short range anti aircraft weapon?!

[Fouga]

was on the Javelin web site today and shows 5 piccies 2 of which show our boys with the weapon system

[Fouga]

and this one

[Imshi-Yallah]

GTTC: Rigid aluminium wouldnt do it, you'd need something at least as dense as steel and more than 4mm thick to have a hope of detonating the warhead.
I have seen the diameter of the entry hole for detonated heatrounds and I can assure you it is the size of a €2 coin.

The RPGs used in Somalia and A-Stan were modified with a simple timed HE warhead that detonated after a set flightime, they did their damage via fragmentation not direct penetration.
HMGs and 23mm guns are far superior anti aircraft weapons to RCLs and ATGMs.

@Fouga: Firstly they would bill it as something its not, secondly the Javelin has no specific anti air capacity other than it can lock onto targets that are above ground level.
Even if you managed to switch from the default top attack mode and fire the missile at a target that was visible and slow enough you'd have extremely poor odds of getting a kill.
On the other hand as GTTC has helpfully pointed out, Heavy calibre and small arms fire are massively effective against even armoured aircraft and a whole lot cheaper than a Javelin round.
Which is precisely why the Javelin has no anti-aircraft role in the Defence Forces.

[pilatus]

thanks all!i thought it was most likely an error in the article!but for missions abroad no matter the threat from aircraft there should be shoulder launched weapons(dedicated not anti tank)available for use!i was reading in ireland on sunday about army ops in the congo in the 50's and it mentions that the irish army shot down a jet fighter!i never heard of this before!??does anybody know what type it was?im thinking along the lines of an L29delfin or one of the old sukhoi types? '>

[Fouga]

Ok son thats grand. Just dont go to the ends of the earth to prove a point.

[pilatus]

thanks all!i thought it was most likely an error in the article!but for missions abroad no matter the threat from aircraft there should be shoulder launched weapons(dedicated not anti tank)available for use!i was reading in ireland on sunday about army ops in the congo in the 50's and it mentions that the irish army shot down a jet fighter!i never heard of this before!??does anybody know what type it was?im thinking along the lines of an L29delfin or one of the old sukhoi types? '>

[Lurk]

Hey, Fouga, no way are they going to fire in that photo! They would have a claim because they have no ear defenders!

[sealion]

Quote (Fouga @ 03 May 2005,13:53)

Ok son thats grand. Just dont go to the ends of the earth to prove a point.

Son? What age are you again? The man tries to educate you and thats the thanks he gets? '>

[Imshi-Yallah]

Quote (pilatus @ 03 May 2005,05:08)

thanks all!i thought it was most likely an error in the article!but for missions abroad no matter the threat from aircraft there should be shoulder launched weapons(dedicated not anti tank)available for use!i was reading in ireland on sunday about army ops in the congo in the 50's and it mentions that the irish army shot down a jet fighter!i never heard of this before!??does anybody know what type it was?im thinking along the lines of an L29delfin or one of the old sukhoi types? '>

News to me the only enemy airpower I ever heard of was one Fouga Magister flown by a deranged Belgian mercenary which I never heard of getting shot down.
Especially since we had Canberras and J29s on our side.

[GoneToTheCanner]

hello all
With regard to the earlier point about the destructive effect of HEAT rounds, I agree that such a round produces a coin-sized hole in armour, but I doubt if that would be the case againt thin-skinned aluminium aircraft.Also, I am led to believe that an RPG round will self-destruct after a flight of greater than 1200metres if it hasn't struck a solid object.This applies to many such weapons,including our own lot's Gustav 84.
Regarding the "deranged" Mercenary pilot, he was no drooling idiot because he wrote an autobiography after the Congo campaign and gave account of attacking the Irish forces in the Fouga, as well as flying a B-26 bomber.The Fouga was feared by the Irish, who were highly fed up with it's regular bombing and strafing and their seeming inability to retaliate against it.All of this is recounted in Raymond Smith's book, "The fighting Irish in the Congo", published by Lilmac,1962.
regards
GttC