Interesting footage from Somalia today (Jan 24th 2009)
Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 7:34 pm
Al Jazeera English has some very interesting footage from Mogadishu today.
The video I'm talking about is Right Here and most of it is the usual sad "violence in the third world" stuff. Not to trivialise it in any way, just commenting that it's visually familiar.
The first interesting bit is at 0:16 or so
The sand/tan-colored AFV in the foreground-right is a T-72 (I'm pretty sure) of the AU peace-keeping forces, nothing special there, but look at the white AFV in the background just left of center. I'm not sure what it is, AFV identification isn't a strong point of mine, but see those screens on it? You get your clue at 0:41 or so, when they show the Ras Kamboni militia with the RPG's over their shoulders.
You get a much better look at the stand-off screens at 1:52...following the pictures of the little boy laying there in bandages after being blown up by a landmine, and if that doesn't make you cringe inside, you're a bolder soul than I...but back to the hardware
They are stand-off screens. Because a HEAT warhead, which is used by every shoulder-launched AT weapon in the world, is quite powerful, and light, but spacing is vital. If the warhead detonates on that flimsy little wire screen, instead of detonating in contact with the armor, it will blow a hole in the screen, and leave nothing but a scorched spot on the paint beneath. Damnably clever, eh? Not to mention cheap and easily replaced, really a very ingenious solution.
From the white color of those vehicles, one would assume they are UN peacekeepers, yet no mention was made of the UN.
The video I'm talking about is Right Here and most of it is the usual sad "violence in the third world" stuff. Not to trivialise it in any way, just commenting that it's visually familiar.
The first interesting bit is at 0:16 or so
The sand/tan-colored AFV in the foreground-right is a T-72 (I'm pretty sure) of the AU peace-keeping forces, nothing special there, but look at the white AFV in the background just left of center. I'm not sure what it is, AFV identification isn't a strong point of mine, but see those screens on it? You get your clue at 0:41 or so, when they show the Ras Kamboni militia with the RPG's over their shoulders.
You get a much better look at the stand-off screens at 1:52...following the pictures of the little boy laying there in bandages after being blown up by a landmine, and if that doesn't make you cringe inside, you're a bolder soul than I...but back to the hardware
They are stand-off screens. Because a HEAT warhead, which is used by every shoulder-launched AT weapon in the world, is quite powerful, and light, but spacing is vital. If the warhead detonates on that flimsy little wire screen, instead of detonating in contact with the armor, it will blow a hole in the screen, and leave nothing but a scorched spot on the paint beneath. Damnably clever, eh? Not to mention cheap and easily replaced, really a very ingenious solution.
From the white color of those vehicles, one would assume they are UN peacekeepers, yet no mention was made of the UN.