Javelin MANPADS: Salvaging a Flawed Design

[@CanadianMacGyver]

Play World of Warships here: wo.ws/3SGK3R9 Thank you World of Warships for sponsoring this video. During registration use the code HSF2023 to get for free: 200 doubloons, 1 million credits, 7 Days of Premium Account time, HSF commander Misaki Akeno, and HSF commander Irizaki Mei. Applicable to new users only.

[@swsuwave]

Definitely do a starstreak video! it's especially timely given world events today.

[@GMT439]

All Wars are Fake ands you already know. Proof of all your CLAIMS are Required.

[@misterhat5823]

No. What's next? NordVPN? Masterworks?

[@Mike-bh7sh]

@@misterhat5823 Why not? Are you paying him for his content directly? If not - then you feel he should work for free?

[@abchaplin]

While still serving in the ranks, I trained as a Blowpipe operator in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery in 1977. I fired two missiles at the end of the course, both of which malfunctioned -- not a great confidence builder. Thirteen years later, by then commanding 4 Air Defence Battery of the Air Defence Artillery School, I was the Instructor-in-Gunnery for the firing that led to the determination that Blowpipe was not fit for the purposes of Operation Friction. Missiles were not acting as they were supposed to. Its poor performance on this occasion led to many of us seeing a cellular phone in the field for the first time, when Brigadier-General Maurice Baril turn to his aide and said, "Get me General Matte. Allo? Buy Javelin. Dis Blowpipe is shit." NDHQ had anticipated such a need, and had already sent an officer with the necessary authority to buy Javelin systems and trainers, and a Hercules to fly them straight to Halifax. The CO of 119 Battery oversaw the conversion of the operators (some of who were from my battery) on the Atlantic in transit. BTW, those thermal batteries get very hot. After firing my first missile, I picked up the empty tube from which I had just launched it. I let it slide in my hand to its natural point of balance and the exposed base of the cannister battery burned my right index finger. It raised quite the blister. I intend to share your video to a couple of Canadian artillery groups on Facebook.

[@ExpatriotSilencers]

I was in 127 Bty, 4 Air Defence Regt. We fired Blowpipe in Gagetown ca. 1990 and the majority of them launched successfully. We did have a few failures to launch, but not a huge number. As a system, it was crap. Very difficult to hit anything. I had the opportunity to try the Stinger simulator on a US base and it was super easy to use. We should have had Stingers but Canada doesn't like to buy equipment that works. :(

[@abchaplin]

@@ExpatriotSilencers , I think that Blowpipe firing was part of Exercise Blazing Archer 9001. Over 11 years out of 21 with Blowpipe, I only saw or knew of a half dozen or so hits in live firings, but those were against reduced scale targets such as TATS 50. At least TATS carried a radar MDI to give us more information on which to base our assessments of engagements and the system more widely. The future CWO Ostiguy managed to get a hit on a 105mm illuminating flare at about 3KM and was the Golden Thumb on our course.

[@Red_Snapper]

I was in Porsangermoen Jegerkompani in the 2000 I was trained on the Eryx system, basically the French version of the Javelin manpad. We got to fire it only once during our training. IE they couldn't afford shooting it more then once per Eryx team. When the time came you where naturally very nervous as to not screw things up. Not exactly the confidence booster.

[@csmaster65]

I thought this was an exerpt from Infinite Jest at first.

[@soul0360]

​@@Red_SnapperTo be fair. Most "sophisticated" ordinance, is to expensive, to have more then a couple fired, during every training course. The longer an individual soldier stays in a function, I.e. the more training courses they take part in. The more likely they are, to operate a live one. This is the reason, that practical simulators, and later computer simulators, are such an important part of training. E.g. on the AT-4, I only ever fired the 9mm training version, during training, in my ~10 years in the Danish army. On deployment to Afghanistan, I had a couple on my vehicle, with no-one else on the crew, having ever fired the real thing. Apparently our training had been sufficient, since when used, they did the job. Similarly, even though being Army. I've tried the F-16 simulator several times, when visiting Airforce bases. And our F-16 pilots clock most of their required flight hours in that simulator.

