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Thursday, April 2, 2009 GAZA CITY — The Hamas regime acquired U.S.-origin air defense systems but was unable to use them in combat. "We were disappointed by them, and they were found to have been useless," a Hamas source said. The source said Hamas smuggled four Stinger systems in 2008. The source said the Hamas military deployed the Stingers against Israel Air Force AH-64 Apache attack helicopters during strike missions in the northern Gaza Strip. Also In This Edition New, by Bill Gertz: 'Failure Factory' "Our gunners couldn't fire the weapon," the source recalled. "A notice came up on the display saying 'friendly aircraft.'" Industry sources said Raytheon, producer of Stinger, installed identification friend/foe capabilities more than a decade ago. The sources said this would prevent Stinger from being fired against any aircraft used by the U.S. military. Another Hamas source said gunners deployed Stinger along with heavy machine guns in attacks on Israeli helicopters during the war in the Gaza Strip. The source said one Stinger surface-to-air missile was launched, but the projectile veered off course and struck a Hamas gunner squad. "The Stinger was drawn by the heat of our guns rather than the engines of the Israeli helicopters," the source said. "At that point, we stopped using this weapon." The sources said Hamas has abandoned plans to acquire additional Stingers. Instead, the Islamic army has been ordering the Russian-origin SA-16, or Igla-1, surface-to-air missile system, with a range of five kilometers. COMMENT LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Comments It's ironic that Raytheon can make these missiles identify friendly or enemy aircraft, but these missiles are a threat to civilian airliners. It's also strange that Hamas is supposed to be supported by Iran, going through Egypt, but with U.S. missiles??? These missiles were less than ten years old. Where did they get them? Mike 8:50 a.m. / Monday, April 13, 2009 This is how Hamas spends its "aid" money. Joel B. 1:15 p.m. / Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Comments This is so funny. There is a God and He is on the side of his people Israel. RTG 10:10 p.m. / Friday, April 3, 2009 About Us l Contact Us l Geostrategy-Direct.com l East-Asia-Intel.com Copyright © 2009 East West Services, Inc. All rights reserved.