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bronco78 wrote:I have ZERO confidence in a report stating ANY country in one spot has 20,000 Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS)… I doubt the US Military has 20,000 MANPADs period, let alone in any one part of the country.
Having trained, fired, MANPADS (only drones, but still) it is not a skill, one learns from the Anarchists Cook Book.
The entire assembly wither Russian, (trained, never fired) Chinese ( seen, book trained, never touched) or US,, are not the most robust, require very controlled handling, storage and maintenance. A large portion of the round, targeting assembly, battery pak (for those that have an external pack) will be non functional.
So, the raw number is likely a mistake.
The training is likely not there
The equipment is only going to be partially working.
And Why bother,, a cartel, can buy RIGHT NOW, a MANPAD, if that is what they desire.. one of several flavors, to include US.
United States
 FIM-92 Stinger

Russia
 SA-7 GRAIL 9K32M Strela-2
 SA-14 GREMLIN 9K34 Strela-3
 SA-16 GIMLET 9K310 Igla-1
 SA-18 GROUSE 9M39 Igla

China
 HY-5
 QW-1
 QW-2
 QW-4

Europe
 Javelin
 Mistral
 RBS 70
BUT.. you know what happens if a Cartel shoots down a DEA, Customs, ANY US aircraft? With a MANPADS??? Small parts of Mexico would be leveled in days, great parts cleared with ground troops over the following months.

For that reason, a CARTEL, who can now operate with reasonable impunity and unmolested by US forces, will not make that mistake… Now a True believer terrorist? That’s a different story.

Purplehood wrote:

The Annoyed Man wrote:

Beiruty wrote:You are missing the picture. China, Pakistan, and Iran all can fab cheap SAM-7 knock-offs. China specifically will sell you anything for a dollar.
As for Libya, Islamists are now in power and they will buy whatever arms they wish, money is not an issue, and control over said arms is nil.

Yes, but that is a (near) future threat. The currently missing 20,000 missiles are an immediate problem. We cannot afford to ignore what China, Pakistan, and Iran are doing, but neither can we afford to forget about those missing missiles.

We see the Forest AND the Trees...

Beiruty wrote:You are missing the picture. China, Pakistan, and Iran all can fab cheap SAM-7 knock-offs. China specifically will sell you anything for a dollar.
As for Libya, Islamists are now in power and they will buy whatever arms they wish, money is not an issue, and control over said arms is nil.