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Tactics Show Iraqis Learned Lessons of War

(Washington Post) Vernon Loeb - Iraqi attacks badly damaged about 30 Apache Longbow helicopter gunships and disabled two Abrams tanks and a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The Iraqis used a French-made Coronet antitank missile to knock out the tanks, a senior defense official said. The tanks had been shot in their soft spot - a rear grille covering the engine. The tanks' four-man crews escaped in both cases, a testament to the Abrams's design. In attacking a formation of about 40 Apache Longbows on Monday, the Iraqis staged a classic helicopter ambush first perfected by the North Vietnamese in the 1960s. Iraqi troops dispersed throughout a palm-lined residential area and opened fire with antiaircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and a wall of fire from rifles and other small arms as the aircraft flew low overhead.
2003-03-27 00:00:00
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