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http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/060507/w050714.html
Excerpts:
Sounds like we have some severely frustrated Taliban, no? Even the AT-1 Snapper mentioned here is fairly primative, as it is a first generation guided AT missile (meaning it is controlled by a joystick)... and once you understand the threat posed by such missiles, they aren't a major threat... I've read the reports on the accuracy of such first generation AT missiles, and they are highly dependant on the skill of the operator, and at most, the hit probability is less than 25%, with a very well trained crew. Still not a good idea to let these systems fall into the hands of the Taliban anyways.
Excerpts:
Frustrated by their inability to punch through the reinforced plating on Canadian fighting vehicles, the Taliban are scouring the black market for bigger and better weapons to take on Canadian armour, coalition and Afghan security sources say.
Being able to destroy even one light armoured vehicle - a Bison armoured troop carrier or Coyote reconnaissance vehicle - would be a significant moral victory in the eyes of insurgents, a senior coalition source told The Canadian Press.
"They want to take out one really bad," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "To them it would be a huge victory because they haven't be able to do that to this point."
Insurgents are apparently looking for shoulder-launched weapons similar to the German Armbrust and possibly armed with some kind of supercalibre warhead, said an Afghan security source.
Ideally, the Taliban would like to lay their hands on a jeep-mounted AT-1 Snapper, a Soviet-built system that was part of the Taliban's arsenal prior to the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove them from power. It's unclear how many of those systems, exported to the Middle East during the Cold War, are still available.
In addition, the hunt is on for additional anti-tank mines, which have the dual benefit for the insurgents of being easily rewired into lethal improvised explosive devices.
Sounds like we have some severely frustrated Taliban, no? Even the AT-1 Snapper mentioned here is fairly primative, as it is a first generation guided AT missile (meaning it is controlled by a joystick)... and once you understand the threat posed by such missiles, they aren't a major threat... I've read the reports on the accuracy of such first generation AT missiles, and they are highly dependant on the skill of the operator, and at most, the hit probability is less than 25%, with a very well trained crew. Still not a good idea to let these systems fall into the hands of the Taliban anyways.