by John Reed on March 20, 2012
Check out this footage of Syrian rebels using an antitank weapon to destroy a Syrian government fighter jet sitting just outside its hardened aircraft shelter. Yup, it looks like the rebels used an antitank missile to hit what looks like a Mig-23 Flogger (maybe it’s a Mig-29 fulcrum or Mig-25 Foxbat — it sure has a boxy shape and huge engines).
Enjoy the video after the jump, and forgive the camera man’s shaky hands.
March 20th, 2012 | Air, Around the Globe, Assymetric Warriors, Contingency Ops, Ground, Missiles, Planes, Copters, Blimps, Wars | 1669976 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F2012%2F03%2F20%2Fvideo-syrian-rebels-destroy-a-government-fighter-jet%2FVideo%3A+Syrian+Rebels+Destroy+a+Government+Fighter+Jet2012-03-20+15%3A00%3A41John+Reedhttp%3A%2F%2Fdefensetech.org%2F%3Fp%3D16699
Previous post: Are There or Aren’t there Russian Troops in Syria?
Next post: Pics of the day: The C-130 That Collided With a UAV
Defense Tech examines the intersection of technology and defense from every angle and provides analysis on what’s ahead.
{ 76 comments… read them below or add one }
It looked like they missed the target…
with what the security looks like at this Air base, they could have probably just went up to it and set it on fire.
Here you can find some additional information about the Mig-23MS hit at Abu-Dhahur airbase: http://theaviationist.com/2012/03/14/syrian-mig-2…
What kind of AT weapon is that? Forgive me but I can't place it anywhere.
It looks a lot like a Russian Kornet. Check this wiki link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M133_Kornet
If Wiki isn't to your liking try here.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russ…
Gonna have to disagree I say it looks alot like an AT-13 Saxhorn-2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT-13_Saxhorn-2
Prodzul, I have to agree with you on that. The launcher on the 9M133 sits up higher and has a different set of optics on it. I was not able to hit the reply to see what was written before I made a comment. My comment is below
I think it maybe a 9M133 Kornet ATGM (AT4) made by the Russians.
Worst. Cameraman. Ever.
That's just the raw footage. Post-production this'll look like saving private Ryan.
Agreed, but my hands might be a little shaky too if I went down the road here and fired a missile at the air force base.
Hit the HAS behind the A/C, likley damaged it …
Um not the best AB security… Looks like the PTA attacking……
No way that's a Fulcrum or Foxbat. I momentarily doubted between a MiG-23 or a MiG-21 due to the rather high lifted nose, but I think that's because of the bad quality. It has clearly one engine and what appears to be a huge tail-fin. Ergo: a MiG-23.
Are Syrian airbases so spread out or undefended that those guys could be so casual about attacking it? For the first minute, I thought they were getting ready to go fishing. I half expected one of those guys to crack open a beer with them just standing around next to their cars. The situation didn't appear to be remotely dangerous until they ran up on the bunker and a few shots rang out. And I'm not forgiving that cameraman. How hard is it to the damn thing pointed straight? I got dizzy.
I must be honest, if people can sit around and test the weapons sights beforehand without anybody noticing, I'm surprised why they don't steal the aeroplane themselves.
You could not do that at a commercial airport!
In a way it also shows the stupidity in the organisation of the rebel army too. What sort of team don't get out the car and move straight away.
I have no military training and even I wouldn't do that… not because I am being an armchair observer… but because I would be bricking it that I would be on the end of some return fire if I didn't move quickly!!!
I keep seeing this image in my head of a Syrian Air Force security type looking at these guys pulling the launcher out of the car and setting it up, and then thinking "I wonder if I should report this? Nah…").
Regards & all,
Thomas L. Nielsen
Luxembourg
Dude holding the camera must have parkinson's or something.
He's just scared S**tless. Notice how it gets shakier as the video goes on.
It's not the shaking, it's the constantly pointing down that is disorienting.