[@randydewees7338]

As an old China Lake Sidewinder dude I was surprised, and delighted, by the self assembling aspect. Thanks for presenting this.

[@dreukrag]

I think the biggest reason an MCLOS system like that was made, sold and bought is that it's just so extremely easy to game accuracy rates. There probably was some other better system in the run up, but I bet it lost in the accuracy rating to this. The company throws a sufficiently trained operator and they'll get superb hit-rates with the system. The military looks at those hit-rates and the beancounters look at the ammo expenditure/cost for a hit and it looks amazingly attractive. And in the end, as long as the actual launcher is reliable, the customer can just be stone-walled by claiming they aren't training enough/correctly.

[@kocovgoce]

Under the influence of Valiant anti-tank missile

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

Sounds like the NATO Defense of Euro/USA Heavy Armor losses in Ukraine - "That's because they were crewed by Ukrainians"; "That's because the Americans took all the Top Secret Upgrades out" and "No Fair! Russians are the Bad Guys and the Hayes Office insists that the Bad Guys always lose" So Bleaugh! There!

[@Compulsive_LARPer]

The fact that even the Taliban Resistance, who where notorious for their ability to repurpose whatever old junk they managed to acquire into IEDs, refused to use their stockpiles of this thing against the occupiers speaks volumes about their effectiveness.

[@richardvernon317]

Not so to some extent. It was the same as the Stingers. In Afghan tribal society, if you have something in your arsenal like Blowpipe or Stinger, you have status!!! if you fire the things, you just have an empty tube and no status!!!

[@filanfyretracker]

@@richardvernon317 So someone important would say keep a pallet of stingers around even when they could be useful just to point and go "I have stingers bitches".

[@remliqa]

The Mujahideen and Talibans are not the same factions at all. The Taliban fought against the Mujahideen after the Soviets left Afghanistan.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

The rear fins assembling themselves with a heat activated adhesive is out of this world.

[@JeffBilkins]

It is amazing they found this easier then making folding fins work.

[@abchaplin]

@@JeffBilkins, the tips of the wings folded. The canted nozzles on the blast start first stage motor imparted a spin to the missile body which it transmitted to the wing assembly after it seated on the tapes. Centrifugal force then deployed the tips into the flight position and their incidence maintained the missile body's spin stabilization in flight.

[@nathanisjesuschrist1175]

that is exactly my thought! like how is that the absolute best solution? 😂 not to mention youd think a HEAT BASED ADHESIVE would be non consistent or reliable!

[@slobodanmitic1354]

Not so much...

[@mk6315]

@@nathanisjesuschrist1175 you just have to ensure two things: the fins are forced into place, and the rocket gets hot.

[@kongoubongo1114]

How they expected MCLOS to work for a MANPADS is absurd. Even the slowest jets are way too fast for your average grunt to guide a rocket onto. Considering it used to have a HEAT warhead it is effectively a MCLOS anti-tank system 'adapted' for AA use.

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

Even in the 80’s we recognised it would be more useful against helicopters…

[@Tomyironmane]

It almost sounds like it was meant to kill Hinds and armored vehicles.

[@davidb8539]

@@bob_the_bomb4508 I think most people forget that, particularly with regards to USSR/Russia, the bigger threat would be coming from Helos. There's actually a clip of a StarStreak disassembling a Russian help from earlier in the Ukraine war, that's when the value of a system that ignores flares becomes obvious.

[@dreukrag]

Even against helicopter, MCLOS is already quite fidgety against slow moving ground tragets. I fail to see it being "effective" enough to justify its existence when used against helicopters and the like.

[@Treblaine]

MCLOS wasn't good enough against tanks, even helicopters would be hard to hit.

[@LtAce150]

I knew the blowpipe was a problematic system but figured it was down to some initial difficulties with the self assembling aspect of the missile. Finding out that it was an MCLOS design to start with just leaves me scratching my head. Great video again!

[@supertrash7102]

Hell yes, I love Canadian Bazookas, top shelf KZbin content.

