Ukraine: Malaysian airliner shot down, 295 dead
Jul. 17, 2014 | 06:40 PM (Last Updated: July 17, 2014 | 06:59 PM)
KIEV: A Malaysian airliner was shot down over eastern Ukraine by militants Thursday, killing all 295 people aboard, a Ukrainian Interior Ministry official was quoted as saying by Interfax- Ukraine news agency.
The aircraft, which other sources said was a Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, came down near the city of Donetsk, stronghold of pro-Russian rebels, Anton Gerashchenko said, adding that it was hit by a ground-to-air missile.
There was no further confirmation of the report, although Ukrainian officials said local residents had found wreckage.
Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed it had lost contact with its flight MH-17 from Amsterdam. "The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace," it said.
Gerashchenko was quoted as saying: "A civilian airliner traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system ... 280 passengers and 15 crew have been killed."
Interfax- Ukraine quoted another Ukrainian official as saying the plane disappeared from radar when it was flying at 10,000 meters, a typical cruising altitude for airliners.
It came down at Torez, near Shakhtersk, some 40 km from the Russia border. The area has been the scene of fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels.
Ukraine has accused Russia of taking an active role in the four-month-old conflict in recent days and accused it earlier Thursday of shooting down a Ukrainian fighter jet - an accusation that Moscow denied.
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22 Mar 2013
The Buk missile system (Russian: "Бук"; English: beech, pron.: /bʊk/ BOOK) is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the former Soviet Union and Russian Federation and designed to engage cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Buk missile system is the successor to the NIIP/Vympel 2K12 Kub (NATO reporting name SA-6 "Gainful"). The first version of Buk adopted into service carried the GRAU designation 9K37 and was identified in the west with the NATO reporting name "Gadfly" as well as the US Department of Defense designation SA-11. Since its initial introduction into service the Buk missile system has been continually upgraded and refined with the latest incarnation carrying the designation 9K317 "Buk-M2".
A standard Buk battalion consists of a command vehicle, target acquisition radar (TAR), six transporter erector launcher and radar (TELAR) and three transporter erector launcher reloads. A Buk missile battery consists of two TELAR and one TEL vehicle. The battery requires 5 minutes to set up before it is ready for engagement and can be ready for transit again in 5 minutes. The reaction time of the battery from target tracking to missile launch is around 22 seconds[citation needed].
Inside the TEL of a Buk-M1-2 SAM system
The Buk-M1-2 TELAR uses the GM-569 chassis designed and produced by JSC Metrowagonmash (former MMZ)[14] onto which is mounted a turret containing the fire control radar of the TELAR at the front and a launcher with four ready to fire missiles on top. Each TELAR is operated by a crew of 3 and is equipped with CBRN protection. The radar fitted to each TELAR is referred to as the 'Fire Dome' by NATO, it is a monopulse type radar and can begin tracking at the missile's maximum range (32 km/20 mi) and can track aircraft flying at between 15,000 and 22,000 m (50,000 to 72,000 ft) altitudes. It can guide up to three missiles against a single target. The 9K37 system supposedly has much better ECCM characteristics (i.e. is more resistant to ECM/jamming) than the 3M9 Kub system that it replaces. While early Buk had a day electro-optical tracking system 9Sh38 (similar was used for example on Kub, Tor and Osa missile system), it's current design can be fitted with a combined optical tracking system with a thermal camera and a laser rangefinder for passive tracking of the target. The 9K37 system can also utilise the same 1S91 Straight Flush 25 kW G/H band continuous wave radar as the 3M9 "Kub" system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNSMjPxhmrY
