with a five-pound warhead exploding next to one of its engines...

The biggest problem facing would-be terrorists is that nearly all of that old kit relied on specialist batteries which only had a few years' shelf-life.
Once they're dead, they're dead, no matter what you might have seen on 'Sleeper-Cell'...

We get lots being handed-in over in Afghan for cash-money once the owners realise that they cannot be reactivated and sold to the Taleban.
 
I once had a fun chat with some RAF Regiment chappies who said that the easiest way to knock down an aircraft was on take-off as it's massively heavy due to all the fuel... Anywhere within about 5km of the end of the runway will do if you have access to late Soviet-era MANPAD equipment.

I typed MANPAD into Ebay but got nowt. Where do I go now?
 
The biggest problem facing would-be terrorists is that nearly all of that old kit relied on specialist batteries which only had a few years' shelf-life.
Once they're dead, they're dead, no matter what you might have seen on 'Sleeper-Cell'...

Pop down to Radio Shack (Islamabad branch) and pick up some 9B17 batteries - thats what you need.

Available from Radio Shack and all good former-Soviet supply depots :wave:

In case you have trouble finding it on the shelf, it looks like this:

http://en.valka.cz/attachments/6928/001_NZ.jpg
 
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I once had a fun chat with some RAF Regiment chappies who said that the easiest way to knock down an aircraft was on take-off as it's massively heavy due to all the fuel... Anywhere within about 5km of the end of the runway will do if you have access to late Soviet-era MANPAD equipment.
If you draw an expanding triangle off the end of Heathrow's runways at about 30 degrees, you'll immediately see there are literally hundreds of potential firing-points, almost none of which can be monitored all the time.

Failing that, take it down as it's coming in on final approach - the low speed and low altitude makes emergency maneouvere extremely difficult if the aircraft experiences sudden power-loss - as it would with a five-pound warhead exploding next to one of its engines...

The biggest problem facing would-be terrorists is that nearly all of that old kit relied on specialist batteries which only had a few years' shelf-life.
Once they're dead, they're dead, no matter what you might have seen on 'Sleeper-Cell'...

We get lots being handed-in over in Afghan for cash-money once the owners realise that they cannot be reactivated and sold to the Taleban.

I was going to reply along the lines of small arms fire, but I'm guessing GCHQ is currently monitoring this terrorist cell thread... ;)
 
I was going to reply along the lines of small arms fire, but I'm guessing GCHQ is currently monitoring this terrorist cell thread... ;)

Yup, got their ears on and everything... in between watching video taped episodes of "terrorists do the funniest things".

My favourite clip is the one where they are all dying of radiation poisoning after badly handling fissionable material.

I laugh like drain! :clap:
 
Surely the guy in the poster is a terrorist, would a photographer not have the lens pressed against the wire fence, to help eliminate focus issues :lol:
 
Yup, got their ears on and everything... in between watching video taped episodes of "terrorists do the funniest things".

My favourite clip is the one where they are all dying of radiation poisoning after badly handling fissionable material.

I laugh like drain! :clap:

My personal fave is the mortar-guy in Iraq who has a premature detonation in the tube...he gets three or four rounds off while the boys are all chanting 'Allah-u-Akhbar', then boom - bits of Jihadii all over the compound...

I howled...

Obviously Terry isn't au-fait with ebay or Radio Shack...or...perish the thought, the bosses aren't being quite as forthcoming about the MANPAD threat...

Maybe those mysterious CH-47 crashes aren't as mysterious as we've been told?

Nahhhh...they wouldn't be lying about the threat to 'our boys' would they?
 
No...we gave them away - they're definitely FUBAR'd by now, else we'd have lost a lot more cabs...
 
seemed like a good idea at the time i bet.. :D

It was - they dropped loads of Hips and Hinds and pretty much crushed the Soviets' capability to operate with impunity...
Morale went through the floor and the infantry had to resort to being cabbed-around in trucks (cheaper), which were even easier to interdict.
 
It was - they dropped loads of Hips and Hinds and pretty much crushed the Soviets' capability to operate with impunity...
Morale went through the floor and the infantry had to resort to being cabbed-around in trucks (cheaper), which were even easier to interdict.

good point, i wouldnt want to come face to face with a hind.. :gag:
 
Would you like the essay on the over-exageration of the effectiveness of Stinger missiles to the terrorists scum, oh sorry, brave Afgani freedom fighters.... perhaps not, this is a photography forum ;-)

But the executive summary is that the effectiveness was massively overblown to support (other) CIA funding requests. :D

Re missing C47's... actually a Strela-2 is not effective against anything with counter-measures (eg co-pilot holding a lighted Zippo out the window). Wouldn't hit a C47... would hit a civvie jet out of Stanstead though...
 
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