Task Force Marne Makes Snipers Go Boom!

Posted By Blackfive

The Rock of the Marne (3rd Infantry Division in Iraq) decides to take out a building used by snipers (June 24, 2007).  Should we use a Hellfire?

Watch for the answer, the pilots reactions, the heat dissipation from the missile and snipers cooked with the extra crispy recipe.

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Hat tip to Blackfive for the video.... [Read More]

Comments

[jordan]

When news of this first burst forth, I heard NPR's Diane Rehm report it as "Operation Marine Torch" for 30 minutes. Guess she thought it was a typo.

Our guys are magnificent. ("Let's see, should we make a big bang or a little bang?")

[Arch]

Nice shot! At about 27 seconds remaining look at the top center frame. Are those bodies falling?

[Teresa]

Excellent - good shooting guys!!!

[Marzouq]

Pray there is no collateral damage! The NYT, NPR, CNN, alJ, etc. will be all over it! Youtube, a new 4GW tool our troops use to good effect. Maybe this milblog control from above is a good thing after all?

Nice to see Rage Boy exposed. Count that as another blogger victory!

Allahu akbar!!!

[Marzouq]

OOOPS! Almost forget, Semper fi Marines!

Salaam,

m

[bthun]

"Nice shot! At about 27 seconds remaining look at the top center frame. Are those bodies falling?"

I wondered the same. So I stopped and started the video, poor man’s frame by frame analysis, from 32 seconds down to 25 and it appears to be, considering the apparent scale of the building and such, random formations of building material falling.

Of course the sniper’s whose bodies were accelerated at the particulate level are no longer much more than building material… so it's all good!

[bthun]

Yikes! blockquote run afoul... that that!

One day I'm gonna have to pony up and get a proof reader that reads/writes/speaks english.

[Lands’nGrooves (aka tim)]

What bthun said, same here…plus I like to think that it is…makes me feel good, so let’s go with that. :)

[Arch]

I count 3 KBA. Two center at 27 seconds, two more slightly right a second later. One military structure - destroyed.

[Arch]

Correction: One center... two right

[Old Tanker]

Arch

Looks like roofing material and joists to me, I don't think there would be any chucks of snipers left that are that big!!!

[MaryAnn]

Sweet.

[bthun]

Heheh...

You may be spot on there Arch, I think I see what you're talking about in the center.

Either way, Yippie Kiiooo!

[TheNewGuy]

I could have sworn the last transmision said "target is toast."

[MrSparkle]

I watched a thing on the discovery channel about that prison uprising at Mazar-e Sharif. The air force couldn't hit shit! Bombs everywhere. Must have gotten better with experience

[Blackfive]

Ah, Mr. Sparkle, that's not USAF. That's the US Army hitting the building...gunships, not fast movers.

[Arch]

Sparkle:

Helicopter gunships are flown by the Army (AH-64D Apache Longbow) and the Marines (AH-1W/Z Cobra). Hellfire is a missile, not a bomb.

[MrSparkle]

Oh a gunship and a hellfire. Was that hellfire coming in vertically!

[Arch]

Yes Sparkle.

There are several modes. One allows the launch aircraft to use terrain masking. I worked on an technical demo with Ft Eustis for Hunter Killer Standoff Team.

Look at John Pike's fas.org for the Hellfire. You'll like him. He's a peacenik who likes to publish DOD data.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/agm-114.htm

[LongTabSigO]

I always wondered about John Pike. He reminds me of the guy who always got picked on in high school who is now (or thinks he is) "somebody" and he's gonna show them bullies what-for!

[Some Soldier's Mom]

HOOAH! Those Marne men are tough... Good shooting.

[MrSparkle]

I know John Pike, he's a good chap there is no reason to deride his character.

[Lands’nGrooves (aka tim)]

Versus making an unnecessary, ridiculing comment like, “I watched a thing on the discovery channel about that prison uprising at Mazar-e Sharif. The air force couldn't hit shit!” Mr. Sparkle?

[bthun]

Thanks Tim,

Accuracy in commenting... I was biting down hard on my lip in order to not add fuel to the OT comment or point our young UK person towards Lex's commentary on just how easy it is to hit a target from a fast moving aircraft.

