Originally Posted by
Mud Skipper
Ok so the story appears to be the "rebels" used a captured Ukrainian military, Russian made, BUK missile launcher and shot the aircraft down.
They question I have to any military people out there is how hard would it be to use said launcher. Could they have just read the manual so to speak or would formal training be required and who would have trained them?
No chance.
Those SAM systems, especially the older ones (the Buk before the modernization program), are extremely difficult to operate. You need a full team of trained personnel to operate and maintain them, plus supply, command and control, radar etc...
It's not a point and shoot portable SAM like a Stinger or Strela, and even those require a fair amount of training.
Regards.