Not only the French, but the Argentinian Etendards have also flown from the US carriers:

I would put the use of MANPADS in Syria on par with their use in various 20th century wars such as Angola or Yugoslav wars - not as prominent as in the Soviet Afghanistan war, Arab-Israeli or Gulf wars, but still damaging enough to result in a wider strategic impact.

What the hell are you talking about? Rafale is a perfect combat aircraft.

If you would go through my post history, you would see that I also complain about the bad acts perpetrated the Unites States; most recent being the several posts yesterday regarding the Kunduz MSF hospital bombing.

Regarding the SVP-24 and CCIP, here is a copy paste from the thread linked below (because it’s relatively comprehensive I don’t feel like thinking about anything technical right now):

Thank you for the kind words and please accept my apologies for the harsh tone of my initial reply. Putinbots often make me loose it.

Why don’t you go fuck yourself.

I think that many of us here have agreed that it is a false information, clickbait, or only a small part of the reason (I’m not sure, because this thread is huge). Anyway, that’s my opinion on that.

Not just Strelas (SA-7), but also SA-18, Chinese FN-6 and occasionally radar guided SA-8. Strela is an old missile and its use is pretty widespread; they have shot down several US and UK helicopters over Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a good Guardian article regarding the Afghan war leaks and the use of MANPADS.

For some reason, I received 6 notifications for this reply of yours. Kinja is on the fritz again.

That and the fact that the maintenance issues go beyond giving them new wings. Engines, software etc. I’ve heard rumors that AF mechanics doubt they will manage to keep them all flying into the 2020s without other upgrades.

We are chiefly discussing the danger MANPADS pose to helicopters, and their proliferation in Syria.

Actually, Chinese FN-6 was also confirmed in use, both by the rebels in Syria and the ISIL in Iraq. Iraqi Mi-24 was shot down by one of them. Also, a very much new SA-18 was confirmed as being used by the rebels.

It is not my intention to prove people wrong, so I am going to end this discussion. But I will tell you to make a some serious reearch into these topics before making such claims.

I did trust them, but the current affairs caught up with me. I do hope this is just a current phase and that it will go away, because if not, some self evaluating needs to be done.

I don’t visit Jalopnik so often since I had a squabble with the editors last summer (on Black Flag), which had only added to my dissatisfaction with their diluted content. However, I haven’t really noticed that commenters have become that bad.

In my own eyes, it makes me a worse person then I was, when you add some other things to it, before the downfall of the Arab spring.

Is that photo inverted or is it performing an actual roll?

I should’ve clarified that a bit more. When a nation starts loosing soldiers in a foreign (overseas) war, a popular opinion may (and often will) sway against the involvement in that war. Foremost recent examples are the Vietnam and Iraq wars for us, and the Afghanistan for all of us. Also, some minor engagements -…

I’m sorry, but I have no clue what does everything after the yang mean. And I don’t think I want to know; its probably some Gawker tabloid crap.