ISIS Has Been Equipped With Advanced Anti-Aircraft Missiles

Iraqi families surrender to Shi'ite fighters and Iraqi Army after they took control of Jurf al-Sakhar from Islamist State militants October 27, 2014. The families, who were in militant-held areas, surrendered to the army to be transported to safe areas and escape clashes between militants and Iraqi security forces. Picture taken October 27, 2014. REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud REUTERS/Mahmoud Raouf Mahmoud

Alarm bells are being sounded for the U.S.-led coalition after reports came out that the ISIS now have in their possession a slew of advanced anti-aircraft missiles.

The weapons, identified as Chinese-made FN-6 Man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADs, can reach up to 12,500 feet vertically, military experts at Jane's Defence said. The portal is a British publishing company specialising in military, aerospace and transportation topics. The Washington Free Beacon said the weapons are capable of downing any aircraft during takeoff and landing. The media outlet further reported the radical militants are now actively discussing on the Internet how to best use to their advantage the captured weapons loot, such as how to "shoot down an Apache helicopter."

NYTimes reported an online guide made by the ISIS has been making the rounds. It talked of "how to use shoulder-fired missiles to shoot down an Apache attack helicopter, one of the most fearsome weapons in the United States Army's conventional arsenal." Written in Arabic, it noted that such planned attacks would be best held in a location "preferably somewhere high" such as the "roof of a building or a hill."

According to the Telegraph, the Chinese-made FN6 is only a shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile. Yet its power is so great because it was able to bring down an Mi-35M, a helicopter believed to be fitted with defence systems. Russia reportedly provided the latter to Iraq just in 2013. The Mi-35M is believed to be still being manufactured.

Jeremy Binnie, of IHS Jane's, said he believed the U.S. Apaches participating in the mission will be fitted with countermeasures. However, he cannot assure if these will be enough or even "more effective than the ones on Iraq's new Mi-35Ms."

In the frenzy, Qatar received much of the blame for the presence of the anti-aircraft missiles in the hands of the radical group. The armaments were part of those supplied by Qatar to the rebels in 2013.

Earlier, German spies disclosed the radical ISIS group has anti-aircraft weapons. The presence of such missiles will surely change the way how the game is being played by the U.S.-led coalition over there in Syria and Iraq, an unidentified senior American military official told NYTimes.

Video of the supposed Chinese-made FN-6 advanced anti-aircraft missiles in the hands of the ISIS below.