Jonathan Beale Defence correspondent, BBC News: A defence expert has told the BBC that shooting down a plane at 10,000 metres (9.7 miles) would have required a long-range surface-to-air missile - possibly guided by radar. That suggests it is unlikely it could have been downed by a portable air defence missile, or Manpad, which has a much shorter range. The only other possibility is for an aircraft at that height to be downed by a fighter carrying air-to-air missiles. The US will have access to satellite imagery that should be able to identify ultra-violet plumes if a long-range surface-to-air missile was fired.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 16:38:53 +0000
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