MANPADS

Man Portable Air Defence Systems

Erik Forsman UNHAS Somalia Apr-15 1

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• Operating at 6,500 meters

• Hit by an anti-aircraft missile

• 6 out of 8 crew survived

• 3 days later –MH17 was downed in the same region

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Two SA-7 missiles were fired at a departing Arkia B-757, at 500 ft the crew felt a light hit and the aircraft begins to shake. They tought it was a birdstrike until they observed the vapor trails not far off his port wing. Aircraft continued and landed safely at Tel Aviv. First attack on civilian airliner outside a conflict zone.

In 2002 there was a combined attack on a hotel and an Israeli aircraft departing Mombasa

“The Mombasa attack”

Capt . Rafi Marik

Due to both attacks the tourist industry suffered badly, and it took around 4 years for it to recover.

Departed RWY 034

Aircraft departed Mogadishu at 1400 on 23 March 2007 with destination Djibouti and then Minsk in Belorussia. This while the battle of Mogadishu was in full swing.

According to Somali Interior Minister Mohamed Mahamud Guled, as soon as it reached 10,000 feet (3,000 m) altitude, the pilot reported a problem in engine number two, stating that he would turn back to the airport

Returning to the airport for an emergency landing when one wing exploded, separated from the aircraft and fell into the Indian Ocean, while the rest of the plane continued, on fire, along the beach at a low altitude before crashing.

There are also allegations the aircraft was shot down. Claimed to be done by using two Russian SA-18 missiles transferred from Eritrea to Al Shabaab in Somalia.

No proper investigation has ever been done.

No attacks on Civil aircrafts has been reported after this one

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The MANPADS Threat

• Shoulder carried, light weight• Widely spread, affordable, easy-to-use, difficult to counter• Very little reaction time (about 3-7 seconds)• Estimated MANPADS in hands of ‘’none-state’’ organizations

5,000 up to 150,000• 23 different models from 11 producing countries• The fall of the Kaddafi regime in Libya has left thousands of

MANPADS unaccounted for. Lately some of those have surfaced in Gaza, Palestine.

• The Syrian conflict has put even more MANPADS in the hands of ‘’non-state’’ actors.

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“MANPADS Attacks on Civilian aircrafts since 1975”

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“UNHAS Operations in 2012”

The Vision ‘To allow the humanitarian community to access fragile and vulnerable populations in remote and insecure locations by providing sustainable and reliable air transport services in times of emergency’

AfghanistanChadCARDRCEthiopiaMaliMauritaniaNigerSomaliaKenyaSouth SudanSudanYemen

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command line of sight CLOS Command line-of-sight MANPADS are guided to their targets through the use of a remote control

Three general types of MANPADS

U.K. Javelin U.K. BLOWPIPE

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laser guided

Laser-guided or laser beam rider MANPADS follows a laser beam projected onto the target.

U.K. STARSTREAKSwedish RBS-70

Three general types of MANPADS

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Three general types of MANPADS

infra-red seekersThe most common MANPADS, however, are infrared seekers, which home in on the heat of an aircraft’s engine.

S.A 18STINGER

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MANPADS – The background

Development started in Germany during WW 2 but never reached mass production

The Soviets were experimenting with multiple rocket launchers, but it was abandoned in favor of guided missiles with Infra Red sensors

The first missiles developed in the 1960s were Infra Red missiles such as the U.S. Stinger and the Soviet SA-7. Commonly considered ‘’Tail Chasers’’

German WW 2 ‘’Fliegerfaust’’ American ‘’Redeye’’12

MANPADS – The background

Second generation Infrared missiles uses improved coolant to cool the IR head and filter out most interfering background IR sources as well as permitting head on and side engagement profiles. The U.S. Stinger, Soviet SA-14 and Chinese FN-6 are typical examples of those.

