Boeing 777 shot down

I've done some flight sims which are apparently 'realistic', and it is quite tricky to launch pretty much anything short of the heat-seeking sidewinders.

I'd imagine a multi-vehicle system is going to even more complicated.

Even heat seeking sidewinders need a target selecting first before locking on and firing. It's all pretty tricky unless you've had experience or know what you're doing. I would imagine a surface to air missile system to be similar, in that you would have some sort of screen showing blips as potential targets. Which would first need selecting before the system would even launch. Unless it was a totally automated system set to fire at will, which would be crazy.
 
It may have already been mentioned but this further adds to the suspicion that the pro-russian rebels are being reinforced with russian army personnel 'in disguise'.

This is something the russians have been denying, but it does seem odd that a bunch of rebels are able to use such a sophisticated bit of kit.

Just playing Devil's Advocate, but it could be that some of the rebels are ex-Ukraine military and had been trained to use this sort of equipment? Just speculation as I have no idea of the makeup/background of the rebels in general.
 
Just playing Devil's Advocate, but it could be that some of the rebels are ex-Ukraine military and had been trained to use this sort of equipment? Just speculation as I have no idea of the makeup/background of the rebels in general.

Yes, also just as plausible.

However, the one downfall with trained army people from either side being involved is surely if they are trained on this equipment they would not have downed a civillian airliner?

Unless, of course it was done on purpose to destabalise the area yet further.
 
Just playing Devil's Advocate, but it could be that some of the rebels are ex-Ukraine military and had been trained to use this sort of equipment? Just speculation as I have no idea of the makeup/background of the rebels in general.

Now the statements from Ukraine are saying Russia supplied the systems. Yet,there is evidence to show Buk systems were being fielded by the Ukranian military themselves currently,and that the rebels themselves might have captured some of the Ukranian launchers too.

They BOTH have Buk systems in play in the area. The separatists would be the more obvious party,but then again the Ukranian military shot down a Russian TU154M airliner in 2001 by mistake which killed nearly 80 people themselves:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ine-admits-it-shot-down-Russian-airliner.html

They admitted they accidentally shot it down with an S200 long range missile from an SA5 system.
 
Just playing Devil's Advocate, but it could be that some of the rebels are ex-Ukraine military and had been trained to use this sort of equipment? Just speculation as I have no idea of the makeup/background of the rebels in general.


Well about a month ago there was the APC which was abandoned that ended up blowing a corner of a house off (and an old man).

That would be point and click, which I imagine this missile system isn't.
 
i read that the SAM system automatically detects civil airplanes transponders and avoids them targeting at auto mode, only way to override this is by aiming manual. So it could be that someone deliberately wanted to shoot down a civilian aircraft.

So why would a pro russian wanted to shoot down an aircraft carrying civilians? what the benefit from it? i dont see any.
 
Russian foreign minister has said they won't take the black boxes now.

Unfortunately the fact it was not recovered by independent search and rescue and secured immediately means the data on them will always be questioned.

No where else on earth would a black box be removed from the scene, or in fact the country where the crash took place, without permission and precautions taken to preserve the contents.

The cover up is already well under way
 
i read that the SAM system automatically detects civil airplanes transponders and avoids them targeting at auto mode, only way to override this is by aiming manual. So it could be that someone deliberately wanted to shoot down a civilian aircraft.

If that really were the case, can you not see the tiny flaw from a military point of view?
 
Well,it depends - say the aircraft was deliberately targeted and it was not incompetence,who would benefit?

Probably Ukraine (if it were proven the shot was fired by pro-russian rebels).

I think the international community is strongly suspicious of the Russian involvement in that area.

Also, with all of the international eyes and ears in the region it halts Russian progress and buys Ukraine some breathing room.
 
If that really were the case, can you not see the tiny flaw from a military point of view?

i do, but then again we are not aware of tge intentions the shooting party have. I just dont get it why would you shoot down an aricraft flying at 33000 feet, that is if you are pro russian, which can be seen as civilian on your screen, is close to exiting ukranian airspace (thus is of no military use, it couldnt be an ukranian antonov looking to land anywhere near the donetsk area while flying at ....33K feet).
 
i do, but then again we are not aware of tge intentions the shooting party have. I just dont get it why would you shoot down an aricraft flying at 33000 feet, that is if you are pro russian, which can be seen as civilian on your screen, is close to exiting ukranian airspace (thus is of no military use, it couldnt be an ukranian antonov looking to land anywhere near the donetsk area while flying at ....33K feet).

Unless it is a stand alone BUK missile platform (without all of the attending systems of the full set up) which is in auto mode which only has a radar that can tell friend or foe transponders.

Then it will shoot at anything that does not return a 'friend' signal.
 
i do, but then again we are not aware of tge intentions the shooting party have. I just dont get it why would you shoot down an aricraft flying at 33000 feet, that is if you are pro russian, which can be seen as civilian on your screen, is close to exiting ukranian airspace (thus is of no military use, it couldnt be an ukranian antonov looking to land anywhere near the donetsk area while flying at ....33K feet).

Exactly which is why the only sensible explanation is that somebody screwed up. I cannot see how this would be deliberate because the potential downsides for all involved parties outweigh the potential upsides by about a billion to one.
 
i do, but then again we are not aware of tge intentions the shooting party have. I just dont get it why would you shoot down an aricraft flying at 33000 feet, that is if you are pro russian, which can be seen as civilian on your screen, is close to exiting ukranian airspace (thus is of no military use, it couldnt be an ukranian antonov looking to land anywhere near the donetsk area while flying at ....33K feet).

You referring to the BUK?

Ukraine has long-range Soviet-era missile systems in its inventory such as the SA-2, -3, -5, and -12 that would have no difficulty to downing a target flying at 30,000 ft. However, these systems are deployed at permanent launch sites that have launchers and associated radars located at specific locations distributed around the site. Their operators would have a good idea of the air traffic present in the surrounding area, so it would be unlikely to mistake an airliner for a combat aircraft.
-----
However, a Buk launcher can also operate in stand-alone mode. Its built-in radar is normally used to track the target being engaged, but can be operated in a target-detection mode, allowing it to autonomously engage targets that were present in the radar's forward field of view.

Although it has its own identification friend or foe system, this is only able to establish whether the target being tracked is a friendly aircraft. It is the electronic equivalent of a sentry calling out: "Who goes there?". If there is no reply, all you know is that it is not one of your own combat aircraft. It would not give you a warning that you were tracking an airliner.
 
Now confirmed that 298 people were on board, up from 295 because 3 of the passengers were babies who don't have their own ticket. 3 babies :(

someone actually took a photo of one of the babies and posted it on the net :rolleyes:

it's laying inside what appears to be a small crater from the impact.

I bet loads of the passengers were concious and alive as they plummeted towards earth
 
Back
Top Bottom