Stardate 20011007.1832 (On Screen): The Stinger is a
shoulder-fired SAM. During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the turning point in that war was when the US gave several hundred of them to the Mujahedin. This was something which was debated heavily at the time, because of the concern that they could fall into the hands of terrorists and could be used to attack civilian jet liners. The Stinger is a short-range IR-homing missile, and after they were given to the Afghani forces, the USSR lost an average of one aircraft per week for the next six months. This largely prevented the USSR from using helicopters in support of its infantry, and eventually led to them giving up and leaving. The solution was to program them with a timeout. The Mujahedin were told that they needed to use them within a short period of time (I believe it was 18 months), after which they would cease to work, "and if you need more we'll give them to you."
Now I'm seeing reports in various places talking about the possibility that the Taliban may have upwards of a hundred operational Stingers.I don't believe it. If they were still working, Al Qaeda would have used some of them by now. A jetliner is a piece of cake for these missiles; they're slow (subsonic), they don't dodge, and they don't drop flares. They're also huge and have multiple engines to hit. Anywhere within ten miles of an airport along a flight path the Stinger would be deadly. I don't believe that if those Stingers were still working that they wouldn't have been used in this way by now, somewhere in the world. (discussion in progress)
