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I wasn’t on the type of ship that could shoot down an airliner. (I was on a Los Angeles class submarine.) It would be nice if there was someone on this board who has experience with Aegis combat systems and could explain the steps required to accidentally (or purposely?) shoot down an aircraft.

Not that I know anything about IFF, but I’d imagine quite a few sailors would like to tell their officers that they’re idiots for targeting a civilian airliner.

I just don’t buy both an actual accident and then one of the most successful cover ups in history.

For the record, I don’t necessarily believe that TWA Flight 800 was brought down by a missile. I have simply said for years that IF it was brought down by a missile, an accident involving a naval asset was a more plausible scenario than a terrorist firing a missile from a point so far east of JFK Airport.

Also for the record … I’m inclined to assume that the official government findings about any incident like this has zero credibility, and should be treated as anything ranging from wild speculation (at best) to deceptive propaganda (at worst).

For what it’s worth, the most plausible “shoot-down” scenario I had scene laid out in a speculative analysis of the incident DID involve an accident, but not and accidental MISSILE LAUNCH. This scenario — which I’m reciting from memory because it was posted here many years ago — included the following chain of events:

1. TWA Flight 800 departs from JFK and climbs as it head east toward Europe.

2. U.S. Navy is conducting “live-fire” exercises somewhere south of Long Island that night. This exercise may have involved other NATO vessels, which would add a lot of sensitivity to any incident that may have occurred with them.

3. The naval exercises that night involved the use of one or more drone missiles that were used as targets for the surface-to-air missiles being tested. One ship served as the launch platform for the drone(s), while a second ship miles away — perhaps even over the horizon — launched the SAM(s).

4. Flight 800 was supposed to be flying at an altitude of X thousand feet at that point in its eastbound flight. It was actually 5,000+ feet lower that night because it had to interrupt its climb to make way for a northbound flight into Providence, Rhode Island that was running behind schedule.

5. A drone is launched from one ship and reaches an altitude of 20,000+ feet. The SAM is launched from the other ship, climbs to 20,000+ feet, and mistakenly targets Flight 800 instead of the drone.

I’m sure there are plenty of holes in this theory. I’m sure I left some important details out, too. But I will say that I find this no less plausible than the cockamamie scenario fabricated by the U.S. government back then.