[@notmenotme614]

4:56 It’s crazy that they only made 11 missiles per launcher, throughout its service life . Especially when you consider those used for live fire training over the years.

[@chriswerb7482]

Another great video! The Javelin S.15 (commercially known as Starburst) was rushed into service with the Royal Artillery for Gulf War 1 in 1991. I think it was more a question of the "beam riding" laser guidance used in S.15 moving over to Starstreak than the other way round. Beam riding, as used with Starstreak, does not paint the target with a grid - the grid exists all the way from the launcher to the target. There are no forward facing sensors looking at the target - they face rearward to establish the relative position of the missile to the centre of the beam. A version of Blowpipe was designed to be fired from the sail of a submarine and was contained in a pressure proof vertical cylinder with lid on top through which the multiple launcher was raised. The system, which was primarily intended to be used against antisubmarine helicopters and aircraft, was called the SLAM (Submarine-Launched Airflight Missile). It was trialled on HMS Aeneas in 1972 and fitted to Israeli Gal class submarines, but subsequently removed. I really enjoy your videos and love your choice of subjects.

[@arakami8547]

Did the Starburst require the operator to paint the target directly with the laser beam gunsight, or was it done automatically like the Starstreak - requiring the operator to only keep the target within the optics FOV.

[@tommiatkins3443]

I trained and qualified on them, (jav) They were accurate but had many fails to launch. At £80000 a missile I threw two over manorbier cliffs witch had second stage failure. It's always stuck with me that the £160,000 I launched that day would take me a lifetime to save in my current job as a middle manager in the NHS.

[@taffwob]

I trained on Javelin S15 in the 90's. We used older MCCL missiles for our first live shot as they were past their shelf life. Mine detonated after launch when the warhead armed (232m). It was a nervous couple of minutes sat on the fire point while they figured out what happened, the aiming unit is wired up to record every demand you input when firing. If I'd messed up they'd know about it. Thankfully I'd done everything correctly it was just a dodgy missile past it's best. We had a few launch errors with them. The subsequent shots with S15 missiles went without a hitch, I even got a direct hit on a later shoot and got the medal & tie from Shorts except the BC "had it back in his office, I'll give it to you when we're back at barracks." Yeah sure, I never saw that tie, still have the medal though.

[@arakami8547]

Did the Starburst/Javelin S15 require the operator to paint the target directly with the laser beam gunsight, or was it done automatically like the Starstreak - requiring the operator to only keep the target within the optics FOV.

[@RobinTheBot]

A MCLOS AA missile?!?! Insane! And seriously stupid! I love it!

[@kjellkriminell372]

Ive been fascinated with the blowpipe since i first heard of it about a year ago. The self-assembling missile is peak cold war "if it works it aint stupid" combined with a nearly useless guidance system for its intended task. Absolutely hilarious piece of equipment and a perfect example of what made cold war gear so interesting.

[@Tattlebot]

I think the issue would have gotten worse after the cold war because there is even less of an incentive to have a viable system. Generals and congress can pass the buck on unviable toys like the M1 Abrams because they believe when a real war comes around, someone will be there in time to make a war capable tank.

[@alanmcdonald8890]

I was trained on Blowpipe and Javelin in the 80's and early 90's. I seem to recall that, while the Javelin had a laser guidance, you still used the joystick to control the missile to the target, because I always thought it was silly that you had to do so since you had a lsser.

[@dogsnads5634]

Blowpipe used a joystick sending commands via radio to the missile. Javelin needed the operator to keep the target in the reticle, but commands were still sent by radio to the missile, no joystick involved. Javelin S15 (Starburst) needed the operator to keep the target in the reticle, but commands/control was exercised by the laser beam riding system Starstreak as above, but has also introduced automatic target tracking so the operator 'captures' the target and the system does the rest, essentially you don't have to track the target as finely as Starburst.

[@rollercoasterintogiantdomo]

​@@dogsnads5634whose bright idea was it to name an AA system after the candy!!

