[kellyhound]

Video shows the moments at which two 'suicide drones' were shot down in Iraq. A burst of 20mm cannon fire from a Centurion Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar, or C-RAM, system brings down one of the small unmanned aircraft, while the other is destroyed by a missile of some kind, possibly a Stinger.

The exact location where this video was shot has not been confirmed, but it reportedly shows drones over or at least near Ain Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, which hosts U.S. forces.

Iraqi officials, as well as those from the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, announced a foiled drone attack on Ain Al Asad, which is situated around 115 miles northwest of Baghdad, earlier today.

This is the second such attack in Iraq in as many days, with the one yesterday being directed at an area of Baghdad International Airport housing American troops.

“Two fixed-wing drones rigged with explosives were engaged and destroyed by defensive capabilities at the Iraqi Ain al-Asad airbase early this morning,” according to a statement from the U.S.-led coalition. “The attempted attack was unsuccessful. All forces are accounted for.”

No further details were provided about the "defensive capabilities" that were employed. The video now circulating on social media, seen earlier in this story, begins with a physical interceptor detonating near one of the drones, after which it begins spinning and then breaks up in a ball of flames.

Though we can't say with absolute certainty what this weapon might have been, its apparent relative size to the drone, as well as its detonation when it gets close to the unmanned aircraft, point to a short-range surface-to-air missile of some kind. One distinct possibility is that this is a heat-seeking FIM-92 Stinger.

The U.S. military is known to have deployed Humvee-mounted Avenger short-range air defense systems, which are armed with Stingers, as well as a .50 caliber M3P machine gun, to Iraq or Syria, or possibly both countries, on at least some occasions in recent years amid growing drone threats.

The Stinger also comes in a shoulder-fired configuration, also known as a Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS).

Amid increasing concerns about the dangers posed by unmanned aircraft, the U.S. Army has been fielding upgraded versions of this missile with a proximity fuze that is better optimized to engage smaller, hard-to-track targets like drones.

[The Krokodil]

Great footage!! That counter-rocket machine gun is no joke

[LittleNightmare]

Nice!

[ride]

Aww ain’t that l’il two-stroke opposed cylinder engine cute! Looks like the cylinders and heads were Chinese bicycle quality, and the attachment hardware is definitely not aerospace grade, but definitely suicide drone grade. Given enough time it would have blown itself up. I am kinda surprised it made it as far as it did.

[Mecrupulent]

What faction could have sent these drones ? ISIS ??!?! I can't believe it

[Faust]

too bad they had to film it with an old, black and white calculator :(

(yes I know it is thermal)

[fattubbashit]

I've had extensive training on MANPADS. Awesome platform to buffer my manstruation but recognising I'm premanstrual is key to its successful deployment.

[Steve]

"Suicide Drones."

[imbok]

Originally Posted by ride ↗

Aww ain’t that l’il two-stroke opposed cylinder engine cute! Looks like the cylinders and heads were Chinese bicycle quality, and the attachment hardware is definitely not aerospace grade, but definitely suicide drone grade. Given enough time it would have blown itself up. I am kinda surprised it made it as far as it did.

Engines like that are commonly used in large civilian radio control airplanes. They have electronic ignition and are quite reliable and cheap - a 120 cc engine is less than $1000 and produces around 10 hp. Unsurprisingly, they're all manufactured in China. They're available in larger sizes as well with as many as four cylinders and up to around 25 hp. I've often wondered about their utility in weapon systems, now we know!