Documents: Summaries of seized arms caches containing QW-1 MANPADS

Source: U.S. Department of Defense

Publication Dates: See below

Notes: As part of a study on illicit weapons in Iraq, Small Arms Survey acquired storyboards (succinct summaries) of arms caches recovered by US and Iraqi forces that contained components for Chinese-designed QW-1 (or QW-1 pattern) MANPADS. Additional QW-pattern MANPADS have been spotted in videos of Iraqi armed groups, including groups with alleged ties to Iran.



The documents were obtained by Small Arms Survey and the Federation of American Scientists under the US Freedom of Information Act. They are posted as received from the responding agency.

1) Weapons seized in Basrah Province, March-May 2008

2) Seized Weapons cache, 9 January 2009

For more information, see

1) ‘Surveying the Battlefield: Illicit Arms In Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia’ in Small Arms Survey 2012: Moving Targets