A third generation is already in use, with even more improved detectors, and also with the ability to detect and avoid flares. Examples of those are the French ‘’Mistral’’ , Russian SA-18 and the U.S. ‘’Stinger B’’

Chinese FN-6 Russian SA-18 French Mistral

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“SA-7b Grail – By far the most common type”

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Infra Red signatures

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What the missile S.A 7 IR seekers home in on

FIRST GENERATION

SECOND GENERATION COOLED16

Risk Envelope for the typical MANPAD

For the common SA-7 max range is 4,2 km and max altitude is 7000 ft

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Risk Envelope for the typical MANPAD

Risk envelope around a civilian airport without any mitigating measures taken. A total area of 800 square kilometers. 18

“MANPADS”

Mitigation options against IR threat:

Reduce the aircraft’s EO/IR emissivity

- Suppress engine IR signature (duct turning, shrouds, thermal barriers)- Use neutral, flat paints and/or low-IR paint.

Considerations:ENTIRELY passive, not very expensive,Reducing engine’s IR signature may reduce performance

Typically a Military option

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LAUNCH DETECTION SENSORS and FLARES

Launch detector

Flares

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• SAAB CAMPS • Installed in 2011 on an WFP UNHAS aircraft used in Iraq.

• This system is approved for civilian aircrafts.

• Requires minimal crew interaction.

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“Mitigation measures to be considered”

Spiral approaches/departures

Establish approach/departure paths over safe areas

Missile launched Detection System

Close cooperation and communication with security organs

Secure the areas close to airports

Flares and detectors

Stay on altitude as much as possible

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• The picture is showing Al Shabaab fighters in Somalia with MANPADS

• It does not show the serviceability of the MANPADS

• Experts closely studying picture claims some pictured are not serviceable

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Which one of these weapons pictured is a MANPAD?

Answer, none of them

Do not ignore the RPG. It can have the range of 500-600 meters and has been used against helis and aircrafts

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On 9 March 2007, a Transaviaexport Ilyushin Il-76TD, registration EW-78826, that was about to complete an Entebbe–Mogadishu flight carrying Ugandan peacekeepers and equipment, made a successful emergency landing at Mogadishu International Airport after having been struck by a rocket propelled grenade and catching fire on approach to the airport. The rocket had apparently been fired from a boat while the plane passed over it at a height of 150 meters (490 ft)

EW-78826 at Mogadishu in 2010

The second IL-76 from same company that was pictured earlier and crashed upon departure some 2 weeks later was carrying engineers and spares to repair or cannibalize this one for spares.

MINSK, March 14 (RIA Novosti) - Galaxy AIR FCZ, a UAE air freight company, has been ordered to pay Belarusian airline Transaviaexport over $1 million for damage caused to a cargo plane in war-torn Somalia in March 2007.A Minsk court found that Galaxy Air FCZ violated the leasing contract with Belarus by sending the plane into a combat zone without warning Minsk and was, therefore, liable for damage to the freighter.

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Arms control agreements‘’Buy Back Programs’’Sting operationsBorder control

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• Threat• MANPADS are cheap, widely proliferated, easy to use and

conceal, and potentially lethal to all classes of aircraft

• Mitigation Options• No single-point solution• Menu of options which are situationally driven

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• Three Basic Types• Infrared (IR)• Command Line-of-Sight• Laser Beam Riders

• General Capabilities• Portable, reliable, inexpensive and fairly easy to use• Target detection range about 8-9 km• Engagement range about 5-6 km• Aircrafts above 20,000 feet relatively safe• Take off and landing = most vulnerable to attack• Large engagement footprint = difficult to detect on ground

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• Estimate of Military Inventories – 350,000 to 500,000

• None State Actors – 5,000 to 150,000• Reported missiles• Stingers = IR• SA-7/14/16/18s = IR• HN-5/FN-6/QW-1 (China) = IR• Blowpipe = CLOS

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• Reports of Missiles in Circulation• ‘’5,592 missiles captured in Afghanistan as of

December 2002• 4,000 – 5,000 available to Iraqi insurgents• Thousands unaccounted for in Libya• Syrian war • Yemen conflict

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• Can a flight outmaneuver a missile?• No – unless you are capable to pull 4G or

more• What is the speed of a missile?• Around 430 to 500 m/s

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• What is the lifespan of a MANPAD?• Properly stored and maintained 20 years or

more• What is also interesting is that this equipment

needs maintenance, especially the batteries and IR sensors otherwise they will not work.

• There is no indication MANPADS has been used against KDF during operation ‘’Linda nchi’’

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• What is the profile of terrorists using MANPADS?

• Generally not suicidal terrorists. They are not willing to die for the cause.

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•erik.forsman@wfp.org

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