The shoulder fired systems are the largest threat. They are easy to transport and conceal. They can be smuggled across borders. Terrorists can hide near an airport, in fields, forests or waterways, and surprise an airliner landing or taking off.
Imagine a dozen of these, using Al Qaeda tactics, so the shoot-downs are timed to happen simultaneously across the country.....a dozen airliners shot down at the same time....3000 dead, our air system shut down, no defense possible, our economy shattered.
4. SAMs are deadly and are programmed to avoid Russian aircraft entirely.
The biggest problem is that, throughout history, a lot of those with power tended to be idiots, a-holes, or some
combination of the two.
Stalin, Himmler, Goering, Pol Pot, Kim Jong-un (or WTF his name was), Baby doc Duvalier, Castro, Osama, etc., etc., and now Putin and the bozo in charge of that AA unit.
Some things never change - and so the misery continues. We can put men on the moon, but can’t get rid of the idiocy.
Nice of them to NOT blame Russia. ...
...add one more: It’s not too bright to fly passenger planes over ACTIVE WAR ZONES and a habit of shooting at planes.
Good aim can kill hundreds, too.
We knew this, in particular, in 1996...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Iran Air Flight 655 was an Iran Air civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai that was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on 3 July 1988. The attack took place in Iranian airspace, over Iran's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, and on the flight's usual flight path. The aircraft, an Airbus A300 B2-203, was destroyed by SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles fired from the Vincennes.
All 290 on board, including 66 children and 16 crew, died.[1] This attack ranks seventh among the deadliest disasters in aviation history, tenth if including the 9/11 attacks, which includes ground casualties; the incident retains the highest death toll of any aviation incident in the Persian Gulf and the highest death toll of any incident involving an Airbus aircraft anywhere in the world.[2] The Vincennes had entered Iranian territorial waters after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.
According to the Iranian government, Vincennes negligently shot down the civilian aircraft: the airliner was making IFF squawks in Mode III (not Mode II used by Iranian military planes), a signal that identified it as a civilian craft, and operators of Vincennes mistook for Mode II.
According to the United States Government, the crew incorrectly identified the Iranian Airbus A300 as an attacking F-14A Tomcat fighter, a plane made in the United States and operated at that time by only two forces worldwide, the United States Navy and the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. The Iranian F-14's at that time had no anti-ship capability.
The US Navy had claimed that the Vincennes was defending itself in international waters at the time of the incident. Later disclosures would prove that the Vincennes had entered into Iranian waters and initiated hostilities. This was a key fact that was left out of the public inquiry led by Admiral Fogarty.
The event generated a great deal of controversy and criticism of the United States. Some analysts have blamed U.S. military commanders and the captain of Vincennes for reckless and aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.
As of 1993, the United States had not apologized to Iran.[8] In 1996, the United States and Iran reached "an agreement in full and final settlement of all disputes, differences, claims, counterclaims" relating to the incident at the International Court of Justice, including an apology in the form of "...the United States recognized the aerial incident of 3 July 1988 as a terrible human tragedy and expressed deep regret over the Loss of lives caused by the incident...".[9] As part of the settlement, the United States did not admit legal liability but agreed to pay US$61.8 million, amounting to $213,103.45 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims.
Iran Air still uses flight number IR655 on the Tehran–Dubai route as a memorial to the victims.
So was Dutch responsible for that shoot down?