Iran says it ‘unintentionally’ shot down Ukrainian jetliner

submitted by Nemacolin from apnews.com

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[–][deleted] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Very sad. At least they had the guts to come out with the truth.

[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That missile hitting the plane didn't gave them much choice.

[–]Nemacolin[S] 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Honestly, that was my thought too.

[–]black_hole_son 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (4 children)

The blood of all 176 people is on the hands of Donald Trump.

[–]Nemacolin[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I can't see why. His actions were not the proximate cause. Some slob fired a missile when he shouldn't have. He was the proximate cause.

[–]Chipit 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Seriously? A fascist, theocratic regime that executes gays, and it's Trump's fault they shot down an airliner with a missile they bought from Russia? They can't tell a bomber from a flight path coming from a major airport?

Was MH17 his fault too? Jesus.

This takes the cake.

[–]Jesus 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

US is fascist corportocracy. https://153news.net/watch_video.php?v=U4KD7352UA2B

Not theocratic yet, but you never know what the Chabad Lubavitchers will do.

[–]zyxzevn 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Let me add:
Iran was in high alert and expected bombing campaigns from the US and Isreal any minute.

Israel has been using fake transponder codes to "appear friendly" a lot of times. They also used airliners as cover. This prompted Syria to upgrade their defence system to S-300. But most of Iran's system is probably less capable. US also has fake signature capabilities.

Bombing threat imminent. Big plane flies over in the dark...
due to little training, you don't know what it is.
Would you push that fire-button?

I read that Friendly Fire did most kills on US side in Iraq war.

[–]Nemacolin[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Breaking

Iran announced Saturday that its military ‘unintentionally’ shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 aboard.

The statement came Saturday morning and blamed “human error” for the shootdown.

The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. forces.

Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the U.S. and Canada, citing intelligence, said they believe Iran shot down the aircraft.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 167 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, at least 63 Canadians and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

[–][deleted] 2 insightful - 3 fun2 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

At least they showed everyone their missiles work. /s

[–]Chipit 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Russian missiles.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

the best an airliner can get. ;)

[–]Nemacolin[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This seems to be the first Iranian admission that they did it. Rumors were swirling around here soon after it happened, but now it is official.

[–]zyxzevn 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Only very modern anti-air, like the S-400 can distinguish accurately between different airplanes.

[–]Nemacolin[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

How very odd. The Stinger used to have IFF. Did we get rid of that?

[–]zyxzevn 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This probably is not a stinger, but an more automated anti-air system. S-200 maybe? The IFF addition to the stinger seems very modern. Did they sell such things to Iran during the Iran-contra days? The technology of Iran is not very advanced in certain directions. They even had a stealth aircraft that was a fake, 10 years ago.

They were expecting stealth aircraft. And these can only be hit with mostly automatic systems. The US and Israel were using "Friend" signatures in previous attacks on Iranian targets just days ago. This means that this fundamental identification could not be relied on. The radar signatures of modern attack aircraft can also mimic other aircraft (ECM/ECCCM). This may also be the reason the system could not identify accurately. In Yugoslavia they needed special modifications to the S-200 to hit the first stealth.

It would be interesting to see which weapon and identification system it is exactly. How it was configured and how well the operators were trained with this weapon. Even if these operators (and commander) were wanting to kill anything, I don't expect them to attack a friendly target willingly, as it is against their religion. It still means something to them. This would be different if the airplane was from Israel or US.

And knowing the CIA/Israel and how badly they want a war with Iran, it could even be a cyber-hack or an agent that caused the weapon to fire. In an attempt to start a war via the victims.

But I suspect that a human operator was at fault. Scared of an US attack and not trained well with the weapon, he pressed the button when the machine found a possible target. And this operator is now afraid of a possible execution.

[–]Nemacolin[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Without looking it up, the Stinger had no (or almost no) FMS transfers. Even the Saudis (my hometown) can't get them. The Americans know they are the ultimate terrorist weapon. Nonetheless, most every manpads has IFF. Maybe the Iranians are using some homebrew system that lacks all the bells & whistles.

[–]DffrntDrmmr 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said his unit accepts full responsibility for the shootdown. He said that when he learned about the downing of the plane, “I wished I was dead.”

U.S.: 'We can help with that.'

[–]Nemacolin[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Why?