“I know Stinger FIM92 does high twenties”
The maximum altitude is only achievable from immediately below the target. Any launch point not immediately below the target adds to the distance to the target and reduces the maximum altitude the missile can achieve. The Stinger’s war head uses shrapnel to destroy the target. We have seen news photographs of the pieces of the aircraft. If the aircraft had been disintegrated by a missile strike, the pieces we see and the wreckage examined by the investigators would have unmistakable evidence of shrapnel holes and pieces of embedded shrapnel from the missile’s warhead. The absence of the shrapnel excludes missiles of all types as the cause of the disintegration of the Airbus.
I understand- thanks Whiskey
As a former A-10 fighter pilot I am quite aware of the threat from MANPADs as we usually flew low and were exposed to those types of threats, but at altitude, like 31,000’, heaters were of no concern.