[quote=spdrun]They were (AFAIK) high enough to only be reachable by non-man-portable long-range SAMs. i.e. truck-mounted or fixed SAM sites. The most recent transport shot down was above 20,000 ft when hit.
Flying through airspace where SAMs capable of reaching to your cruising altitude are in active use doesn’t strike me as a terribly bright idea. But hey, if you want to try it, it’s your life :)[/quote]Can’t get into classified info here.. but the transports were shot down by shoulder mount/manpacks. They were also turbo-props. That means they weren’t above 20,000 ft. AN-26 will do 24,000 – unloaded(maxed out). Shoulder launch have a max altitude of ummm.. lets say peaking at about 12,000 feet vertical (note that this is vertical which is different than circular range). They have to be in range to get an IR lock (photosensor, which means visible range of emitter). Commercials cruise at 35,000 feet.
The system that shot the commercial AC down is not a cheap nor simple system. It is part of a Theater Air Defense System, which means — how they hell did the rebels get a hold of one of those. I suspect this is the first use of one of these by the rebels. All of the other shoot-downs were by shoulder mounts. I suspect the person was trigger happy and didn’t think about the altitude the aircraft was flying at (got to learn to characterize your aircraft before killing it – definitely don’t want to light up something holding a HARM). This system can be built up with multiple radars and launchers to be ‘interlinked’ to extend its range. — I do wonder it is using the launch control software I have come across.
