Originally posted by ultraflight
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This part of the text says it all really.....
But, Soviet-era air defense systems as the Buk are equipped with IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) systems meaning that they are able to detect if the system is targeting a civilian plane through its transponder code. Therefore, provided the operators are trained enough, they’ll be able to distinguish between a Ukrainian transport plane and a large airliner. If not, they will simply shoot.
Which leaves the rag, tag and bobtail untrained separatists as the only other option. I can just imagine the conversation before the launcher was seen disappearing back to Russia.
Putin to his commanders....: "For Gods sake take that thing away from those idiots before they shoot one of ours down".
However...... If as has been hinted at elsewhere here, the separatists had been given some training by the Russians then that opens up a whole new can of responsibility worms.
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