Since the countermeasures were launched (the flares can be seen falling after the helicopter was struck), is it possible it might have been equipped with a MAWS system which launched the flares then?

https://twitter.com/syrianmilitary/status/717000396045156352

I mean, if the pilot somehow spotted the incoming missile (which I doubt since there was no smoke), besides launching flares, I’d expect he’d try to do some evasive maneuver, but the helicopter doesn’t change its course at all before it’s struck.

If that was the case, Russian MiG-29Ks would be having even more issues, since they would not be able to import substitutes for all these supposed foreign components.

Couldn’t the Russians have changed some equipment set used by the Indian variant (and e.g. produced by a Ukrainian company) on their KR variant since embargo came on?

MIG-29K was extensively tested from carriers before they were handed over To India. I presume all this data is already stored in MIG simulators. This deployment if happens it will show that Russia is fully prepared for multi year wars in Middleast.

That means pretty much nothing in regards to the operational deployment. Russian pilots from the squadrons operating these would need to be fully proficient in live carrier operations (especially landing) before any such thing can happen. In any case, the upcoming Kuznetsov deployment to Syria will have no meaningful impact on the ongoing war effort, but it will be a useful experience in combat operations for the ship and the crew before the planned overhaul.

they want to test Ka-52K but aircraft carrier is more of hassale as it will need all around protections from small boats to be close enough to shore.

Ah, good find. So, it’s the Ka-52K they want to test, but have no other suitable ships at the moment. Surprisingly enough, the article mentions the MiG-29K deployment as well at the end. I don’t recall there being any training deployments with the MiG-29K yet?

They have gotten away with more in the past and have as a matter of course relied on turncoat and treacherous iraqi politicians tribesmen and officers to complete their operations. They trusted that the deals they were used to extricate themselves from other areas would be honoured.

So, Falluja was not completely surrounded by government forces then? Or the government used some local units as well for the siege which could open a road for IS?

Regarding the US armed forces, don’t worry, I’m sure they’re as happy as you are when the Iraqi army is capable of fighting IS more or less on their own.

The above was a 100% iraqi operation from beginning to end.

Sadly the media portrays it as a 100% US operation! they don’t even give the measly iraqis even 1% credit! And of course sad to say people are immediately defensive about the US and dismissive of iraqis… despite ALL evidence to the contrary. In fact had the media worded it “iraqi carried out a raid and the US supported them with their own raids on nearby targets” it would have been ok… but these sad outright lies… when they US media desperately tries to edit the video of iraqi helos in a way to cut out the “iraqi ministry of defence” written in arabic in the top left corner of the video! hilarious!

go on then. hold the americans to the same level of “proof” you expect from the “cowardly iraqi liars”… as is the usual presumption.

I don’t know what’s your problem. The only media article I posted said the Iraqis carried out the most of the attacks and that the US did some later that day during the night. Yes, it’s funny how some Western media posted the videos of strikes with blurred out arabic text, but most of them do a copy/paste so I’m not sure which one was the original source of this news and video. The US media needs to present some results in this war against IS for all the money being spent while the Iraqi media needs to bolster the morale and show that they can achieve victories on their own. Neither is particularly objective here so no surprise if the presentation gets somewhat skewed.

But, why would it be a problem if the US actually participated in some of the strikes during the night? Does it really diminish this “victory”?

Regarding the video, I don’t see all these vehicles as being destroyed – some are destroyed, most seem to be abandoned with the IS troops apparently long gone by then (there are only about two cars moving on those videos and perhaps a few dismounts can be seen).

Interesting in that video they showed a pilot of either a IA-407 or EC-635 who having used up his last rocket to blow up a vehicle saw that one terrorist survived and crawled out of the vehicle… so he pursued him in the helicopter and shot him with his personal pistol then did a touch and go on his head to “make sure”.

So, you’re seriously presenting this as a fact?

Mast mounted sight + large diameter rockets (long range) = FAC? Seems they will do great in that config to mark targets for everyone.

Technically, it’s not an optical sight, but a radar set and the unguided rockets are not that precise (especially at range) to rely on for precision marking these days.

I’m not sure in which scenario this target marking with colored smoke you had in mind would be useful? Who would they be marking targets for anyway (instead of e.g. engaging them themselves) except perhaps for the older aircraft like the Su-25..