Insig is right, the guy is scared shitless and just ran up a hill for the first time since he was 12 or so. The drops are due to him looking up at the security guys and/or over at the gunner. He had the camcorder zoomed in as far as it would go and everything was compounded by the extreme zoom. I would have been scared shi***** too. The guards may be amateurs by American or European standards but they are plenty good at killing thousands of this guys fellow rebels.
wikipaedia says this: On 7 March 2012, Syrian rebels used a 9K115-2 Metis-M antitank guided missile to destroy a Syrian Air Force MiG-23MS while parked at Abu-Dhahur air base
But what is the source of the Wikipedia info?
I found the shot site on Google Earth. It is at:
35 43' 36.65"N 37 04'40.71"E
It looks like it was a 2,730 foot range shot or just over a half mile.
It looked like they missed, but I'm sure the debris from the bunker that smothered the plane and most likely got into the engines would have made it hard-down for quite a bit.
Metis-M for sure, probably Mig 23, or SU 24 given the single engine and wings. Cameramen flinched after that Metis went off, it has an incredible concussive force once fired. i have known people blow their eardrums out standing next to Metis being fired. 127-130mm rocket, not the most humane thing for the operator to use, typical soviet design.
Su-24 has 2 engines.
AT-13 Saxhorn-2 (NATO designation for the Russian 9K115-2 Metis-M Anti-tank)
torn up; many hours of repair needed … good job
Its a MiG-23 and they missed it and hit the aircraft shelter above it. while fragments of the shelter damaged the MiG i doubt its destroyed. Poor marksmanship and tactics by the rebels.
It's actually a MiG-25… As you can see in the video, the plane has 2 vertical tail fins while a MiG-23 only has 1.
It has only one tail fin, and thereby it has only one engine and I doubt this painting scheme is used at MiG-25's. So sorry, no, it is not a MiG-25, it is a MiG-23.
It takes a lot of hell to fight, as a civilian, for freedom. Particularly as untrained. (Not to take away from soldiers – just to make the point of the hell when you ARE trained let alone untrained). Shows how important FREEDOM is!!!! Should be mandatory education in American schools!
weapons in the hands of us americans? untrained? teens? duuuude
Clearly the point is to train.
The second amendment mentions militias…and we all know what militias are.
Watch the youtube for a bigger video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embed…
Pause it at 0326. To me it is quite clearly a mig23.
Way to waste a kornet. Btw that was a mig23 or a 27.
Better to kill aircraft on the ground than in the air.
Syria does not have MiG-27's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Air_Force#Air…
Regardless of what exact model of plane it is/was, what the hell was it doing sitting outside of its shelter like that virtually unguarded. As someone previously posted, our civilian airports have more security than this Syrian military airbase. Whoever is in charge of the base is a real genius or an opposition sympathizer because, why build hardened aircraft shelter when you don't bother parking your planes in them?
Are those guys unloading the missiles from the back of a new Porsche Cayenne? They are better financed than I thought!
Nevermind it's not. No idea what that car is.
Hard to say. Cars for different markets can have different lights and such.
I'm leaning towards a Kia or Hyundai, but it might even be something you don't see in America, like a European vehicle.
You're right, it's a Vera Cruz I think.
By a vera cruz I meant a Tucson……
Didn't you see the guy standing behind the missile at launch.
I think they missed
Either they missed or the it did little damage
I found the shot site on Google Earth. It is at:
35 43' 36.65"N 37 04'40.71"E
It looks like it was a 2,730 foot range shot or just over a half mile.
I guess it's gadaffi stock pilled, looted then smuggled a long way, through several countries to end up in the rebels hands, totally untrained and out there doing their best, I take my hat off them, and hope they get the opertunity to come back and do it again.
and again until they get their freedom,,
gadafi's goodies went to Iran, Hamas and Hezb'Allah, who are allies of Assad.
