What caused the Mi-17 crash?
1. The Russian built Mi-17 is one of the world's most survivable helicopters. It has a heavily armoured skin which makes it highly resistant to sniper rifle fire and shoulder-fired heat seeking missiles – the favourite weapons of terrorists.
1. The Russian built Mi-17 is one of the world's most survivable helicopters. It has a heavily armoured skin which makes it highly resistant to sniper rifle fire and shoulder-fired heat seeking missiles – the favourite weapons of terrorists.
2. What makes Russian helicopters extremely sturdy (if not as technologically advanced as the US Apache) is due to the lessons Russia learnt from the 1979-1988 Afghan War. Initially, the Russian Army and Air Force had great success against the Mujahideen.
3. A CIA analyst observed Mi-24 gunships (different from Mi-17) would arrive early at sunrise and start strafing & rocketing the Islamic terrorists. On one occasion they killed 700 Mujahideen in 30 mins. Daily, Russians wiped out dozens of these US, UK, China-backed terrorists.
4. As the Mujahideen appeared to be losing badly, the US supplied 14.5 mm anti-aircraft guns. The Russian response was to add more armour to their choppers. This nullified the 14.5 calibre guns.
5. So the Americans supplied the Stinger shoulder-fired heat seeking missile to the Afghan terrorists which took a toll of the Russian attack helicopters. To counter this, the Russians added even more armour, and now had the world's thickest skinned choppers. Stingers lost sting
6. The Russian chopper is nearly twice the size and weight of the equivalent American model, the Bell UH-1, although it only hauls about 50 per cent more cargo. But the additional weight constitutes a thicker skin and overall more protection from small arms fire.
7. According to Strategy Page, the Mi-17’s success is due to the fact the Russians “just kept adding better engines and electronics” to the chopper’s basic frame.
8. In 2013 a Syrian Air Force Mi-17 was hit by an air-to-air missile fired by a Turkish Air Force fighter aircraft but the helicopter survived long enough for both Syrian pilots to bail out in their own airspace and avoid capture.
9. This survivability is the reason why the Pentagon paid the Russian $1.5 billion to equip the Afghan Air Force with Mi-17s. The Americans knew this was the only chopper that would survive against the Taliban's Stingers. (In 2016, I helped the US Air Force write a paper on this)
10. Bottom line is, General Rawat's Mi-17 couldn't have been brought down by AK-47s or shoulder-fired missiles as some low IQ Paxtanis are claiming. There can only be 4 possibilities: maintenance failure, sabotage, overloading, accident. Let's do this.
11. Maintenance: CAG has criticised IAF's maintenance record. Fleet availability of IAF's Russian aircraft is well below American or French analogues. Plus, Russians have a poor record of supplying spares. This has forced IAF to buy low quality grey market spares from E.Europe.
12. Sabotage 1: Did the maintenance crews include K@shmiris or Harmfuls? A retired IAF fighter pilot told me one of the crewmen at his airbase was a Harmful who did not hide his sympathies for Paxtan. Every time he and his squadron took off, they had the jitters.
13. Sabotage 2: As first Chief of Defence Staff, General Rawat was doing overhauling India's fighting forces in preparation for a collusive two front war by Pak and China. India has given a bloody nose to both. Maybe they were feeling the pressure and decided to eliminate him.
14. Overloading: In the Soviet Union, many tragic air crashes happened because the generals overloaded Air Force planes with personal goods. Pilots knew it was dangerous but they also knew it was dangerous to protest. Did something similar happen on General Rawat's trip?
15. Accident: Once you remove all the improbable scenarios, what remains, however strange, is the truth. A freak accident may well have crashed the Mi-17. Let's hope the lone survivor recovers and is able to reveal the truth.
16. Group Captain Varun Singh could well turn out to be the IAF's Tukaram Omble, although unlike Omble he may live. His hospital room must be protected 24/7 by the secret services, and no IAF personnel, politician or cop should be allowed to visit.
Ends
Ends
جاري تحميل الاقتراحات...