Small Scale Military Headquarters

Here is the description of some photos a friend sent me.
I would be happy to send them to someone who can post them here if you guys are interested. The 'pattern' looks like an angel.

ANGEL DECOY

These are photos of an Air Force C-130 releasing flares to repel heat seeking Missiles. The pattern formed by these "decoys" are how they got their name . . . Angel decoy. It's absolutely awesome!

Maneuvers are usually in remote areas and over water, therefore the general public does not get to view these exercises.

Here's some photos, in sequential order. My dad sent me some photos from of this test a while back. Very Cool!

WOW! Sweet!

Yep they are the same pics I had, cool isn't it!

very interesting..what is the purpose of this bird? Is it to decoy heat seaking missiles for miles around, to protect other aircraft? If it's just for self defense most aircraft have similar decoy flares. Though not so spectacular as these...

I had got the video of this a while back. The explanation was this is a standard anti-missile system on most of these transport planes. I guess "angel pattern" is fairly common. Maybe some of the active-duty guys on the site here could shed some light.