Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has acknowledged that the lion’s
share of Libya’s shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles are gone.

Officials said a State Department program to retrieve so-called
man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) stolen from Libyan Army arsenals during the
revolt in 2011 has been stalled. They said that after initial success in the
fall of 2011, the department failed to reacquire additional Russian-origin
missiles, believed to be in the hands of Al Qaida or Libyan militias.

“Many militia groups remain reluctant to relinquish them,” Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro said. “We believe a substantial number are held by these militias.”

In an address to the Stimson Center on Feb. 2, Shapiro, responsible for political and military affairs at the State Department, said about 5,000 MANPADS have been recovered, about 25 percent of Gadhafi’s estimated arsenal. The assistant secretary reported the same number of retrieved Libyan missiles about two months ago, Middle East Newsline reported.

“We believe the vast majority still remain in Libya,” Shapiro said. “We cannot clearly rule out that some weapons leaked out of Libya.”

As part of a $40 million program, the State Department, which as late as August insisted that the MANPADS problem was under control, has sent teams to Libya to find the shoulder-fired missiles, most of them identified
as the Russian-origin SA-7 and SA-16. Officials said the department, in
cooperation with other NATO states, also offered significant rewards for the
return of the weapons.

“We don’t have precise information on the Gadhafi regime and his
stockpile,” Shapiro said. “We don’t have how many systems were used in
training or were damaged by the elements.”

Shapiro said many of the weapons sites were destroyed during the NATO
no-fly zone mission over Libya in 2011. He said the destroyed weapons
bunkers must be swept for unexploded ordnance before a search takes place in
the rubble.

“How many are still missing?” Shapiro asked. “The frank answer is we
don’t know and probably will never know.”

  Andrew Shapiro, Libyan militias, NATO, Russian origin SA-7 and SA-16, State Dept. admits: Three of four Libyan MANPADS unaccounted for, U.S. State Department