SAM Takes Down Chopper in Iraq

Jan. 20, 2006

A senior Army official confirmed to ABC News that the Pentagon believes Iraqi insurgents used a Russian SA-7 surface-to-air missile to shoot down an Army AH-64 Apache helicopter on Jan. 16. Amid news of the three American helicopters that have crashed in the last two weeks, come reports that insurgents have engineered IEDs to specifically target low-flying helicopters. Army Secretary Francis Harvey told reporters earlier this week that “so-called jumping IEDs” are an “anticipated threat” for which the US military has “systems and tactics” that he could not discuss.

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