Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post
Do they know how? Been watching all the video on TV and YouTube etc and to be honest have yet to see the sights being used on these vehicle mounted HMGs when fired. Also there may well be a limitation on the elevation and ease of rotation on these home made mounts which make it impossible to engage aircraft.

MANPADS. Where did they get them from?
JMA---the newer utilities they are using allows for a full swing and evaluation plus they have the heavier 14.5s with seats for the gunners---(saw in one video 23mm with gunner seats as well)---also mounted in a similar fashion.

They did shoot down several US types with the 12.7s before we left so the Mi-8 should not be a problem as it is slower at lower levels and a bigger target to shoot at----the Iraqi's do not have yet the new Russian Mi-35s which Russia was going to export to them.

The few that have been fired in Syria and shown in online videos were earlier models of Russian MANPADS which if reporting is correct is unusual as they were long past they expiration dates.