[@weir-t7y]

The Blowpipe is the most comical missile launcher I've ever seen. Blowpipe and Javelin reached levels of toob not seen before or since

[@richardvernon317]

Actually got 2 kills in the Falklands, An Argentinean Special Forces guy nailed a Harrier GR3 with one, while a Royal Marine killed an Argentinean Navy Air Arm Aermacchi MB-339 with one during the Goose Green battle. Got the same number of kills as the FIM-92 Stinger used by the SAS.

[@ExpatriotSilencers]

If you wanted to experience "comedy" up close and personal, you shoulda actually fired off those things. It was the weirdest experience of anything I ever pulled the trigger on.

[@richardvernon317]

@@ExpatriotSilencers For a period of a few years after the Falklands War, the Radar Sites on the Falklands each had a Royal Artillery detachment on the Mountains equipped with Javelin. They had gone by the time I got there but one of the blokes down their with me was on his second tour and on the first one he had made good friends with the Javelin detachment and his R&R period on that tour fell on the same dates as the Detachments down there did their firing practices and they let him have a go. His description of firing the thing was along the lines of "you have this massive amount of weight on your shoulder and as soon as the missile leaves the tube, you haven't!!! Seeing you body has been supporting the weight that is not now there, the relaxation of the body throws the sighing unit off the target and you miss" or words to that effect. Of course on the US and Soviet IR Manpads, this problem is not an issue.

[@ExpatriotSilencers]

@@richardvernon317 Yes, the sudden disappearance of ca. 60lbs off your should can result in the missile nose diving into the ground right after launch. We had that happen. The noises the thing makes during the launch process is laughable.

[@patrickmayes6071]

@@ExpatriotSilencers The fact it has a trigger and not a mouthpiece you blow into like breathalyzer is kinda disappointing.

[@johncage5368]

7:36 "out of the box solution" is actually hilarious in that specific context. 🤣

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

That’s a great explanation of the thermal battery

[@neilwilson5785]

In the UK in the 1970's everybody was broke. There was a permanent crisis government. Millennials like to say we had it easy, but it was a constant struggle to get food on the table whilst still producing enough weapons to counter the Soviet Union.

[@camohawk6703]

See this is why i like this channel. I had no idea that weapon system existed.

[@DSlyde]

I am very keen for that Starstreak video. Not that this wasn't excellent as always.

[@mattwilliams3456]

Superb as always. I didn’t see a complete blowpipe in Afghanistan but did come across the warhead of one that was attempted to be used as an IED. Gilles I’d love to see you get a crack at the collection from Movie Armaments Group in Ontario if you can make contact with them.

[@donjones4719]

I'm surprised "blowpipe" didn't become the generic name for MANPADS, like xerox did for copiers.

[@unimoose]

I guess 'stinger' kinda fills that term, at least among the layperson. Kinda similar to how every shoulder launched atgm is a 'javelin'

[@bob_the_bomb4508]

@@unimooseor everyone with an AK47 is a ‘sniper’

[@Treblaine]

For something to be a generic name it needs to be REALLY ubiquitous. For a long long time the only copiers anyone got were xerox copiers BUT there were competitors that were only slightly different, not different enough that is was worth distinguishing with a different name. An example of this is the Jeep which really was such a ubiquitous vehicle in WW2 but there were technically some very similar vehicles that weren't jeeps but were still called jeeps. This wouldn't be the case with blowpipe as there was such a vast difference between this crappy blowpipe and the brilliant stinger missile that you'd want to distinguish them. To an extent people do refer to all rocket launchers or recoilless rifles as "bazookas" (if the warhead is entirely enclosed within the tube) if a soldier said "platoon moving in from the southwest, they've got bazookas" you'd probably know what they mean. But generally military forces demand specificity in weapons, they want to know the exact type of weapon they're up against. They want to know if it's an RPG-16 (lame) or RPG-29 (really powerful).

[@jpaulc441]

I remember when people only called them "sniper rifles" and hardly ever "snipers". I don't know when it happened or why but it seemed like a sudden change.@@bob_the_bomb4508

[@koenvangeleuken2853]

not with a 2% hit rate in combat! more like the generic nickname for useless crap.

