Blackhawk (MH-60) airstrike at Mosul, Iraq

mikemather5
mikemather5
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Published 2008-01-19
Ground forces pinpoint a target for the airstrike. Pilots wearing night vision goggles can easily spot the reference lights. (already posted once but I had it too).
All Comments (13)
  • @mikemather5
    The pointers are in the infrared range, somewhere between visible light and a microwave. Without the goggles you can't see them. Even the little lightsticks you can buy for the military, you know the little green ones, come in IR. You break one open and it looks like it doesn't work, except with the goggles on.
  • @mikemather5
    When Nate was in Iraq (Marines) he did a wheely all the way around the runway at Al Asad on his mountain bike he bought at the PX there. Got pix!
  • @Inkompetent
    @Fowarderboy They use AN/PEQ-# (where # is the model number. Lots of different variants in use) IR beam illuminators which essentially is a rifle-mounted gadget with an IR laser beam within a very specific range of IR-frequencies only visible by modern night vission equipment designed to see that IR range. To my knowledge no parts of the Iraqi military had equipment capable of seeing those beams, for example.
  • @Inkompetent
    @Inkompetent The expanded beam could also be because of smoke or dust that helps reflect the light, but that isn't thick enough to block it.
  • @Inkompetent
    @Fowarderboy It's the way lasers work. Laser beams don't go 100% straight, and due to the wave-behaviour of light they diverge from the center axis, more and more over distance. How much depends on the quality/cost of the laser (number and quality of mirrors, etc) and of the wavelength of the transmitted light. Also, the end appears larger because of the reflected light where it 'impacts', giving the 'glowing ball' effect.
  • @fjwjr
    @florian116 No, there was no danger. As it said at the beginning, this was a show of force. In other words, just a demonstration of fire power to impress the insurgents. This was done on the east side of the air field in Mosul, Iraq, between LSA Diamondback and the Tigris River. It was about 400 meters from my barracks. The first several times they did this, they gave us no warning and it sent us to the roof tops thinking we were under attack again. Listened to this for several months.
  • @TysonDiniz
    @Inkompetent That explains a lot, thanks.
  • @TysonDiniz
    @Inkompetent What's causing it to become large on the target? Do you notice how the tip gets bigger?
  • @TysonDiniz
    What are you using to mark the target? I heard something about an IR Spotlight, can you give me some more info on this?