News Categories

Air Defense: December 8, 2001

As fearsome as portable surface to air missiles (SAMs) are, they are not the most dangerous weapon for low flying aircraft. You can protect yourself against these small missiles with flares and warning devices. But small caliber (20-57mm) anti-aircraft guns are another matter. While not portable like the small SAMs, the enemy can set them up anywhere and basically ambush low flying warplanes or helicopters. Theres no way to divert the shells from these automatic weapons. Most modern warplanes and helicopters can take a few hits, but even one 20mm shell will hurt you enough to abort your mission, and a few of them in the wrong places can bring you down. Many of these small guns dont use any radar, so anti-radar missiles arent much good. Bombing them will work, once you find them. But the gun crews know that and will move often. Its a case of low tech still having an advantage.


Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

Copyright © 2025 StrategyPage. All Rights Reserved. StrategyWorld.com 1998 - 2025 StrategyWorld.com. All rights Reserved. StrategyWorld.com, StrategyPage.com, FYEO, For Your Eyes Only and Al Nofi's CIC are all trademarks of StrategyWorld.com

X

ad

Help keep us a float!

Your support helps us keep our ship a float. We appreciate anyway you chose to help out. Visit us daily, subscribe, donate, and tell your friends.

You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  2. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
  3. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on X.
Subscribe Contribute Close

AltStyle によって変換されたページ (->オリジナル) /