Hamas learns Stingers don't shoot friendly aircraft

Oops! Hamas learned the hard way that Stingers don't shoot friendly aircraft. They smuggled some into Gaza and tried to shoot down Israeli Apache helicopters. Ready, aim, fire and...nothing happens. The manufacturer, Raytheon, installed identification friend/foe capabilities more than a decade ago. According to a Worldtribune story,

The Hamas regime acquired U.S.-origin air defense systems but was unable to use them in combat.

"Our gunners couldn't fire the weapon," the source recalled. "A notice came up on the display saying 'friendly aircraft.'"

The one stinger they did get to fire veered off course and hit a Hamas gunner crew. Read more from Worldtribune,

"The Stinger was drawn by the heat of our guns rather than the engines of the Israeli helicopters," the source said. "At that point, we stopped using this weapon."

The sources said Hamas has abandoned plans to acquire additional Stingers. Instead, the Islamic army has been ordering the Russian-origin SA-16, or Igla-1, surface-to-air missile system, with a range of five kilometers.