ISIS: We Have Our Hands On Weapons, Ammo Air-Dropped By U.S.
Source: CBS/AP
CBS/AP October 21, 2014, 10:29 AM
In a new video posted online, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claims it has captured weapons and ammunition dropped by the U.S. military that was intended for Kurdish forces defending an embattled Syrian city near the Turkish border.
The airdrops Sunday were the first of their kind and followed weeks of U.S. and coalition airstrikes in and near Kobani.
In the video, ISIS claims some of the weapons and ammunition was air-dropped by mistake on its positions in Kobani.
A senior administration official told CBS News on Sunday that the majority - but not necessarily all - of the bundles dropped by U.S. forces appeared to make it to their intended targets.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-we-have-our-hands-on-weapons-ammo-air-dropped-by-u-s/
a kennedy
(29,669 posts)This is just nuts.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)most air drops. Almost inescapable. Just hope the defenders of that city got majority of drop.
zonkers
(5,865 posts)happyslug
(14,779 posts)The M85 was the planned replacement for the WWII era M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun. It was lighter the the M2, shorter in size just had one little problem, no one could get it to work in combat conditions....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M85_machine_gun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Browning
In other words, the M85 were dropped on the Viet Cong for the US troops did not want them, and hopefully the Viet Cong would try to use them, fire one or two shots (reveling their position) before the gun would jam (Thus little or no damage to US position). The reliability of the M85 was legendary, soldiers that had to use one did they best to trade it in for heaver, longer but reliable M2s.
Russian were not much better, Russian stocks of Grenades were numbered starting with Zero. The number represented the delay. Each box it appears to have at least one Grenade numbered Zero, i.e. pull the pin, throw the grenade releasing the safety level, it went off. It took several officers losing their hands (and getting killed) when using such grenades in San Salvador in the 1980s before they caught on that the Zero meant Zero Delay (Most grenades have a three second delay so to get away from the tosser of the Grenade and get close to the target before going off). The Russians put such grenades in every box so soldiers had access to them to use as booby traps, they were NOT intended to be thrown. On the other hand, if a box of grenades were captured, the enemy soldiers NOT trained in that the Zero meant Zero, would try to use them and do themselves harm. Such loses would also cause other soldiers with grenade from the same box NOT to use them for fears that the Grenade would blow up in their hands. Just some "tricks" of the trade.
a GPS chip is mighty small this day and age.
Reter
(2,188 posts)n/t
malthaussen
(17,200 posts)Airdropping is not an exact science, and when the fighting lines are close, it is easy for stuff to land on the wrong side. This happens all the time. Why the stuff wasn't trucked in is anybody's guess. Is road access to the town cut off from Turkey?
-- Mal
heaven05
(18,124 posts)they must be totally surrounded. Or no one was brave enough to truck the supplies in.
iamthebandfanman
(8,127 posts)had been blocking folks from crossing their side of the border... they have claimed to have stopped that practice the last day or so tho..
malthaussen
(17,200 posts)It is interesting, though, that NATO could apparently not twist Turkey's arms enough to get road access to the city. Or perhaps we're just undergoing another bout of "the flyboys can do it all" syndrome.
-- Mal
Brigid
(17,621 posts)They weren't doing this sooner. Wonder what they thought was different now. Desperation?
BTW, CBS -- M-16's are rifles, not guns.
flamingdem
(39,313 posts)Errant palattes. This is just Isis trying to score a point, they are losing fighters and prestige there.
FSogol
(45,488 posts)PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)It wouldn't be the first time.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Ever heard the story of the Trojan Horse?
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)happyslug
(14,779 posts)First, the first box appears to have inert grenades, i.e. NOT firing mechanism and maybe even no explosives (Through the seal containers in the same box MAY contain the firing mechanism and explosives). These appear to be Training Grenades, but they may just be how they are shipped. The explosives are shipped in a separate box to be assembled by the Soldier on the front line (This is speculation on my part, but why else ship in inert grenades?).
The Second box look like Mortar Rounds, when I was in the WWII Era M2 Mortar 60 mm mortar was still in use, it used a different firing mechanism then the modern 60 mm mortar so I can NOT judge if these are 60mm or 81mm, I suspect 60mm.
The second set of Grenades look like US Issue, in sealed containers ready to be issued and used.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)have had experience. Thank you for all the info on this article.
Feral Child
(2,086 posts)oh, yes I did.
Happens with lots of airdrops. Operation Market-Garden" is a prime example of this kind of fuck-up.
They could have brought these in by helicopter and handed them out to the specific recipients, but no....
HubertHeaver
(2,522 posts)PuffedMica
(1,061 posts)No flight crew in their right minds would let a box of lose grenade bodies on their airplane.
The second box of individually packaged grenades in sealed cans is more what one would expect.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)GGJohn
(9,951 posts)In Vietnam, alot of the supplies air dropped to Firebases under attact were often dropped outside of the wire.
The USAF has gotten much better at air drops in the intevening years, but there's still going to be some that don't make it to their intented target.