[@Tetemovies4]

Sounds like the blowpipe would be better as an anti tank missile than MANPADS

[@studentaviator3756]

I have asked if it could of been repurpesed as an effective anti personal weapon. I mean think about it it had about a 4% kill rate against fast-moving planes in the Falklands. Think how compartivly effective it would have been rerolled into hitting infantry and light armoured vehicles.

[@RobinTheBot]

Changing roles is going to mean an entire redesign, and it's not like that's it's only problem... Not to mention the two best ATGM in the world are NLAW and Javelin, which would be superior in every way. Somehow including cost.

[@studentaviator3756]

@@RobinTheBot I think blowpipe rapidly feel out of favour after the Falklands due to the Army seeing the necessity for a modern manpad system. However it was still the hight of the cold war, and the Milan had proven atgm's are an effective anti personal weapon. There was also 40,000 of these systems just lying around that could'nt be improved. Now in all reality you are likely right because if it was cheap to re-role them it would of been done, but still though its a nice thought.

[@daquemasquieren]

@@RobinTheBot ´´Not to mention the two best ATGM in the world are NLAW and Javelin´´ $400.000 misile that usually fails on the rocket or locking target vs a $400 drone whit an rpg head. Overexpensive wonderweapons

[@johnpalmer5131]

@@daquemasquierenI agree. Reminds of the many British overly complex ‘clever’ designs as shown in James Bond books/movies… look good on paper but rarely work in the real world.

[@Kaldosthesergal]

Wow, amazing video. I had no idea this missile system existed. I do hope you make a video on the star streak system. Probably one of the coolest air defense systems out there.

[@jp-um2fr]

Barnes Wallace. His work would make a very good wartime video. I like the way you present your channel and I'm sure you would take a more open look at this wonderful engineer. I had the honour to meet him many, many years ago. Dam Busters bouncing bomb, Grand Slam and Tall Boy 10 and 6 ton bombs, The Wellington aircraft - more built than any other UK bomber. etc.

[@Oxygentleman]

im glad the mannequin is having fun

[@andusangorson7062]

He is a rather whimsical and positive gentleman

[@cannack]

the air to ground variant, what has been developed into ``LMM martlet`` can be fired from the exact same launcher as starstreak, and is a direct descendent of the starburst. useful against essentially anything that lacks armor. More effective against smaller drones owing to its blast fragmentation warhead, can be fitted to the Westland lynx, spartan, or the triple starstreak launcher. quad mod guidance as well, beam riding, illumination, infared, or GPS/INS guided.

[@dogsnads5634]

LMM does not have quad mode guidance. Its beam riding only.Thales have proposed alternate seeking heads (and warheads and rocket motors) but none have been procured or tested on LMM to date. The seeker heads do actually exist, the lo-cost IIR seeker will be used in the LRAE trial with the FFLMM variant (essentially a gliding LMM without rocket motor) and the SAL head was used for the FFLMM when tested from UAV's.

[@bermont]

I was an Artillery reservist in the 90's in southern Alberta Canada and had fhe pleasure of operating this kit.

[@thedolt9215]

Please do a presentation on the proximity fuse as developed in World War II. Thanks!

[@Mountain-Man-3000]

I was truly surprised by the size and quality of Shilo's museum when I visited. Nice presentation!

[@michaelogden5958]

I didn't see the stand on that contraption at first. I was thinking that soldier guy must have been one strong hombre! 🙂

[@devildogswatching1984]

That soldier had to carry all that kit plus radios and personal ammo, rations, weapon etc etc. Three man teams. If you was Air Mobile troop you could carry a lot of kits for a lot of miles, we had Pumas and Chinooks pick us up after a long march. You get to love the sound of the helicopters/Taxi. Edit One of the reasons the old Blowpipe didnt work was because after carrying that heavy kit up and down mountains all day (Falklands) the first thing you did when you stopped was to drop the canister on the ground hence missile failure, lessons learned.

[@thedolt9215]

This classy gentleman is sharp! Love his channel!

[@ypaulbrown]

I think they used those thermal batteries in the Proximity Fuse in WWII....which was a pretty cool device too...

[@moistandwhite2636]

This type of clean, interesting and informative content needs to be appreciated more, leave a like if you enjoyed!

