BUK Missile Used to Down MH17

The surface-to-air missile (SAM) system suspected to have caused the crash of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 is most likely the Soviet-designed BUK, and not a shoulder-fired missile.

According to a CNN report quoting military analyst Rick Francona, the shoulder-fired missiles used by rebels and separatist groups could be ruled out as these weapons do not have the ability to reach 30,000 feet, the altitude at which MH17 was flying when all contact was lost with it on Thursday night

The former United States Air Force lieutenant colonel said that such man-portable missiles could at best only reach 15,000 feet.

"This would indicate a surface-to-air missile or an air-to-air missile, and I think a surface-to-air missile is probably the best guess right now," he said, adding that such SAM systems like the BUK would be in the arsenal of Russian forces on the other side of the Ukrainian border.

Francona said that the BUK would be more than capable of shooting down an aircraft travelling at 30,000 feet.

MH17 disappeared from radar screens in eastern Ukraine at around 1415 GMT, hours after the Boeing 777, bound for Kuala Lumpur, had taken off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

The Boeing 777  is believed to have been accidentally shot down 50km from the Ukraine-Russia border.

The CNN report also quotes Retired Brigadier General  Kevin Ryan, director of the Defence and Intelligence Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University as saying that the BUK, known as the SA-11 to Nato forces is operated by both the Russian and Ukrainian military.

However, Ryan said it was unlikely that the missile was fired by pro-Russia separatists due to the sophistication of the BUK system.

"It takes a lot of training and a lot of coordination to fire one of these and hit something.This is not the kind of weapon a couple of guys are going to pull out of a garage and fire," he said, concluding that if MH17 was shot down, a professional military force was responsible.

Similar views were shared by IHS Janes Americas editor Dan Wasserbly, who said a BUK battery would consist of several vehicles – a command post vehicle, a radar vehicle, several self-propelled launchers, loader vehicles and even more vehicles to carry new missiles to the batteries as necessary.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 Timeline

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane has reportedly crashed in Ukraine near Russian border.
The plane, MH17, was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew members.

Thursday, July 17 MYT
6pm: Scheduled time of departure of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17, a Boeing 777, from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

6.15pm: MH17 departs from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew.

10.15pm: MAS confirms it received notification from Ukrainian Air Traffic Control (ATC) that it had lost contact with MH17 at 30km from Tamak waypoint, approximately 50km from the Russia-Ukraine border.

11.30pm: MH17 presumably crashes. MAS releases official tweet,“Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow.”

11.40pm: Moscow based news agency Interfax says Malaysian passenger airliner was shot down at altitude of 10 km above Eastern Ukraine.
> They confirmed the location of a burning Malaysian plane in Eastern Ukraine.
> The Ukrainian Interior Ministry also confirmed that all passengers and crew are dead. The aircraft was “shot down” while cruising at an altitude of 30,000ft.
> Igor Strelkov, the military commander of pro-Russia separatists, posted on social media shortly before MH17’s crash that rebel forces had brought down an Antonov An-26, an aircraft commonly used by Ukrainian forces, in the same area.

Friday, July 18
12.03am: Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk orders an investigation into the crash.

12.05am: Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tweets, “I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed. We are launching an immediate investigation.”

12.18am: Ukrainian officials at the location of the crash confirm at least 100 bodies are found at the location and that body parts were scattered up to 15km from the site.

12.30am: Both Ukrainian authorities and rebel leaders deny shooting down MH17. A ground-to-air missile was the suspected to have brought down the aircraft.
> Russian President Vladimir Putin is in contact with United States president Barrack Obama on the crash, according to RIA news agency. 

12.45am: Location of the crash site was revealed to be the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region.

2.10am: At least four French nationals were onboard MH17, says French foreign minister Laurent Fabius.

2.28am: Interfax reports that Pro-Russian separatists claim to have found MH17’s black box.

4.15am: The aircraft’s flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the International Air Transportation Association stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions, says Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak at a press conference.

> MAS confirms no distress call was made by MH17, he says.

> According to information provided by Kiev Air Traffic Control, the location of the plane’s emergency locator beacon is 48 degrees 7 minutes and 23 seconds North; and 38 degrees 31 minutes and 33 seconds East.

> Ukrainian authorities believe that the plane was shot down. However, Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy, says Najib.

> Malaysia will endeavour to "find out precisely what happened to this flight" and promises that any perpetrators will be brought to justice.

> Government is dispatching a special flight to Kiev, carrying a special Malaysian disaster assistance and rescue team as well as a medical team.

> Emergency operations centres have been established and Malaysian officials are in constant contact with counterparts in Ukraine and elsewhere, says the Prime Minister.

> Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko has pledged that there will be a full, thorough and independent investigation, says Najib.

> Ukraine will negotiate with rebels in the east of the country in order to establish a humanitarian corridor to the crash site.

6.10am: Crashed MH17 scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Malaysia.

7.30am: MAS says that all its flights to and from Europe will take alternative routes to avoid the usual path where flight MH17 went down in eastern Ukraine.

7.30am: MAS confirms that MH17 was carrying a total of 298 people - 283 passengers, including three infants of various nationalities, and 15 Malaysian crew members - and not 295, as previously reported.

#MH17 Passenger Joke Before Board Plane

One of the ill fated flight Malaysian flight MH17, Cor Pan made a joke about the flight just before he board the plane that were shot down. 

He posted a photo of Malaysian Airlines plane with a caption "If it dissapears, this is what it looks like". Pan's facebook status quickly started going viral. 

Pan's friends have poured to his page to share their grief in the comments. There is also a memorial fan page that set up by his friend where even more users are sharing photo. 

Twitter user began to share the screenshot of Pan's phtoto.