Al-Qaeda in Possession of SA-7’s in Mali

I have received confirmation of what we have feared since last year. I have called a conference with all our senior executives and commanders. When Western nations decided to assist criminals and rebels to overthrow Colonel Gaddafi with their airstrikes on a sovereign nation we were among a small group who opposed intervention as well as assistance to rebels.

They begged for help and knew that they would receive it as the late Colonel Gaddafi was not liked by the West as he did not dance to their music and decided to play his own tunes. He was open for business and every capitalist appreciates that. Plenty of people decided to point their fingers and accuse everyone who opposed intervention in Libya that we were driven by greed.

This just shows the lack of intelligence among the general public. For starters we oppose interventions in sovereign nations. What happens within the borders of a country is the business of the citizens as well as government of that country alone and no outside nations has the right to intervene simply because they are able to do so. Colonel Gaddafi stated multiple times that his country is under attack and he did so rightfully.

Now that his regime has been overthrown, chaos in Libya is the daily routine and nothing functions. I am not suggesting Libya was a fully functioning society or fully operational nation. Libya had plenty of problems on all fronts, but thanks to the invasion by NATO forces and their assistance of rebels Libya has deteriorated further and now we left them to deal with their problems again after causing much more hardship.

Our primary concern was that Colonel Gaddafi’s stockpiles of weapons would be raided by al-Qaeda fighters and other criminals. We were particularly concerned with his arsenal of SA-7’s. The SA-7 Grail as it is known in NATO circles started production in 1970 and is a former Soviet weapon. It is still in use today and was sued in every major regional conflict. The SA-7 is also known as 9K32 – Strela 2. It is a first-generation Soviet man portable and shoulder fired surface-to-air missile which operates in low altitude with an extremely high explosive warhead as well as a passive infrared homing device.

It can reach a maximum strike altitude of 2,300 meters and is operated by proportional navigation logic. Its maximum range is 4,300 meters and carries a 1.15 kilogram direct –energy blast fragmentation warhead with 370 grams of HE content. Its detonation mechanism is a non-delay impact mechanism with grazing fuses and a 14s – 17s self-destruct mode while it flies at a speed of 500 meters per second.

The fact that the SA-7 is still in use today as a much feared weapon speaks chapters about its operational use with deadly outcome. Colonel Gaddafi had a huge arsenal of SA-7s and now our fears have been confirmed that al-Qaeda in Mali has an unknown number of those deadly MANPADS. The U.S. hoped to be able to secure the stockpiles and flew in specialists who arrived too late as arms depots were raided and SA-7’s specifically sought.

Since 1975 at least 40 civilian aircraft have been hit which caused 28 crashes and 800 deaths. The biggest threat is to civilian aircraft as most modern military aircraft have counter-measures in place. It also forces attack helicopters to fly above the SA-7’s reach which makes it harder to engage militants.

This could de-stabilize the entire North-African airspace which is why we opposed intervention. Once again idiotic leaders made a decision and now the world is less safe than before. Each time they try to tackle one problem, they create two more. The confirmed reports that al-Qaeda in Mali has the SA-7’s worries us and our business interests in the region which need to be addressed and resolved. 

Posted in: al-Qaeda, Gaddafi, Libya, Mali, NATO, SA-7