Fighting The Tide: The Islamic State’s Desperate Attempts to Combat Coalition Airpower

The usage of several 2P25 launch systems, part of the 2K12 Kub (SA-6) SAM complex, captured near Deir ez-Zor in 2014 was foiled by the lack of any missiles and significant damage on the launcher itself. More promising was a capture of a 2K12 Kub battery in Deir ez-Zor in January 2016, which did provide the Islamic State with an operational SURN 1S19 radar system and intact launchers. However, these systems were in such a sorry state that returning them to operational condition would have been nigh impossible, not to mention the bad condition of many of the associated missiles. [1] The whole site was said to have been bombed and destroyed by the RuAF shortly after its capture, which turned out to be a case of Russian disinformation after one of the intact launchers was later seen employed as a VBIED. [2]

In its increasingly desperate efforts to address the threat of Coalition airpower in Iraq, the Islamic State resorted to measures such as using conventional artillery as makeshift anti-aircraft guns, praying for the remote chance of achieving a direct hit on enemy aircraft flying high in the sky to bring them down. [9] First shown off in March 2016, these truck-mounted 122mm D-30 howitzers of the Al-Farouq Platoon (of the Wilayat Ninawa Air Defence Battalion) were seen firing at U.S. Navy (E)P-3 spy planes used for signals intelligence (SIGINT) missions over Mosul. The use of this weaponry, ordinarily employed as conventional artillery against ground targets only, was highly unconventional, and highlighted the Islamic State's severe lack of means to counter the Coalition's overwhelming air assets.


The slow-flying (E)P-3s, usually moving in a circular pattern, must have been a thorn in the eye of the Islamic State, which, in contrast with fast flying jets also used in the region, appeared as though there was a chance of shooting them down in this manner. Despite the fact that the high-powered artillery is capable of reaching the altitude at which these aircraft operate, the fact that their High Explosive (HE) munition lacks any type of proximity- or anti-aircraft fuse means they have to score a direct hit on their target in order to disable it, an almost impossible feat to accomplish.

Although this practise might appear to be a waste of time and precious munition, the Islamic State is not the first to resort to such tactics. Indeed, Mujahideen are known to have employed mortar- and RPG-fire against Soviet helicopters during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Iranian artillery targeted low-flying Iraqi helicopters during the Iran-Iraq War as well. Of course, neither of these cases resulted in any reported aircraft losses or even minor damage being done, as the use of such desperate tactics only results in either a complete destruction of the target or a complete miss.


The Islamic State also attempted to create solutions to mitigate the targeting of Islamic State armour by Coalition aircraft. Left defenceless against fast jets and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) circling overhead, the Islamic State's only viable option was to decrease the chances of detection of its forces, leading to interesting adaptations on the battlefield. One example is the production on several types of camouflage uniforms with an aluminium lining to prevent forward-looking infrared (FLIR) targeting pods from picking up the heat source of the soldier.

While these methods are relatively straightforward and easy to implement, the camouflaging of an object as large as a tank required a wholly different approach, as clearly evidenced on the T-55 tank below. The suspended rope-like components that make up the camouflage are believed to be leather strips, and have a similar function to the camouflage uniforms mentioned above.


Unsurprisingly, nearly all of the tanks upgraded with multi-spectral camouflage would be deployed to Wilayat al-Barakah (al-Hasakah governorate), where the Islamic State was on the offensive against not only government forces but mainly the YPG. [10] The latter could count on heavy Coalition air support, which would play a vital role in stopping the Islamic State's advance in this region.

Similar to other Islamic State armour upgrades, the effectiveness of the multi-spectral camouflage at deceiving Coalition airpower remains largely unknown. However, as no tank upgraded with this type of camouflage has ever been seen targeted in footage of Coalition airstrikes, or has otherwise been spotted destroyed by a presumed airstrike on the ground in Syria, it might indeed have proved effective at deceiving Coalition aircraft and thus avoiding detection.


Another way to avoid being struck from above is by making sure that more visible decoys are on the receiving end of precision-guided munitions instead. For this purpose, the Islamic State manufactured a whole range of decoys that even included a number of fake tanks. That said, many of these were of questionable build quality, and it is likely that even with a camouflage pattern they still would have stood out as a sore thumb on the plains of Iraq and Syria, something a bearded mannequin posing as crew was unlikely to change.


The production and deployment of decoys was not limited to just tanks, as even M1114 'Humvees', howitzers, multiple rocket launchers and heavy machine guns were used as the basis of a range of decoys. While these might well have fooled the optical devices of older generations of Russian aircraft, it is unlikely that Coalition aircraft equipped with advanced forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras had much problems discerning them from their more lethal brethren.

While the Islamic State's extensive efforts to combat coalition airpower would ultimately yield little result, they still embodied the group's pragmatic attitude towards finding inventive ways to alleviate their shortcomings. Whatever the task at hand, you can be certain that IS would come up with some surprising solution in attempt to achieve it. Of course, with its Middle Eastern empire in tatters and relieved of much of its former resources, it will now be forced to do so once more in obscurity. Meanwhile, Coalition air pilots will not have lost much sleep over the Islamic State's anti-air endeavours.