Likely the Syrian rebels are using local Syrian stocks either stolen or liberated by defectors.
btw "get their freedom" for many of these guys equals imposing a muslim theocracy and oppressing women and religious minorities
quote: "gadafi's goodies went to Iran…"
What goodies?
All those weapons Ghaddafi was stockpiling and that now are frantically being passed around the Middle East. High-end Russian tech costs a pretty penny…..
and these are the same gents who have sold loads of gear to their Hezbo and Hamas cousins and yet we all root for them and label them friends yeh right.
No, the Assad regime supports Hezb'Allah and Hamas. These guys are against Assad. However, many of the rebels seem to be allied with the muslim brotherhood, which is not so good for the long term prospects if you want democracy or freedom.
The rebels sold no such gear to those political groups, the rebels themslves are very low on any type of weapon, in fact, those groups you mentioned are allies of the Syrian government, which are the ones these rebels are fighting against. It's amazing how you could post such a rediculous comment.
Hell yes, I root for them and anybody else fighting for their freedom just as we did in our American Revolution. Extremely important we support them. Actually in the long run for OUR survival
LOL. Those aren't freedom fighters; they are NATO/US armed thugs doing it for money. It's the same script used on Libya. It's geopolitical game for land grab and control of oil fields.
The real freedom fighters are those protesters in the Occupy movement, like Occupy Wall Street.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The above quote is a perfect fit for the vast majority of Americans today.
Did you really just call “Occupy Wall Street” freedom fighters? You know they quit their jobs so they could protest being jobless?
Let me guess … You got that from some presstitutes on FOX, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC or CNBC???
You left MSLSD (MSNBC) off of your list. Are they to be considered truthful, then?
Hay passingby by your own analogy I guess that makes you and all the OWS people communist propagandized thugs doing it for Carl Marx, because all you want is more government handouts given to you off the backs of the real hard working people in the U.S. It's the same script used on China, Cuba and North Korea. It's geopolitical game for land grab and control of peoples personal freedom. You like quotes here is one for ya from me:
“No armed man will be enslaved, for if the enslaver makes the attempt he will feel no more, as the expanding lead exits his cranial cavity releasing his gray matter from the confines’ of his skull.” Bentson12 Chapter 6 Verse 19
LOL. To summarize your post: BS
which guy was nato? …..oya….none had military training or they would have taken some cover instead of standing on a hill so as to be in the most easily seen position.
If they were "fighting for their freedom just as we did" then I would agree.
You should understand that "Freedom" to the jihadi types means the ability to put in a muslim theocracy, or at least a consitution based on the Koran, and oppress women and minorities. While some Syrians want American style freedom, as we saw in Egypt the muslim brotherhood types have the numbers, money, and power.
We are better off supporting the rebels just enough so they can be a nasty thorn in Assad's side, since Assad is allies with Iran. But if these guys actually win the long term outcome is not going to be freedom or democracy and apple pie. They will probably ethnically cleanse the alawites and shiites first…
Looks like they missed the A/C to me and no it isn't a MIG-25.
Worst camera man EVER. Really take that camera away and kick him in the dick
Meh. It's only a MIG-23.
It is very hard to confuse mig 29 or 25 with a single tale swing wing 23.
Also they could have hit it with a rock from that distance, or with a mortar right across the hill, without even being seen.
I think is was much farther that it seems in the video since the camera was on zoom.
syrian rebels with an anti tank weapon carried around in their, wait for it, porsche 4 wheel drive…are these the wealthiest rebels in the middle east??!!
If you desire to obtain a good deal from this paragraph then
you have to apply these techniques to your won weblog.
I do not even know the way I finished up right here, but
I assumed this submit used to be great. I do not recognise
who you are however certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger should you are not already. Cheers!
Direct hit into the planes most difficult and expensive to repair compartment, the cockpit. Professionally done, special forces type.
of course not. can't you recognize the "NBC" in "MSNBC"? both belong to the same owner
passingintoinsanity gets all his news from YouTube. Go figure?…..