The FAS has acquired, via a Freedom of Information Act request, additional information about a cache of "22 surface-to-air missiles" discovered by Coalition Forces north of Baghdad on 4 January 2006. According to the responsive document - aredacted entry from a database maintained by Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I) - the missiles were SA-13 "Gopher" surface-to-air missiles. The SA-13 is a short-range, low altitude, infra-red seeking missile that is typically launched from a pedestal mounted on the back of an armored vehicle. The weapons cache, which included 5000 rounds of 32 mm cannon ammunition, was located with a mine detector and appeared at the time to have been "emplaced in the last 2 weeks." It is unclear from the DoD documents if the missiles were operational or who they belonged to.
Image: An SA-13 TELAR (Transporter Erector Launcher and Radar)
For more information:
"Soldiers seize, destroy weapons caches," MNF-I Press Release, 7 January 2006.
"Iraq's Looted Arms Depots: What the GAO Didn't Mention," FAS Strategic Security Blog, 9 April 2007.
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Comments: 1
Shortly after our illegal invasion, I read a very interesting blog. I was able to retrieve it once at a later date, but have been unable to do so since. In it, the author described how Saddam had prepared for this since 1991. He knew that we'd be back, and he knew that he was not going to be able to fend off the invasion with a conventional military, since that had been destroyed in the Gulf war.
Instead, he took a page from Russia's efforts against Germany in WWII, by training for asymetrical warfare, incorporating guerrilla tactics that took advantage of large weapons caches scattered throughout the country.
According to this blogger, Saddam placed these caches 10 miles apart, so that his forces could always have one within close proximity. Most of them contained convential weaponry, such as AK's, grenade launchers, and explosives materials. Some, I believe it was 20-25%, also contained very sophisticated, shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles.
The interesting thing about this particular blog, other than the above-described points, was that it was published right at the beginning of the IED attacks. At the time, the media and the administration were calling these "suicide attacks," and insinuating that they were random, isolated, and would not be a permanent threat.
Instead, according to the blogger, these were calculated, precise, remotely-controlled detonations that relied upon the training and expertise of the republican guard members whom Saddam had trained for the previous years specifically for this role.
With regard to the anti-aircraft arsenals, the blogger mentioned that, in the coming months, we would begin to see large numbers of US helicopters taken down, as these Soviet-made weapons became uncovered and put into use by the "insurgents."
He also said that we would see increasingly frequent and more sophisticated roadside bombs, as these elite forces became more organized and efficient.
I wish to hell I'd have cached that site, because virtually everything that this person wrote has turned out to be true. I'd love to see what he's got to say right now, if he's still around.