Sun Jun 24, 2012, 11:47 AM

maddezmom (131,279 posts)

Russian helicopter shipment heading back to Syria: ifax

Last edited Sun Jun 24, 2012, 11:49 AM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

7:58 a.m. CDT, June 24, 2012

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A ship carrying Russian helicopters to Syria, which turned back after its insurance was cut, is expected to resume its journey accompanied by at least one other vessel, Interfax reported on Sunday, citing a military source.

The report is likely to reignite international criticism of Russia's arms deliveries to Syria which U.S. officials have called reprehensible and the Arab League has said should be stopped.

"A military-diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax that (the ship) will go from Murmansk to Syria. According to his information the ship should travel under escort," the news agency reported.

The ship Alaed, which entered the Russian port of Murmansk on Sunday to change its flag to the Russian Standard, will not be accompanied by military vessels, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The report did not say how the ship had resolved its insurance problems or what difference the flag change would make.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-russia-helicoptersbre85n0ad-20120624,0,772532.story

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8 replies	Author	Time	Post
Russian helicopter shipment heading back to Syria: ifax (Original post)	maddezmom	Jun 2012	OP
Probably under a Russian flag either with Russian insurance (is there such	JDPriestly	Jun 2012	#1
Is this supposed to remind us of the Cuban Missile Crisis? When was that? Oh yes, 50thanniversary.	leveymg	Jun 2012	#2
NOT 50TH YET.	James48	Jun 2012	#4
The episode has been dubbed, "The Missiles of October"	leveymg	Jun 2012	#5
Weird story.	FlyinButter	Jun 2012	#3
Hellicopters? Gunships? The kinds that are great for pursuing people through urban environments,	MADem	Jun 2012	#6
these appear to be transport helicopters, at least 30yr old devices at that	Alamuti Lotus	Jun 2012	#7
They're Hinds, so they most definitely are not just transport helicopters	Posteritatis	Jun 2012	#8

Response to maddezmom (Original post)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 12:32 PM

JDPriestly (38,342 posts)

1. Probably under a Russian flag either with Russian insurance (is there such

a thing?) or with no insurance.

If anything happens to it, it is Russia's loss, not the insurance industry's.

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Response to maddezmom (Original post)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 12:50 PM

leveymg (26,805 posts)

2. Is this supposed to remind us of the Cuban Missile Crisis? When was that? Oh yes, 50thanniversary.

"We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, etc."

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Response to leveymg (Reply #2)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 01:25 PM

James48 (931 posts)

4. NOT 50TH YET.

That won't be until October.

October 23, 1962 to be exact- that is the date of your newspaper headline.

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Response to James48 (Reply #4)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 01:39 PM

leveymg (26,805 posts)

5. The episode has been dubbed, "The Missiles of October"

I remember "Duck & Cover," too.

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Response to maddezmom (Original post)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 01:10 PM

FlyinButter (14 posts)

3. Weird story.

Makes me a bit nervous too.

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Response to maddezmom (Original post)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 05:07 PM

MADem (87,280 posts)

6. Hellicopters? Gunships? The kinds that are great for pursuing people through urban environments,

playing shoot-em-up?

Russia acknowledged on Thursday it was trying to send repaired combat helicopters - not new equipment - to Syria.

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Response to MADem (Reply #6)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 05:58 PM

Alamuti Lotus (2,699 posts)

7. these appear to be transport helicopters, at least 30yr old devices at that

The whole story has been so unbelievably (actually, not unbelievably considering the rogues gallery of hypocrites and liars at the State Dept making the statements) blown out of proportion as to be nearly indistinguishable from reality.

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Response to Alamuti Lotus (Reply #7)

Sun Jun 24, 2012, 09:01 PM

Posteritatis (17,454 posts)

8. They're Hinds, so they most definitely are not just transport helicopters

Last edited Sun Jun 24, 2012, 09:01 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

Russian equipment tends to be less specialized than US military gear, so a lot of what they and their customers use doesn't slot neatly into categories people used to NATO equipment would think of.

Mi-25s are combination gunships/troop transports; they're designed to haul about a squad's worth of troops around, which means they're also large enough to pack some significant weaponry. Most countries that use Russian or Russian-derived equipment use those or very similar craft and have since their introduction mainly because they're affordable and decent in both roles. Western allies use quite a bit of hardware of similar vintage - case in point being Turkey's losing an F-4 the other day.

If they were Mi-8s, which *are* pretty much dedicated transport/support choppers and also very common in Russian-supplied militaries, that'd be something else altogether, but 24s or 25s are absolutely designed for combat.

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