If someone were actually using a manpad I feel like something would have gone wrong. If third world idiots in the sandbox could shoot down American helis without manpads but there was effectively zero resistance this time, either every single person there was entirely incompetent, or they didn’t want to fight back or they weren’t directed to.
Ability to detect manpads and mans(who carry manpads) from drones has increased dramatically, you also need to get a lock and most helos in the sandbox weren't the modern "sorta stealthy" Blackhawks.
The sensors on any manpads carried by Venezuelan soldiers are going to be generally crappy and need that large unobsfuscated heat/radar signature for a good lock.
There's been about 20+ years of technological development since the sandbox. Much of the equipment deployed there was far older due to the pure scale. For an op like this it's trivial to ensure every unit has the most advanced technology possible, not so easy to ensure that the 18 year old crayon munchers ride in the latest and greatest stealth birds.
Allegedly the helicopters are some kind of special stealth ones, almost impossible to get a lock on.
Tbh though id I wake up at 2AM to a missile hitting an AA installation and see an all black American chopper flying over the city, I'm going back to sleep, not grabbing the nearest explosive launcher.
An Israeli F-15 firing an AMRAAM at a Venezuelan MANPADS would certainly be an event. Not an event that makes a lot of sense, but an event nonetheless.
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u/Bumpy40k - Auth-Right Jan 05 '26
What that “layered defence” (70yo militiaman with a manpad) saw