The missile that shot down MH17 flew too fast for radar to detect
Investigators believe that Russian civilian radar stations failed to pick up the missile that shot down Malaysian passenger plane MH17 in 2014 because it was flying too fast.
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A piece of wreckage from the MH17 plane that was shot down in eastern Ukraine. Photo:AFP. |
"The speed of this missile is much higher than the speed of a civil aircraft. Meanwhile, the design rules of civil radar stations usually ensure that objects with such high speeds do not appear on the screen. This is to avoid causing confusion," said a statement from Dutch prosecutors of the international investigation team (JIT).said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a Boeing 777, was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board.
The JIT report in September 2016 confirmed that MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile manufactured in Russia and transferred by Moscow to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
Russia denied the allegation and provided the JIT with screenshots of the Ust-Donetsk radar station showing that no missiles were launched from separatist-controlled areas at the time of the MH17 crash.
The Russian missile manufacturer Almaz-Ante also confirmed that the BUK missile was launched from the Zaroshchenske region, controlled by the Ukrainian army. The fact that Ukraine has not released images from the radar station suggests that Kiev is likely trying to cover up this fact.
