WASHINGTON - Details about why Iran air defence forces mistook a Ukrainian airliner for a cruise missile remain murky, but one thing is clear: Safeguards for operating surface-to-air missiles are supposed to prevent that kind of mistaken identity and all of them failed.
Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 was flying in a very different manner than the cruise missile it was supposedly mistaken for. It was following the normal departure path from Teheran's airport and was clearly transmitting its identity when it was taken down. Flight 752, a Boeing Co. 737-800, was transmitting its position for civilian radars and the newest flight tracking system that uses global-positioning data, according to data posted by FlightRadar24.
"Even without having been made directly aware of this flight, a SAM operator crew should have easily been able to identify that this flight pattern and radar profile was completely at odds with any suspected US missile or combat aircraft strike package," Justin Bronk, a specialist in military technology at Britain's Royal United Services Institute, wrote in a post on the think tank's website.
Despite criticism of Iran's explanations of the missile attack, the regime was praised by some for not attempting a broader cover-up. Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, which had initially adamantly denied a missile was involved, said it hadn't received any information on the plane being shot down despite repeated requests for information from military authorities.
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