[wetphoenix]

~It’s a directional charge that launches several pounds of steel shrapnel (usually balls just like a claymore) ~

BUK missiles has a continuous rod warhead. No balls. It is not puncturing target but shreds and tears it. It is not if I’m supporting any theory here because a picture on one fragment is not enough to draw conclusion, just my few cents anyway.

[Spktyr]

CR warheads that go off early separate into shrapnel like chunks of one or more rods, something to keep in mind. The 9М38 and 9М38M1 missiles and all their descendants used a blast/Frag-HE warhead for all known variants. Mind, the Tunguska anti-air vehicle often accompanies the Buk batteries, and the missiles *it* carries *are* continuous rod. The latest version of the missile it carries has a 10,000 meter range, so it could *just* reach an airliner at 30,000 feet.

[Cold Heat]

I believe you are in error.

The missile is a radar guided proximity detonation. It does not attempt to actually hit the aircraft. It get’s it’s cigar by just being close.

A rod charge is a penetrator for armor, like a tank.

To knock down a fighter jet, you don’t need that, although I am sure they have a missile designed for that and can be launched by a BUK.

AA missiles are quite different.