I know Arch could provide a little schooling on the topic too, if he were so inclined, but that's hardly the point.

[arch]

Hey guys,

I didn't deride John Pike's character. I called him a peacenik. He runs a website that has a whole section on nuclear disarmament with a doomsday clock.

Fas.org does have lots of great weapon systems images that you can download and paste into briefings.

[Marzouq]

Folks,

Good to see less use of less accurate fast movers. Also good to see balls and closing with enemy.

Prayer in first post answered! Allahu akbar!

Check out ITM. Omar has good on ground humint!

Salaam!

[JihadGene]

Yes Marzouq! You be on it like calloused knees to a prayer rug!!! Cool!
And a Big Salami to Rage-Boy's Mommie!!!
EEEEEEEWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww......

Mr Discoverysparkle- I guess that not only you but the AP, and the BBC gets their intell on the Discovery & Disney Channels?
As always...
Ruv yoo loooong time,
JihadGene

[MrSparkle]

Okay I was referring to LongTabSigO, but anyhow, tim, bthun, the bombs have GPS! They are not iron sighted.

JihadGene I know you watch the discovery channel...

[JihadGene]

Mr Sparkle...Thanks, I will view it later.

[Lands’nGrooves (aka tim)]

Yo Sparkle,

I knew who you were referring to, hence my comment. “The air force couldn't hit shit!” isn’t exactly non derisive, so if your gonn’a throw stones…

Thanks for clueing me in about GPS, I thought they were still just dropping the damn things and hoping for the best.

[bthun]

I hate to guess or make assumptions based on nothing more than “The air force couldn't hit shit!” even though I'm fairly certain that I can make a WAG and translate what that is in reference to, but I'm not going to argue against such a baseless statement. Waste of time and breath.

BTW, unless I am as antiquated as I sometimes suspect, I think that even today, not all munitions in the USAF inventory are laser, gps, or otherwise guided.

Personally, I’m taking a fancy to some of the semi-guided munitions platforms featured here.

[brian]

I seem to recall that the Air Force can hit anything, anywhere, anytime. Ask the now wormfood Mr. Zarqawi:)

[MrSparkle]

lol

Well these were GPS guided JDAMs lasered on target by spec ops, I think he dropped 8 and they went everywhere and killed/injured a tonne of friendlies including Brit SAS, but didn't hit the 2 targets.

If that's good aim for American pilots bthun... I think perhaps that was just a windy day!

[bthun]

Ok, this I suppose is about as close as you will approach the facts which are that during the battle at Mazar-e-Sharif, one 200Kg bomb was misdirected off target and killed friendlies.

By my measure, and considering the mix of friendly, innocent, and bad guys in the Mazar-e-Sharif uprising, I think our forces did a pretty damned good job, with the exception being that terrible mistake. But we all know that no one in the thick of battle ever made a tragic mistake, so let's glare that one mistake and condemn eh sprinkle?

You're a smart guy, albeit one who does not seem to consider very carefully what he writes before he writes it, so would I suggest that you rely a little less on the Discovery Channel as a sole source of information, but that you also use your favorite search engine to find a more diverse data-set for yourself. And being the nice guy that I am, I will give you some pointers just to help you get started with how our forces "can't hit" $@%^ .

So please, take a peek at this and this and this.

Yeah, I'm sure that you, having been in their boots, would not have made a mistake under the same circumstances, so fire away with your smarted assed snark.

[MrSparkle]

Wow fisk me bad! It was a tongue in cheek remark though, really the air force is great, nice toys, cool shades, beach parties, metal under tension, beggin' you to touch and go, highway to the danger zone (oh wait, sh*t that's a song). Still, yeah - you're right, mistakes happen.

[household5]

Awrite 3ID flyboys! They probably didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express the night before, but maybe they ate raw meat that morning.:)

[jordan]

Boy, the U.S. Air Force is just sitting there minding it's own business, and along comes Sparkle to give it a good wack.

Somewhere there's a video clip from David Letterman's show on "Ten Reasons Why The Air Force is Great." I only remember the last one: Chicks dig planes.

[Harvey]

That one did my heart good.

Nice change of pace from the MSM headlines drooling over US soldier body counts.