Posted on 01/09/2020 9:09:53 AM PST by dead
The Ukrainian Airlines flight which crashed in Tehran killing 176 people on Wednesday was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile system, Pentagon and US intelligence officials believe.
Three security officials said that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system as it left Tehran on the way to Kiev, according to Newsweek.
Two of the officials said the aircraft was likely targeted by mistake by Iranian missile systems that were active on Wednesday night as Iran launched rockets at two US basis in Iraq, waiting for a possible counter-strike.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800 en route from Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airpot to Kyiv's Boryspil International Airport, encountered a problem moments after takeoff before crashing.
Video showed the aircraft in flames in the air before coming down and bursting into flames a short distance from the city.
The US intelligence officials spoke out as Ukraine confirmed it is sending missile analysts to the site to investigate.
Downing Street also confirmed it is looking into 'very concerning' reports that the airliner was shot down by a missile.
Iranian investigators have insisted that the crash was an accident, but have refused to hand over the black box recorded to international investigators.
Some Iranian reports have claimed the black boxes were damaged, and parts of the recordings lost.
New footage shows the moment a burning Ukrainian passenger jet exploded into pieces yesterday - as Iran said the plane was trying to turn back after a technical fault but Ukraine sent missile specialists to inspect the wreckage.
The CCTV footage shows the burning jet plane lighting up a dark street as it approaches before it explodes in a huge fireball.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Good point. Why shoot down an outgoing aircraft?
Me thinks that someone on that plane was targeted, not just the plane.
“Ukrainian jet that crashed in Tehran ‘WAS hit by an Iranian missile in what was likely an accident, Pentagon and US intelligence officials say’”
sounds like maybe Pentagon and US intelligence officials finally got around to looking at and verifying the cell phone video of the SAM missile streaking into the Boeing 737 right after flight takeoff from Tehran
https://twitter.com/i/status/1214756225293979648
personally, my best guess is that Iran went Defcon 5 right after sulymani was killed and some poorly trained sad-sack SAM battery operator incorrectly put his battery into some kind of automatic or test mode and a SAM took off after the Ukranian airliner as soon as the airliner lifted off from Tehran
Imagine if Trump had “accidentally” bombed one of our airliners..WOW! the blunder of the century...this proves he is crazy..blah blah blah.
Imagine if he was the one that accidentally bombed the Ukrainian airliner.
Otherwise,how are the Ukrainians taking the news?
Our satellite intel picked up signals of the ground radar being turned on & detected infrared blips of 2 missile launches, probably SA-15s, followed shortly by another infrared blip of an explosion.
More than anything it’s a display of incompetence.
Actually, almost everyone on that plane was going to Canada from Kiev, those who were Canadian citizens and also about an equal number who were Iranian students at Canadian universities. As somebody commented, it was not a pro-regime group at all, in most cases, families where the parents had left Iran after the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in 1979, and their Canadian born kids, returning for a visit to their relatives who stayed in Iran.
As to what our government will do, probably not much, we have not had diplomatic relations with Iran since our embassy helped some of your diplomats escape in the early days of the 1979-80 hostage crisis (remember Ken Taylor?).
So we can’t kick out their ambassador because they don’t have one here. We have zero trade with Iran as far as I know. The only Canadians who go there are Iranians although they tend to use the term Persians as a sort of subtle “we are not nuts like you know who” code word.
Sad situation, a lot of very intelligent and cultured people in that community, as you might guess from their decision to get out when the mullahs took over.
Yes there will be a tendency for blaming the initial attack that led to the tensions, but I would be blaming the airline for not planning a better route out of Tehran given what was unfolding. Perhaps a longer flight path that avoided military zones altogether.
We might launch a military strike, it depends on whether the jeep is available this week.
It might also be of some interest since we’re talking about Trudeau that he seems to be in some sort of personal crisis, rumours abound that he is separated from his wife, and also the government has appointed a senior minister to run most of the actual day to day operations (Freeland) which means JT is free to amble around doing whatever it is he does, out of harm’s way. I think he’s on the way out and will resign soon, we shall see. There’s a tougher centrist wing of that party that might switch gears away from all this namby-pamby stuff and kick some ass. When Canadians kick ass, people remember (ask anyone in Holland). Our PM may be a fairy but our soldiers are far from that.
Already are; they have refused to turn over the jet’s black boxes and reports indicate the Iranians have bulldozed the wreckage into piles, making a forensic investigation impossible.
We probably had additional insight into what Iranians knew, were saying to each other, and even the weapons status of the SAM battery, via SIGINT. There’s been a lot of publicity in recent years about Iran’s air defense upgrades, but much of their C2 network is old and subject to saturation/spoofing. There’s also the matter of operator quality and training, at a moment they were probably expecting waves of HARMs and JASSMs to come knocking.
The AA system used:
The Tor missile system is a Russian made low to medium altitude, short-range surface-to-air missile system designed for engaging airplanes, helicopters, cruise missiles, precision guided munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles and ballistic targets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8JuWegTb2o
February 2007: Iran tests the Tor-M1 short-range air defense system provided by Russia. The Tor-M1 system has a reported range of 12 km, which may be increased to 20 km. Iran’s IRCG Air Force Commander claims that the system is capable of tracking 48 targets and engaging 8 targets using electro-optic and infrared systems.
More pictures and info
http://nevskii-bastion.ru/9k331-tor-m/
The warhead is HE-frag 15 kg
http://www.deagel.com/Defensive-Weapons/9M331_a000998001.aspx
As we have learned from earlier cases Russian AA is efficient against civilian aircrafts.
Yet another good reason why Iran should never have nuclear weapons.
Thanks AdmSmith.
anyone on the plane have dirt on the clintons?
asking for a friend
I saw video of the plane being hit. Supposedly there were 2 missiles. The guy who caught it on video only got the 2nd one which caused the plane fire. Apparently he was alerted to start filming by the sound of the 1st missle.
Latest news is, he’s been arrested.... For filming what the regime said was a mechanical malfunction? Typical regime behavior.
Trudeau was on Canadian tv today. Said it was shot down by Iran. Tragic.
. . . and somehow, according to Howdy Doody Alfred E. Newman the Sodomite, this is somehow the fault of the Trump Administration.
Do you have a link?
More and more reports from people with access to the crash site that the wreckage has been bulldozed into a pile, making a truly forensic investigation next to impossible. https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/1215335543464235008
Video Apparently Showing Flight PS752 Missile Strike Geolocated to Iranian Suburb https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2020/01/09/video-apparently-showing-flight-ps572-missile-strike-geolocated-to-iranian-suburb/
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