Malaysian Jet Shot Down By Surface-To-Air Missile – US

A Malaysian airliner with 298 people on board
was shot down over Ukraine by a surface-to-air
missile Thursday but it was unclear who fired
the weapon, US officials said.
Intelligence analysts are reviewing data to
determine whether the missile was launched by
pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine, Russian
troops across the border or Ukrainian
government forces, two US officials told AFP on
condition of anonymity.
“We are working through all the analysis,” said
one official.
But there was little doubt that the plane was
struck by a surface-to-air missile.
“That’s what we strongly believe,” the official
said.
At an event in Detroit, Vice President Joe Biden
said the US-made Boeing 777 was intentionally
“blown out of the sky.”
The aircraft was “apparently… and I say
apparently because we don’t have all the details
yet… shot down. Not an accident. Blown out of
the sky,” Biden said.
Soon after the plane went down, Ukrainian
leaders accused pro-Russian separatists of
bringing down the airliner in a “terrorist” attack.
Speculation soon focused on the possibility that
the airliner was shot down inadvertently,
possibly by pro-Russian forces believing they
were targeting a Ukrainian army transport
plane.
The aircraft was reportedly flying at an altitude
of more than 30,000 feet (10 kilometers),
putting it well within range of Russian-made
Buk missiles that are in the arsenals of both
Ukrainian and Russian forces.
Widely used, the Buk surface-to-air missiles are
mobile systems installed on wheeled or tracked
vehicles and are designed to strike aircraft,
cruise missiles, helicopters and other targets.
Before the conflict in Ukraine began, Kiev
government forces had about six to eight
batteries of the missile, according to military
analysts.
Russia has many more at its disposal, as well
as more sophisticated missiles, though it
remains unclear if they are deployed near
Ukraine.
Buk missiles are complicated to operate, unlike
shoulder-launched weapons, and it would
require outside help or extensive training for
pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine to be
operating the missile batteries, said IHS Jane’s
senior defense analyst Edward Hunt.
“They’re normally not seen within insurgent or
separatist forces for the very reason they’re
quite manpower intensive, training intensive and
spare parts intensive,” Hunt said.
Buk weapons require several people to operate,
including a radar operator coordinating with
those launching the missiles from a common
post vehicle.
Ukrainian air traffic controllers lost contact with
Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 at 1415 GMT,
about four hours into its flight and some 30
miles (50 kilometers) from the Russia-Ukraine
border.
The plane had taken off from Amsterdam en
route to Kuala Lumpur.
There were no signs of survivors at the crash
site in eastern Ukraine, with horrific scenes of
carnage.