Perfect timing, Obama is assuring the Sauds he will arm the Syrian rebels with missiles.
Via FOX News
The Navy is considering a novel way to protect its fighter pilots: firing live shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles at them to train them in evasive action and test aircraft missile warning systems.
The shoulder-fired missiles in the hands of terrorists, criminal and enemy fighters pose a worldwide problem. Insurgents in Iraq during the war posted YouTube videos showing their deadly ability with the weapons against U.S. military helicopters.
The Navy disclosed its intentions earlier this month in a little-noticed request for information. The request asks defense contractors if they can build a “missile surrogate” that would replicate the missile, also known as a Man-Portable Air Defense System.
“The MANPADS missile surrogate shall have a missile body with a rocket motor that replicates the ultraviolet and infrared signatures of specific threat MANPADS during their launch and fly-out, including eject, boost and sustain phases,” the Naval Surface Warfare Center says in the request for information.
The MANPADS missile surrogate shall exhibit the same spectral, spatial, and temporal characteristics of the actual threat missile it is intended to replicate,” the Navy says. “The one exception is that the kinematic range of the missile surrogate should be such that the missile can be fired safely within two to three kilometers of a manned aircraft and not reach the aircraft.”
The Navy wants their dummy missile to be recoverable so they can be reused.