Now the RSF has MANPADS

Sometimes the juice really is worth the squeeze

May 25, 2023

∙ Paid

I'm gonna’ add "Giving MANPADS to the RSF in Africa” to the list of things I didn't want to see happen this year.

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Back in April there was a New York Times story about the Wagner Group giving units of the Sudanese RSF surface to air missiles.

I questioned this because I couldn’t see the risk-vs-reward calculation. Yes, the Sudanese Army and Air Force have air cover and HIND gunships.

But they aren’t generating that many sorties. And for every box of MANPADS you load onto an IL-76.

Credit: MAXAR / CNN https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/africa/wagner-sudan-russia-libya-intl/index.html

That’s one less box of rifle or mortar ammunition you can carry. Add to this the training necessary to operate a MANPADS (and who are we kidding, it’s probably the SA-7 Grail) and it makes you wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze here.

And I guess the RSF thought it was.

Now the RSF has MANPADS

Sometimes the juice really is worth the squeeze

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