Tuesday, November 03, 2015

No, it wasn't a SAM

I feel dumb just having to do this, but via John Krempasky, there is a little something to stop some of you from just being silly.

For some reason, people are nibbl'n around the edges that the Russian airliner that went down over Sinai was taken by AQ/IS terrorists who got hold of Libyan or Syrian SA-2/3/6 etc.

No. Just no. Stop. Go to other theories - this one is bunk.

There is a huge step from a manpad to a no kidding air defense long range SAM. One does not simply throw a SA-3 in the back of a Toyota pickup, drive across a nation or two, plug it in to a Honda generator, go from SAFE to ARM, press a button, and nab an airliner over at 30,000 ft going almost 450kts.

These are complicated bits of kit that the Soviets/Russians built. They take talented and well trained professionals to maintain them, must less use them in an operational environment.

They are also huge. The SA-3 is a bit over 6-meters long. That doesn't even include the deliver truck sized command truck and radar.

Anyway, John's link will bring you to the page of a Hungarian who has built a rather fun Soviet/Russian SAM simulator. Play around his place, but as some seem to be in love with the SA-2/3/6 theories, below is a no-sound video of the simulation of the SA-3 hit against the F-117 by the Serbians.

If you follow the mouse arrow, you will get an idea of the complicated nature of it all, even for those of us who used to do stuff like this for a living.

Where is the checklist anyway ...

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