Dantac wrote:
The plane was at 22k feet. Weapon systems to reach that high can only come from a fighter aircraft or a military air defense system.
So, it was either the Russian military shooting it down with a fighter or their own land to air missiles (either from their side of the border or fired from one such air defense system operated by Russian soldiers inside rebel-held territory..aka Russia supporting the Rebels this way)....
or it was the Ukraine military shooting it down with a fighter or an air defense system.
A rebel force can't really use such systems (or the staff to use and maintain) in inventory....they rely on shoulder launched and small mobile systems. A missile that gets up to 22k is not small...it needs radar input of some form plus fires a fairly large missile.
It's either going to get ugly or its going to end up buried in UN politicized 'investigators' that will take longer than this conflict will last to figure out who did it.
It was flying at 33,000 feet, only 1,000 feet above the restricted area.
It seems like it was shot down by the Buk operated by the pro-Russian rebels
Quote:
On Thursday, an Associated Press reporter reported seeing a Buk in the east Ukrainian town of Snizhne.
Pro-Russian rebels the Donetsk People's Republic have taken control of a military base with Buk systems. But they are useless without specialist knowledge. Jonathan Eyal, director of the Royal United Services Institute, said it was not a matter of climbing aboard a van and pressing a button. Firing a missile requires knowledge of how to use radar, how to lock on to a target and a host of other steps beyond the average rebel.
"If the plane was shot down, it could only have been shot down by a state authority," Eyal said, suggesting either Russia or Ukraine, or by a group in Ukraine helped by Russia. On balance, he said he thought the blame rested with Russia.
The Buk, he said, "definitely has the range and is mobile and could be fired by Russians or Russian separatists.
"It amounts to a massive, massive escalation," Eyal said. "The only country that has a persistent policy of trying to prevent Ukrainians controlling airspace is Russia. Russia has taken an interest in shooting down aircraft and forcing Ukraine to use ground troops."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/j ... uk-missile