An Il-76 Russian army cargo aircraft, carrying Ukrainian prisoners meant for commerce, was introduced down by a MIM-104A missile, a part of the US Patriot missile system, based on the announcement by the Russian Investigative Committee.
Specialists, who visited the crash website, found and efficiently recognized 116 items of an anti-aircraft missile marked with inscriptions in English. Additional investigation revealed these fragments to be components of the MIM-104A missile, a part of the Patriot system equipped to Ukraine by the US.
As well as, the investigators found residual traces of an explosive compound composed of hexogen together with roughly 10 % octogen. This particular combine is a hallmark of the explosives usually present in Western missiles, as evidenced by the particles elements.
As a consequence, it has been decided that the Russian Air Power’s Il-76 was shot down by the American Patriot anti-aircraft system. Earlier studies prompt that exterior elements might need performed a position, as indicated by the airplane’s flight recorder. Consequently, consultants have dominated out alternate theories of a aspect affect. The one activity remaining is to establish the precise missile accountable for downing the aircraft.
Professional opinion
Canada based mostly protection applied sciences professional, Mike Mihajlovic, is making waves on his social media profile on X [formerly known as Twitter], displaying what he asserts is a fragment from a Patriot missile that struck the Russian plane.
“This can be a fragment of a Patriot missile,” he alleges. Mihajlovic additional explains that the Patriot missile is triggered by a proximity fuse. This means it could be an older MIM-104A or MIM-104D/E PAC-2 mannequin. “To strategically take down the transport plane, an earlier mannequin missile could be the prime selection,” he provides.
Mihajlovic theorizes that the assault bore all of the hallmarks of a strategically deliberate ambush meant solely to obliterate the transport aircraft. This idea relies on predictable climate situations and flight paths. Particles and fragments are scattered concerning the crash neighborhood, stretching 1.5-2 km from the precise crash website, with fragments entwined throughout the wreckage.
Rocket streak
In a latest growth, Senator Viktor Bondarev, a famend army pilot and the previous commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Power, confirmed decisively that the Il-76 army transport aircraft was shot down over Belgorod Oblast. This unlucky occasion was deduced from distinctive contrails noticed within the sky and the crew’s studies of exterior affect.
“I’m sure past doubt that our plane fell sufferer to an assault. Along with observable indicators, our crew has additionally confirmed exterior interference,” Bondarev said throughout his interview with the Vmste-RF TV channel.
Moreover, he remarked: “Sure indicators within the movies circulated throughout Telegram channels are unmistakable – the distinctive black-gray cloud and the obvious streak of a rocket. The precise quantity stays unsure — it might be one, or two, or three, or much more. A committee has been dispatched to the crash website. The exact particulars will emerge following the completion of the investigation,” added Bondarev.
IL-76 and the sixty fifth POWs
In earlier reporting, we captured the tragic occasion of a Russian IL-76, carrying Ukrainian prisoners of conflict, being struck by two anti-aircraft missiles over the Belgorod area on January 24, 2024.
The deadly projectiles have been launched from Liptsi, within the Kharkiv area. On this disastrous incident, we misplaced 74 lives, together with 65 imprisoned Ukrainians, six crew members, and three accompanying people.
Curiously sufficient, Ukrainian officers have remained hushed about whether or not the aircraft was certainly shot down. They’re not outright denying it, however they do appear to be avoiding acknowledgment. Ukrainian pundits counsel that President Zelensky could be making an attempt to blur the small print of this incident amidst a cascade of different occasions, such because the controversy involving Zaluzhny.
About MIM-104A missile
The MIM-104A, extra generally often called the Patriot missile, is a surface-to-air missile [SAM] system, representing the first system of its type utilized by the US Army and a number of other allied nations. This missile is manufactured by the American protection contractor Raytheon and adopts its title from the acronym ‘Phased Array Monitoring Radar to Intercept on Goal’, which is a intelligent backronym for PATRIOT.
The technical traits of the MIM-104A are undoubtedly spectacular. The missile measures roughly 5.8 meters in size, has a diameter of about 0.41 meters, and weighs round 700 kg. Geared up with a stable propellant rocket motor, it will possibly obtain speeds of as much as Mach 5. Moreover, the missile incorporates a track-via-missile [TVM] steering system, which permits it to watch its goal throughout flight and modify its path as required.
One other outstanding characteristic of the MIM-104A is its operational vary. This missile is able to participating targets at a vary of as much as 160 km and at altitudes of as much as 24 km, making it an efficient protection towards varied aerial threats, together with plane, drones, and ballistic missiles.
How does MIM-104A work?
The MIM-104A carries a high-explosive blast-fragmentation warhead, which weighs roughly 90 kg. Such a warhead is designed to detonate within the goal’s neighborhood, with the explosion and fragmentation aimed toward destroying the goal.
Activating the MIM-104A includes a complicated course of. As soon as a risk is detected, the missile’s onboard pc system calculates the optimum flight path. The missile is then launched and guided in direction of its goal utilizing its TVM steering system. Relying on the character of the goal and the precise tactical state of affairs, the warhead is detonated both by a proximity fuse or by command.
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