[@brentbanks8021]

One of the late 80's/early 90's GI Joe action figures carried that crazy awesome 3 tube Javelin missile launchers! I thought Hasbro just made it up for the toy line! 😂😂😂

[@_Matsimus_]

well made video! subbed

[@patopato9668]

3:40 A Harrier GR3 was shoot down by Argentinian commandos, the XZ-972 of Jeff Glover who eject and was recovered by the commando who shot him down. The main problem to aim it is that the radio commands, as the missile go away, need more time to reach it, making "lag" from the moment the operator move the joystick and the respon of the missile, and vs a fast moving and evading target is a really big problem

[@jasonmiller7735]

At the Blowpipe max range of 3.5 km, the lag due to the speed of radio waves is only about 0.00001 seconds, so that seems unlikely to be a factor. I could imagine that frustrated soldiers might think and say that there was "lag", but really I think the problem was just the fundamental difficulty of using the system. Also, I'm not sure what the rocket motor's burn time is, but it's probably very short (as with most short-range missiles), so the missile probably spends most of its flight time gradually decelerating, with decreasing control authority, which might produce the impression of "lagginess".

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

I like the folding fins shaped to fit the tubular body.

[@michaelhorning6014]

I fired a Dragon ATGM which uses SACLOS. Hard enough to keep sights on a non-moving tank with the weight transfer and smoke. Can't imagine having to track an aircraft.

[@taffwob]

Javelin S15 had SACLOS and it can be done but requires a LOT of training. You had to do a 1,000 simulated shots before you qualified to fire live.

[@robertsolomielke5134]

TY-thumbs up on this under reported system. SAM's are so forgotten in current times.

[@malcolmgibson6288]

My local territorial artillery regiment swapped it's 40mm bofors guns for blowpipe. They would probably have been better off throwing sharpened mangoes.🤭

[@Shrimping]

Great work Gilles, keep the content coming.

[@andyvonbourske6405]

i'm surprised the 3 startreak darts don't collide with each other in the terminal phase. seeing them in slow motion the way they seem to oscillate back and forth so close to each other but never touch is just amazing

[@jeffdroog]

Bravo! Keep up the superb work!

[@loneghostone6883]

awesome video as are the rest! i only found your channel recently, but i love the content. it's like falling down a wikipedia rabbit hole but in a video format. i particularly like the extra information you provide related to each topic!

[@flare2000x]

Great video. Found your channel from your lecture on sounding rockets. I discovered the blowpipe series of missiles recently and have been thinking it would be very cool to do a scale flying model rocket of one.

[@ChrisCoombes]

Thanks I’d always wondered why the wide diameter at the front.

[@tylerc9847]

You forgot to mention the different fuse settings that also made the S-15 more effective.

[@WWIIUK]

Interesting video. When talking about the lynx helicopter a photograph of its replacement, the Wildcat helicopter, appeared.

[@Valkyrie9000]

What's funny is that TOW/milan missiles are roughly about as effective at shooting down helicopters, as we've seen. They didn't need a second MCLOS system.

[@Valkyrie9000]

You gotta wonder if an anti-tank rifle with a lead calculating gunsight would've been more effective manpads at the time

[@nikolaideianov5092]

​​@@Valkyrie9000considering early manpads yes at least agenst helicopters

[@onyx8288]

this looks crazy! learned a lot today, thanks for the information. ps: when i first saw the thumbnail i read „shooting peasants“ 💀

[@briancox2721]

7:31 the the mannequin looks offended that he got bumped.

[@Zbigniew_Nowak]

7:00 Not entirely out of the box, because such a solution was known already during World War II and in the British army, so the designers may have heard something about it ;)

[@dinger40]

You missed out SLAAM Submarine Launched Anti Aircraft Missile. Fitted for trials on HMS Aeneas.The system using a cluster of four Shorts Blowpipe missiles on an extendable mast, allowing attacks against low flying aircraft while the submarine was at periscope depth. Seemed like a good idea at the time but a bit of a give away for position.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video, Gilles...👍

[@ypaulbrown]

Fantastic.....thank you so much....

