David has pointed out some outrageous claims from the media. The Orlando Sentinel presents us with a picture, and some hysterics to go along with it:
Orlando emptied its bureau drawers and closets Friday of more than 300 unwanted guns — and one surface-to-air missile launcher.
You sure it’s a surface to air missile launcher?
After hefting the weapon designed to blow jets out of the sky, police spokeswoman Sgt. Barbara Jones commented, “I tell you, you never know what you’re going to get.
You sure it’s designed to blow jets out of the sky? Well, lets see. We can see the letters 1A-3 on the side. This could possibly be BGM or BTM 71A-3 TOW, anti-tank missile. My guess is they have a BTM 71A-3 tube, which would be a practice round, and is completly inert, and worthless without the mucho expensive guideance equipment that’s part of the TOW system. That’s assuming it’s not just an empty tube. The BGM is a the HEAT round that’s actually used for busting up tanks.
So what we have here is a surface-to-surface missile tube, basically. Here’s a picture of a more recent variant. Tell me what you think?
And here’s the one the Orlande Sentinal pimping as an anti-aircraft missile:
Looks the same to me. Again, all this took was a few minutes of googling that “authorized journalists” can’t be bothered doing. But why bother? A guy living near an airport turning an anti-aircraft weapon over to the police is such a great story! Too bad it’s a load of bullcrap.
If you look at how easily she’s hoisting that ‘missile’ on her fingertips, it’s obvious it’s an empty (expended) tube.
Good catch — MSM busted (again).
I’m no expert, but I don’t even think it’s a launcher tube. It looks like a storage tube to me. The launchers I’ve seen don’t look anything like that. How would you launch a wire guided missile with no optics/electronics, no aiming devices, no trigger etc???
PSH at its finest.
I thought it looked familiar, it is a Javelin anti-tank missile. Still a pretty powerful weapon even with out the Fire and Forget launcher. It has a nice shaped charge with can penetrate about a foot or so of hardened armor or do serious damage to a structure. The rocket if removed and launch a model rocket way above the restriction of the FAA set forth.
As for the media, they could tell the difference between an Ass and their head’s up their ass.
You are correct that it’s a feeding tube. The launcher is separate from that. My guess is the tube contains the rocket, and the spool of wire.
It’s hard to say whether the tube is empty or not, but I wouldn’t expect them to come out and say they recovered an empty tube. Michael is correct you’d have a pretty bad ass rocket motor even with a practice dummy, but it’s not particularly militarily useful. It’s not hard, or illegal, to build a similar rocket. Without the guidance package, it’s a neat pyrotechnic.
It’s either a feeding tube or a large unfinished potato gun.
I had respect for the media until I took this job. I’m absolutely aghast, on a daily basis as to how they skew the truth.
For example. The local airport has a website where you can see what runway is use, helps with the noise inquiries. There is this HUGE disclaimer on it that it’s NOT REAL TIME. Some yahoo looks at it, sees two blips on top of each (20 minutes apart if you actually READ the site info) and calls someone I shoot with, who works for the the local Airport office. They’re told again, that it’s NOT real time it’s nothing to worry about. That night. . on the news. . “near collision between airliners at Acme Airport. Officials are doing NOTHING”.
as an old 11H, that’s definately a TOW missle round, and from her one handing it, it’s an empty one. they’re north of 70 lbs, last time i looked, and awkward. look at the grung carrying his, for example.
the yellow band, unless they’ve changed the STANAG for weapons coding, denotes a high explosive (HEAT) warhead, and i’m pretty sure that’s the corresponding brown band (low explosive) marker for the launch & flight motors of the missile formerly residing in the tube at the other end.
you can’t see the umbilical port that mates the round to the MGS, as the locking lugs are at the 6& 12 position, which means it’s on the side facing the van. to load & fire, you pop the covers off the fron & back by pulling up on the locking handel, and slide the front end int0 the launch tube. you lock down the bridge clamp, whcih now connects the missle to the MGS, raise the arming level, and fire. (short/sweet version).
redc1c4,
B-9-2, Harmony Church School for Exciteable Boys
April ’83 “Wire Guided Death!”