Somali Pirates Got Stingers?

by Robert Koehler on May 19, 2009

Wonderful — South Korea naval helicopters may come under fire from Somali pirates armed with al-Qaeda-supplied US-made Stinger missiles:

“If the intelligence proves true, it’s quite urgent to take measures to prevent our personnel being killed in a possible anti-air attack by pirates,” the expert said, asking to remain anonymous. “We can’t exclude the possibility of a `Lynx down’ situation similar to an incident where U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by Somali insurgents in the early 1990s.”

Since it was deployed in March, the 4,500-ton destroyer-based Korean naval contingent has shown one of the most outstanding anti-piracy performances among coalition forces operating off the coast of Somalia.

Since it began operations last month, the unit’s Lnyx carrying sharpshooters has successfully rescued four foreign vessels, including a North Korean cargo ship, from the heavily-armed pirates.

Fortunately, the manufacturer of the Lynx — AugustWestland — is willing to outfit the helicopters with missile countermeasure systems in Djibouti.

Tagged as: Cheonghae Unit, Somalia

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 GI Korea May 19, 2009 at 9:20 pm: This article is a bunch of BS. Any Stingers from Al Qaeda would be old and worn out due to the shelf life of the missile. That is why you see no US helicopters in Afghanistan being shot down by old Stingers despite all the media scaremongering when that campaign kicked off.

The Blackhawks shot down over Somali was during the Blackhawk Down Incident and they were shot down by RPG’s.
2 WeikuBoy May 19, 2009 at 10:51 pm: I don’t understand this piece. Is some guy named Albert Qaeda causing problems? This couldn’t possibly be referring to the al Qayeedah of 9/11 infamy. Gee whiz, we all saw that bastard Saddam Hussein “get got” dead or alive. What gives?
3 SomeguyinKorea May 19, 2009 at 11:54 pm: GIKorea,

Not that I am convinced they have them or know how to use them…but if they did, they would probably knock-offs (possibly the Pakistani ones).

Even if they managed to fire one, they’d probably set fire to their boat in the process.
4 Koreansentry May 20, 2009 at 11:26 am: Actually it’s Chinese knock off and it was Chinese who supplied, now they are aiming at Chinese naval ship as well. Ironic isn’t it?
5 Arghaeri May 20, 2009 at 12:58 pm: “and they were shot down by RPG’s.”

All hail to the power of Dungeons & Dragons.
6 Nix May 24, 2009 at 2:49 am: @5

Now that’s a “magic missile”.