Washington ( CNN ) -- Among the 90,000 secret U.S. military documents posted on the internet this week by WikiLeaks are more than a dozen reports of possible attacks on Afghanistan coalition aircraft using heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles . It was that type of missile that brought down numerous Soviet military aircraft when the Soviet Union tried to occupy Afghanistan in the 1980s . But among all the reports , one day stands out : May 30 , 2007 . In the first of three attacks on that day , an American CH-47 helicopter code named `` Flipper '' was , according to a leaked report , `` engaged and struck with a missile . '' `` The missile struck the aircraft in the left engine , '' the report says . `` The impact of the missile projected the aft end of the aircraft up as it burst into flames , followed immediately by a nose dive into the crash site . '' All seven troops on board died , including five Americans , a Briton and a Canadian . The report goes onto say , `` Based on description of launch , size of round , and impact force of the projectile , it is assessed to be bigger than an RPG ( rocket-propelled grenade ) and possibly a surface-to-air missile . Witness statements ... suggest Flipper was struck by MANPAD ( man-portable air-defense system ) . '' MANPADs are shoulder-fired missiles that can home in on the heat from an aircraft 's engine to destroy it . A U.S. military official in Afghanistan said the reports do n't tell the whole story . `` We 're aware of the report on surface-to-air missiles . What 's being presented is a pretty broad and somewhat random selection of documents that includes information that in some cases is incomplete or not verified by other sources or studies , '' the official said . `` There 's been no recent activity suggesting that these weapons are a threat , as attested by the volume of our daily air activity and the causes of aircraft incidents , which we report . '' Within half an hour of the first attack , two Apache helicopter gunships were fired on by what the pilots thought was a missile . The helicopters were not damaged . Another half hour later , another attack came from the ground on the same Apaches . The report on that incident reads , `` This was possibly the second MANPAD engagement against this flight of Apaches in a 30-minute period . Clearly , the Taliban were attempting to down an Apache after downing the CH-47 . '' Many more reported MANPAD attacks or possible MANPAD attacks were reported in 2007 , but none brought down a coalition aircraft . Perhaps the best known and most effective MANPADs are American-made Stingers , which the United States supplied to Afghan militia to fight the Soviets . At least two of the reports indicate that a Stinger missile could have been used to attack coalition aircraft , albeit unsuccessfully . One report details that case of a missile fired at an American F-18 Hornet by what was believed to be a MANPAD . And because the missile blew itself up as it approached anti-missile flares , the report 's author suggested it was a Stinger . `` A Stinger Basic would have likely been the only MANPAD ( currently known to be in Afghanistan ) capable of a proximity detonation onto the dispensed flares , '' the unidentified commander wrote . The Hornet was not damaged and no one was hurt . Most of the reports mentioning the specific type of MANPADs refer to older , less sophisticated missiles of Chinese or Soviet design . `` The 1st or 2nd generation MANPADs generally encountered in Afghanistan ( HN-5 , SA-7 , SA-14 , SA-16 ) would have had to have made direct contact with one of the flares ( in order to ) initiate the detonator , '' the report on the F-18 Hornet attack says . There 's no doubt MANPADs are in Afghanistan . One coalition raid on a weapons cache in 2005 found four MANPADs in storage . And during a meeting between U.S. military leaders and a provincial governor , `` the governor reported that a man claiming to have MANPADs for sale has been in touch with his staff , presumably to give CF ( coalition forces ) an opportunity to buy them and get them out of circulation , '' one of the leaked reports says . `` The governor referred to them as Blowpipe missiles . The seller is going to show the governor a picture to prove that he has them . '' It is unclear from the report whether the coalition ever secured the missiles the governor talked about .
Documents posted on WikiLeaks.org include possible attacks by MANPADs . The missiles may have been used in three attacks on May 30 , 2007 . The heat-seeking `` man-portable air-defense '' units include U.S. Stinger missiles . These are the same weapons that were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq as part of a program called Global Hawk.