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gman003 [soylentnews.org] writes:

It has been over a year since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, bound for Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, crashed in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 crew and passengers. The Dutch Safety Board has released its complete findings [onderzoeksraad.nl].

News links for quicker reading: BBC [bbc.com], CNN [cnn.com], MSN [msn.com]

Key points:
The crash was caused by catastrophic structural failure of the airframe after a 70kg warhead detonated several meters off the left side of the aircraft, severing the forward cabin and cockpit from the rest of the aircraft
The specific warhead was identified as a 9N314M warhead, based on size of the blast, recovered fragments, and chemical analysis
The warhead was carried on a 9M38 series missile and launched by a Buk surface-to-air missile system

While the report does not specifically identify the missile launch site or operators, as they are outside the scope of the accident report, it does narrow down the launch site to a 320km² area in eastern Ukraine. A separate criminal case is also underway in the Netherlands, but Russia previously vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a UN tribunal [reuters.com], and is working on their own report. Russia has also disputed many of the findings of the report, saying the evidence is insufficient to narrow it down to a specific warhead type. Their favored theory is an air-to-air missile, a theory soundly rejected by the Dutch report.

Although the blame for the missile is left unstated, the report does find fault with Ukraine for not fully closing the airspace to civilian flights (airspace below 32,000 feet was closed; MH17 was flying at 33,000ft). It was clear to the Ukrainian military that full-sized surface-to-air missile launchers were being operated by rebel forces, not just small man-portable launchers. SAM launchers have a much higher maximum altitude; the 9M38 has a maximum altitude of 46,000ft, above the 43,100ft service ceiling of the Boeing 777. Recommendations are made to more strictly define when airspace should be closed due to conflict, and suggesting that aircraft operators be more aware of military dangers to civilian flights.

Original Submission