[@kalliste23]

I tried the Blowpipe simulator when it was in service. I was told it was possible to shoot down low flying helicopters with them but I find it hard to believe having used the simulator.

[@peterodonnell5820]

I wonder if it was the same simulator I was 'trained' on in 1976. In the British Army the Blowpipe was going to replace the radar controlled 40mm Bofors guns for light air defence and I was an instructor training radar technicians on the EMI 7 mark 4 radars that controlled the guns so it was decided that I would do the two day Blowpipe course. There wasn't anything for a technician to do as the missile enclosure was sealed and treated like a round of ammunition and the controller was also a sealed unit. We were told how the missile was supposed to work and then played around with the simulator, which was a Blowpipe system attached to a steel frame that looked like a car engine hoist for home mechanics. There were steel wires attached front and rear with springs and relays so when you shouldered the unit the springs simulated the weight of the missile in the rear tube and a light shone in the viewfinder to simulate an aircraft. When you fired the missile the spring on the back was released and another spring gave the front end a short tug downwards to simulate the missile travelling up the tube. The operator then waited for the auto-gather to bring the light representing the missile to into the crosswires and then you used the thumbstick to keep the target and missile lights lined up until you 'hit' the target. I still have my Blowpipe Trained certificate.

[@kalliste23]

@@peterodonnell5820 it must have been. The first "shot" I nearly fell over because the simulated missile launch weight drop that I hadn't expected . Even on the slowest target speed (meant to represent a helicopter) it was impossibly difficult. I think it would take hours of practise to get it reliably but I only played around for ten or fifteen minutes. The simulator was in a TA Centre for an artillery regiment in Edinburgh, I wasn't in that unit (I was Military Intelligence) I was only visiting.

[@taffwob]

@@kalliste23 It takes a lot of practice to get proficient. On the course you have to do 1,000 qualifying shots on the simulator.

[@wolfsmith2865]

Great video. Well done.

[@coldburn9956]

“Even though I don’t play much of video games, I have to say it’s a ton of fun!” He literally means what he says. He doesn’t play video games but he’s contractually obligated to say “It’s fun” 😂

[@kyosokutai]

Play *much* videogames. He only plays on occasion but it is a good time when he does have the time.

[@HULLGRAFFITI]

Been watching a lot of stuff about historical weapons and it never ceases to amaze me the time effort and money we put into butchering each other , It really seems to bring out the best in us

[@NathansHVAC]

hard to beat ggggain of funnnction though. 20 million livvves only cost $20 million in grant money.

[@redcat9436]

I don't see anything wrong with defending my country.

[@williamromine5715]

I wonder how heavy the system was. Looks like it would be very difficult to hold steady on the target.

[@kocovgoce]

my opinion is that the blowpipe was developed as an anti-tank system as well.therefore it also had a cumulative warhead

[@taffwob]

Javelin, it's successor had a secondary role against soft skinned vehicles. It wouldn't be much use against armour as it has a blast fragmentation warhead.

[@danielcurtis1434]

No reference to the “Redeye”??? That was the original American iteration which was produced starting in 1962 from what I’ve read.

[@ethanmckinney203]

The description of the laser guidance system is completely wrong. The laser sensors are mounted on the rear of each dart, in the non-rotating section. They determine their position in the laser "grid" and steer toward the center. Laser light may incidentally bounce off the target, but it is irrelevant to the guidance system. In fact, the reduced target illumination will (hopefully) reduce the chances of a laser warning system being triggered.

[@JP-sw5ho]

Great work

[@jimsvideos7201]

I could be wrong but I think Thales rhymes with Dallas. The two per year for training sounds like the USAF, for their Minuteman ICBM.

[@kyleboschen6220]

Yep correct according to A) Wikipedia and B) knowing someone who works there! 😅 Still an excellent video, apparently the pronunciation catches a heap of people out

[@dominicmauro7203]

Do a video on how infrared sensors work (sidewinder, stinger). Ive never fully understood it no matter how hard I try.

