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Thank you for the info. I'm not doubting what you say, but is the APHID specifically mentioned in the 1991 cease fire agreements or subsequent UN agreements as being legal for Hussein to possess? It seems that with the constant shooting at Coalition aircraft that was going on for years in the No Fly Zones that this type of armament would have been banned, no?

No. APHID is a an air-to-air missile. The Iraqi’s were allowed to possess all of these types of weapons. It was the surface-to-surface missiles that exceeded a 93 mile limit that was illegal for Iraq to own. Every single air defence weapon that the Iraq had pre 1991 did not fall under this category and Iraq could legally own as long as they stuck to the 93 mile range limit. They were even allowed to convert SA-2 GUIDELINE surface-to-air missiles to surface-to-surface mode as long as they didn’t attach boosters to exceed the set 93 mile limit. The Iraqi’s used lots of various missile types and large caliber mortars in the No Fly Zones in an attempt to shoot down Coalition aircraft. They even used converted SA-6 GAINFUL with APHID infra-red seekers attached to the nose along with other ad-hoc munitions. Pictures of the APHID noses GAINFULs were released as the Coaliton forces advanced into Iraq. In similar fashion Yugoslavia used such ad-hoc weapons. The following is an APHID mounted on a launcher and used as a surface-to-air weapon during 1999.

The following is one of the Iraqi ad-hoc weapons discovered by Coalition forces as they over-ran Iraqi positions. This is an SA-6 GAINFUL SAM fitted with an AA-8 APHID infra-red seeker in the nose.