Man-Portable?

The initial report on the Georgian missile affair is in. Yup, radar tapes show not one, but three separate incursions by a SU-24 from Russian airspace. The missile was either dropped (oops) or sputtered out (oops) when the pilot attempted to fire at a Georgian radar instilation.

The missile in question is a Russian-made Kh-58 (above), specially designed for the SU-24. The Georgian's don't fly this aircraft, nor do they have this missile in their arsenal.

Originally, South Ossetia's "President" claimed the Georgians had planted the missile to embarrass Russia. This is the same line which the Kremlin has adopted throughout. However, nobody seems to have CC-ed Russia's peacekeeping commander in South Ossetia on the talking-points memo. On August 7, Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov claimed that South Ossetian forces had fired a man-portable missile at a unidentified Georgian aircraft which had flown into South Ossetian airspace. (Get it, Georgia invaded us!) So that's what must have fallen to the ground. Too bad the Kh-58 weights well over 300 pounds, is not very "man portable," and did we mention the can-only-be-fired-from-a-SU-24 part?

Not that it matters. This is the Caucuses. We don't need no stinking facts.