Tuesday, July 21, 2015

ISLAMIC STATE (Isis) fanatics may have got their hands on portable rocket launchers which they could use to SHOOT DOWN passenger jets, it emerged today.

By Nick Gutteridge

PUBLISHED: 07:28, Mon, Jul 20, 2015 | UPDATED: 09:14, Mon, Jul 20, 2015

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Defence chiefs fear that crazed militants may have raided Colonel Gaddaffi's stock of up to 10,000 sophisticated surface-to-air missiles, capable of downing a plane flying below 20,000ft.

The former Libyan dictator was renowned for stockpiling deadly weapons, which could easily have fallen into terrorists' hands amid the chaos that followed his ousting and execution in 2011.

RAF experts have been dispatched to north Africa and the Middle East to teach foreign armies how to prevent terrorists from shooting down airliners, in a sign that the British government is becoming increasingly worried about their capabilities.

Ministers have been warned that it is "too late" to stop the portable ground-to-air missiles - known as "manpads" - from falling into extremists' hands.

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Colonel Gadaffi is thought to have stockpiled up to 10,000 Manpad systems

Last year Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a heat-seeking BUK missile, thought to have been launched from the back of a lorry by Russian separatists in Ukraine.

That plane was at a cruising altitude of 33,000ft - beyond the range of the "manpad" launchers - but there are fears that Isis fanatics could still use the rockets to target low-flying airliners.

As a result, teams of British experts have been dispatched to help improve security at foreign airports, giving local police and armies advice on how to reduce the risk of terrorists shooting down an aircraft about to land or take off.

Training courses have been carried out in conjunction with foreign governments, headed by counter-insurgency officers from the RAF Regiment. The force comprises ground troops who patrol the perimeter and surrounding area near UK military airfields to protect against possible enemy attacks.

Known as the "counter manpads team", the regiment is overseen by the Department for Transport (DfT) and also includes experts from the Metropolitan police and British Airways.

Clive Wright, head of international strategy in DfT's aviation security division, said: "We need to offer assurance to ministers that overseas we are mitigating risks successfully so that UK carriers can continue to fly into those airports and foreign carriers from those airports can continue to fly into the UK."

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A surface-to-air missile was used to down Flight MH17 last year

Speaking at a conference held by respected defence think tank the Royal United Service Institute (RUSI), he also revealed that British teams have trained foreign airport staff in how to use explosive detection machines and body scanners, and how to conduct "pat down" searches of passengers.

In total, British experts have helped train more than 1,600 security staff in 30 different countries over the last four years.

The revelations came after an Isis-affiliated militant group based in Egypt's Sinai region claimed it had used a "guided missile" to attack an Egyptian navy ship.

The group released photographs that appeared to show a huge fireball as a projectile struck the ship, which was patrolling the Mediterranean.