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The altitude was trivially in range of Pantsir systems, of which Russia has many. The Pantsir-fired missiles are fragmentation weapons that basically shoot out
by nvy 3y ago
The altitude was trivially in range of Pantsir systems, of which Russia has many. The Pantsir-fired missiles are fragmentation weapons that basically shoot out metal rods like a hand grenade, and take the target down by catastrophically damaging the control surfaces and engines, rather than turning it into a fireball.
- dilyevsky 3y agoPanstir range is very short - wikipedia says 20km. It would need to be deployed at exact right spot. Why risk it when you can take it out with s-300 from a comfortable distance?
- nvy 3y agoDepends on the version. Newer models double that range, but either way 30000ft is only about 10 km, so if you control Rosaviatsiya you can just instruct ATC to send the aircraft over a particular area where you've pre-positioned your asset. Anyways I'm not saying it wasn't an S-300 but Pantsirs are easy to deploy. It's a single truck. We'll probably never know the truth.
- dilyevsky 3y agoI’m def leaning towards a planted device. Any kind of aa system needs involvement from mod and there are many sympathizers and the kill chain will be long. Planting a device in a parked plane sounds like something fsb can pull off on their own without too many people involved
- nvy 3y agoThe footage I've seen pretty clearly shows a missile plume.
- dilyevsky 3y agoI'm no expert but that plume could just as well be from explosion and there are no contrails visible. Also another point - SBIRS would likely detect the launch if it took place so we may actually know if us intelligence decides to leak that (which I'd expect they would).
- nicce 3y agoPlanted device would have caused a lot more damage. These planes fly high and are pressured. Seems like only another wing was damage and ripped off in this case.