By Robert Burns
The Associated Press, 08 February 2007
WASHINGTON - A string of recent shootdowns of Army and contractor helicopters in Iraq signals a new and troubling "intensity of effort" by insurgents, the commandant of the Marine Corps said Thursday.
Gen. James Conway said the Marines do not believe that one of their CH-46 troop transport helicopters that crashed in Anbar province, east of Fallujah, on Wednesday was shot down. He did not elaborate, but other military officials said early indications were that the CH-46 loss was due to mechanical failure.
An Iraqi air force officer on Wednesday said the CH-46 had been shot down. Five Marines and two Navy medics were killed in the crash.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House committee on Wednesday that three Army helicopters and a private contractor helicopter that crashed in recent weeks were all shot down by ground fire, not missiles.
Conway, speaking to a gathering of government executives at a Washington hotel, said Marine troop transports generally fly at an altitude that puts them out of range of small arms fire from the ground, and he said they have special equipment on board that enables them to avoid being hit by the SA-7 that is the most frequently seen anti-aircraft missile among the insurgents. "We've had lots of SA-7s shot at us," he said.
"More troubling is the appearance of SA-16s and SA-18s," Conway said, referring to more modern, portable anti-aircraft missiles. The SA-16, which is an improved version of the SA-18, uses a more advanced infrared guidance system and is effective at altitudes of up to about 10,000 feet.
He said it was not clear whether the SA-16s and SA-18s that are now appearing had been stored in bunkers from
Saddam Hussein's regime and overlooked by U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, or are being brought into Iraq from neighboring countries.
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Citation: Robert Burns. "Insurgents targeting U.S. helicopters," The Associated Press, 08 February 2007.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070208/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_us_helicopters
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