[@24934637]

The 3 missile syste wasn't used shoulder mounted! That had a tripod! Only ONE missile tube fitted for shoulder mounted use!

[@chriswerb7482]

PS, if you want an obscure SAM system to make a video on which was (almost uniquely) employed by Canada, you might want to look at ADATS.

[@craigd1275]

The fin engineering is unique. .

[@hullinstruments]

Ahhh yes. The good ole "GFL" guidance system. (Good fekin luck)

[@timypp2894]

Emergency Exit door "We take visa, MasterCard..."

[@dawolf7784]

Very cool never knew the blowpipe manpads existed !

[@mrkeogh]

Shorts: "You can have two of the following three: 1) effective 2) portable 3) cheap So, what'll it be?" British MoD: "None of the above." 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@mathewweeks9069]

Your awesome and awesome video be safe out there

[@demos113]

Nice vid.

[@EricEngle-f1q]

Any tips on improvising manpads or other anti drone weapons?

[@TheCatBilbo]

The principle was flawed: you might hit a slower moving helicopter or transport plane, but anything else was basically impossible. The good news was that it couldn't be spoofed by flares or chaff!

[@tritonum]

great content! Subscribing.

[@Tomyironmane]

MCLOS and a 2.2 pound shaped charge? Crap against jets and fixed wing, sure.... but I bet there were a few Hind pilots that found out that their armor wasn't nearly thick enough. Also, yes, please do talk about the Starstreak. That thing sounds like straight up science fiction.

[@chriswerb7482]

They proved just as useless in Aghanistan. Far too operator skill dependent.

[@SteveMacSticky]

Very interesting

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Blowpipe was truly terrible, by all accounts the mujahideen hated them as much we did.

[@m9ovich785]

Excellent Video, Thanks Much.. Mike M Central Wi.

[@KriegZombie]

This missile doesn't know where it is. How sad. Without a guidance system the missile doesn't even know where it ISN'T!

[@christianweagle6253]

Or where it *was*. No deviation can be created.

[@Ciborium]

I read the thumbnail as "Shooting Peasants With a Drainpipe"

[@RedTail1-1]

You would think the bad guys would have been raiding those caches and using them against us in Afghanistan.

[@G7VFY]

Shorts, built the Sunderland flying boat, which was very successful.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

And the Stirling wasn't. Plus the Flying Sheds, that only flew because the Earth repelled such ugly aircraft.

[@G7VFY]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Rex's Hangar is going to do a video on that. I wonder if he'll do the Shorts Skyvan too

[@stephenbritton9297]

Wasn't there a GI Joe character that came with that exact triple missile launcher?

[@devildogswatching1984]

That soldier had to carry all that kit plus radios and personal ammo, rations, weapon etc etc. Three-man teams. If you were Air Mobile troop you could carry a lot of kit for a lot of miles, we had Pumas and Chinooks pick us up after a long march. You get to love the sound of the helicopters/Taxi. One of the reasons the old Blowpipe didn't work was because after carrying that heavy kit up and down mountains all day (Falklands) the first thing you did when you stopped was to drop the canister on the ground hence missile failure, lessons learned. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y4iwcnp6qqiaoLc

[@davewolfy2906]

Starts at 2:20

[@erg0centric]

Always go with the least expensive - politicians

[@davidhughes4089]

Brother I'm always thinking about the FGM-148 Javelin, the title of this video changes nothing 😂. To be fair sometimes I find myself thinking about the Saab Bofors NLAW too 🤦‍♂️ Clever engineering and chronic underfunding are the two hallmarks of the British armed forces unfortunately

[@charlesurrea1451]

How much did that Beast weigh and is one person supposed to be schlepping that thing?

[@tjtarget2690]

Notification Squad! :)

[@markdsm-5157]

so out of 100, only 2 hit. that's 2% accuracy. and the british kept buying them. For some reason, that doesn't surprise me at all. Especially with the UK.

[@romantrigubov80]

British are famous of weird weapon designs

[@hoilst265]

THE BLOWPIPE MANPADS: Even the Taliban thinks it's crap.

[@Perktube1]

Five minute notification! Faster than poutine on a Porsche. 😉