<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" Call it a case of defense-press diplomacy: An Iranian colonel this week spoke publicly about a &amp;quot;special weapon&amp;quot; that was tailor-made to destroy U.S. Apache attack helicopters. The government-run Iranian news agency also released images of the shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile.   In the photo, the launcher is to the left, in green, and the grey missile is also to the left, with a white cap covering the guidance laser. The straight black piece sticking out is a simple aiming device, similar to those found on other shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.  &amp;quot;The enemy should not assume that if it attacks Iran, its Apache helicopters will perform as satisfactorily as they do in Iraq and Afghanistan,&amp;quot; Col. Nasser Arab-Beigi says in the release.  All helicopters are vulnerable to missiles fired from air or ground because they are slow targets that fly close to the ground, limiting their maneuverability. Missile sensors also easily detect spinning rotors and hot exhaust U.S. helicopter fleets are built to minimize these risks, and are equipped with missile-jamming hardware, but the constant improvement of tech on both sides makes the cat-and-mouse game lively.  In this case, according to the Iranians, the new anti-helicopter missile is guided by a laser that the shooter aims from the ground, so the usual infrared countermeasures will not be effective. Still, countermeasures designers in the U.S. don&amp;#039;t appear to be nervous. one defense-industry countermeasures designer implied that the new missile wasn&amp;#039;t too threatening: When asked about the alleged Iranian Apache-killer he told us we should &amp;quot;sleep well.&amp;quot; Even in Afghanistan, where shots fired at helicopters always come in the form of bullets or unguided rocket-propelled grenades, the safety of helicopters is an issue. In a recent Aviation Week article, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Ray Pickering, product manager for infrared countermeasures, said a CH-47 Chinook helicopter had been targeted by multiple antiaircraft missiles using infrared-seeking weapons. &amp;quot;If we lost a CH-47 a week for six weeks, the war would be over,&amp;quot; he told the magazine. Other media outlets have quoted sources worried that more advanced, Russian-made missiles could be smuggled into Afghanistan, since similar missiles shot down coalition helicopters in Iraq.  The Pentagon has taken steps to protect its helicopters, especially the heavy-lifting Chinooks that have become the ride of choice for many combat missions in Afghanistan. In December 2009, the Army outfitted a high-tech improvement called the Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures system on older-model Chinooks in Afghanistan. The system uses lasers to scramble the infrared detectors found in many kinds of shoulder-fired missiles so that they lose track of their targets.  The Defense Department budget released this week also reflects the attention on helicopters\u2014including ways to make their pilots ready for combat conditions, where collisions and crashes take more of a toll than enemy weapons. The budget requests $65 million to train 1500 new helicopter pilots by the end of fiscal 2012. There will be more helicopters as well\u2014the total bill for the Pentagon&amp;#039;s helicopter fleet stands at $9.6 billion, $500 million more than last year&amp;#039;s request for the year. The purchases include $1.4 billion for Army UH-60 Black Hawks, $1.7 billion for the Navy&amp;#039;s MH-60 Sea Hawk, $1.2 billion for new-model Chinooks and $2.7 billion for V-22 Osprey tilt-rotors. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a5230/4344988/>