Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor
Captain, it would seem IF Russia was supplying the rebels with the BUK system that it would be Russians operating it, would you agree, seems like a system you don't just hand off without someone who knows what they are doing operating it.
Which leads me to ask, how likely is it a Russian trained guy mistakes an Airliner and shoots it down??
/speculation end
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I'll answer this the best I can.
this isn't like a hand fired SAM, or some of the older simple point and shoot independently targeted Sam vehicles.
The Buk is an air defense vehicle, its built to be a central point in keeping the skies clear over an advancing military. It uses radar and optical and infrared systems and it takes a while to train someone to use it and use it effectively.
One of two things could have happened. The Russians had the Separatists into Russia to train them, or we have "Advisers" running the vehicle.
Its not like a video game, usually what happens is the radar picks up the plane in sight, and you try to identify the target, usually by signature or transponder. Then you use the optical system to passively track the target, you don't want to use your targeting system on a military plane because they pick up that lock on radar. Once you identify the target optically then you usually lock on and fire.
There's a small chance that this could have been a tragic mistake, but if they used the optical system, and if they looked at the targets signature profile and transponder they would have known what it was..
And you can't take some farmer separatist and put him into this vehicle its a pretty technology heavy platform.