MANPADS "Stinger" in the Afghan war (1979-1989)

The supply of anti-aircraft anti-aircraft missile systems (MANPADS) " Stinger " to the Afghan opposition , the United States began in the fall of 1986. MANPADS were intended to combat Soviet helicopters and aircraft ^[1] .

As early as January 5, 1987, GRU special forces units intercepted the Stinger MANPADS ^[2] . According to experts from the US Department of Defense, the US CIA delivered 1,000 Stinger missiles to the rebels, and of this amount, about 350 were used up during the Afghan war.

After the war ended, the US Congress allocated $ 65 million for an operation to purchase MANPADS and missiles, and some of them were bought, but up to 400 “stingers” remained in Afghanistan ^[3] .

According to Muhammad Yusuf, head of the Afghan department of the Pakistani ISI’s Inter-Agency Intelligence Center in 1983-1987, the first Stinger MANPADS in Afghanistan used two units of the Islamic Party of Afghanistan , Gulbetdin Hekmatyar , under the command of field commanders Darves and engineer Gaffar operating in the Kabul and Jalal area ^[4] .

On September 25, 1986, an Afghan opposition detachment of about thirty-five rebels under the command of engineer Gaffar, who knew the area well, secretly made his way to the foot of one of the heights located one and a half kilometers northeast of the runway of the Jalalabad airfield to launch a missile attack on helicopters or for another aerial target by five "Stingers" ^[5] .

As a result, three targets were hit. The incident was filmed in a video that was later shown to US President R. Reagan , and the tube from the first Stinger was handed over to the CIA . The attack on targets at the Kabul airfield did not bring success to the rebels ^[6] .

The reason for the late appearance of the Stinger MANPADS in the Afghan war (1979-1989) , according to an ISI intelligence officer, is due to a political decision primarily by the United States itself . There were two reasons: the first - this missile could be intercepted by Soviet units, which would testify to the US supply of arms to the Afghan opposition, the second - "Stinger", could be used on civilian liners, the third - it could be in the hands of the Iranian military. What happened in the future. In 1987, both Iran and the Soviet Union captured the captured Stingers ^[7] .

Training courses for operators of the Stinger MANPADS were conducted on special simulators in Ojiri Camp, in the city of Rawalpindi in Pakistan, by local military instructors trained in the USA in June 1985. The course took from 15 to 21 days. Between the CIA and ISI, there was an agreement on the annual supply of up to 250 launchers, along with 1000-1200 missiles ^[8] .

... The first successful use of the Stingers occurred at the Jalalabad airfield. We also included Kabul - Bagram in the first phase of the use of these weapons. This was followed by the sending of these missiles through the Hindu Kush pass for use at airfields in Mazar-i-Sharif, Fayzabad, Kunduz, Maiman and near the Amu-Darya river ... The third phase involved the use of missiles for the defense of the provinces bordering Pakistan with their final deployment near airfields of Kandahar and Lashkargah.

- Mohammad Yusuf, Head of the Afghanistan Division of the Pakistan Intelligence Center ISI from 1983-1987 ^[9]

The use of the Stinger MANPADS in the areas of Herat and Shindand on the Iranian border was entrusted to the formation of Turan Ismail (Ismail Khan) . He was the first field commander in the region who got Stinger through his deputy, former Colonel Alauddin, who arrived in Pakistan to train and accompany MANPADS ^[10] .

During 1986, 23 Soviet planes and helicopters were shot down by members of anti-government armed groups ^[11] . The result was a sharp change in tactics of combat use of helicopters by Soviet troops . If before the appearance of MANPADS, Mi-8 helicopters flew at an altitude of 6000 m, then with the advent of MANPADS they descended to extremely small altitudes of 30-60 m, hiding in the folds of the terrain and between hills ^[12] .

The increasingly frequent appearance of MANPADS and the ingenuity in their use began to “survive” aircraft to a height. In 1986, the rule came into force - not to decrease during an attack of less than 3,500 m, which became the border for exiting the dive “according to the Stingers”. Later, as a precaution, the lower limit was raised another thousand meters, setting it to 4,500 meters

- V. Markovsky “The scorched sky of Afghanistan”

On January 5, 1987, under the command of deputy detachment commander Major Yevgeny Sergeyev and with the participation of senior lieutenant Vladimir Kovtun in the Meltanay gorge ( Kandahar province ) ^{[13] [14]} , one of three American samples MANPADS "Stinger" , which the Americans supplied to the Afghan rebels, as well as a diplomat with documentation on them, including the addresses of suppliers from the USA ^[15] . The other two (empty and unused) were captured by the inspection team of Vasily Cheboksarov ^[16] .

These trophies were shown at an urgent press conference at the Afghan Foreign Ministry as irrefutable evidence of US interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. Despite the statements of the command: those who first capture the Stinger will be presented to the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union , Vladimir Kovtun, and his comrades were not awarded the title. 25 years later, on May 6, 2012, lieutenant colonel Yevgeny Sergeyev of the reserve was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) ^[15] . After another 7 years, on February 15, 2019, the rank of Hero of the Russian Federation was awarded to reserve colonel Vladimir Kovtun ^{[17] [18]} .

• Anti-aircraft missile system "Stinger" // Foreign Military Review No. 1, 1977
• Vanin M. Combat use of portable air defense systems "Stinger" // Foreign Military Review. - M .: "Red Star", 1985. - No. 11 . - S. 23-28 . - ISSN 0134-921X .
• Vasiliev V. Using the Stinger SAM in the Roland-2 SAM // Foreign Military Review. - M .: "Red Star", 1983. - No. 4 . - S. 77-78 . - ISSN 0134-921X .

• Conroy, Stephen G. The Loss of USMC Man Portable Air Defense Capability . - Quantico, VA: Marine Corps University, 2004 .-- 47 p. - (Subject Area Strategic Issues).

• V. Markovsky “The scorched sky of Afghanistan. Combat aircraft in the Afghan war »
• Man-portable air defense missile system "Stinger"
• S. Kozlov “GRU special forces: Fifty years of history, twenty years of war ...”
• MANPADS "Stinger" (Stinger)
• "Stingers" against aviation (the use of "Stingers" in Afghanistan)
• MANPADS Stinger - missiles shooting down aircraft // 3world-war.su
• Promising MANPADS (description of the development of MANPADS Stinger // civilresearch.ru
• Raytheon (General Dynamics) FIM-92 Stinger

Video

• Documentary film “Afghanistan. Hunting for “Wasp” ” ( RTR , 2011)

• CIA Operation Cyclone
• The fighting of the Afghan war (1979-1989)
• The basic areas of the Afghan opposition (1979-1989)
• Transshipment bases of the Afghan opposition (1979-1989)
• Afghan Mujahideen
• Peshawar seven
• Shiite Eight
• Islamic Society of Afghanistan
• Islamic Party of Afghanistan