The only thing which really stuck to me about the whole incident were the numbers of people who'd observed a projectile rise from the horizon to strike that aicraft subsequent to the explosion.
Eye witnesses who were roundly discounted, discredited by the powers that be, as we all recall?
It's not as if we hadn't witnessed this modus operandi of, "deniable plausibility" (or whateverinthehell the Lib-Socialists called their tack of obfuscation) before, either.
The thing reeked of *Clintonism* from stem to stern as far as I'm concerned.
Now, the only question I'd had from the get-go was *how* it'd been done; &, then to a lesser degree, using what.
I'd naturally assumed "terrorists" were responsible by using a weapon acquired on the black market to sate the *why*.
I could've been wrong; and, looks like part of my assumption is.
So be it.
I only ever wanted the truth -- as always -- anyway.
"One explanation I saw for the cover-up was that it was not actually a U.S. ship that fired the missile, but a ship from another NATO country that was conducting joint exercises with the U.S.
If my speculation about the type of missile (a RAM-116 "rolling airframe missile") is correct, then I'm pretty sure that this partcular model was developed by Hughes as part of a joint U.S.-German initiative. The RAM-116 was originally designed as a last-ditch countermeasure to defend ships against an incoming cruise missile like an Exocet, but in the late 1990s a second-generation version of the RAM-116 was developed that would enable it to be used as an aircraft-intercept weapon."
Obviously, you've forgotten more (now) than I'll ever know concerning these types of high-tech, sophisticated weapons; so, I'll just defer to your judgement & expertise on the, "what" (was used) question.
"One interesting characteristic of the RAM-116 is that it is not a heat-seeking missile, but finds its way to the target using the target's own radar signature."
Interesting.
Sounds similar to the technology used with the revamped Vietnam era fighter we're calling the, "Wild Weasel."
Saddam's knuckleheads learned pretty damned quick to shut down their radar tracking systems when one of these things made the scene, poste-haste. {g}
...that kind of technology was & is extremely effective.
Someday we might find that we're ALL completely off base here!